7.09- Tiki-Bar x 2

A 60-foot sports-fisher named "Tiki Bar" out of Point Pleasant Beach, NJ stopped in Oriental NC today...
(click image to enlarge)

... And of course where else would the vessel dock but next to the 15' x 15' Tiki-Bar (background... it is surrounded by a much larger Tiki-Deck) at the Oriental Marina & Inn on Raccoon Creek, with the best view for your sunset happy/cocktail hour ?

The Tiki-Bar features Oriental's finest bartenders (I have to say that or they will have my hide) as well as live music many weekends during "the Season." (call or log-on for info)

Oriental Marina and Inn hosts boat slips for cruisers, sports-fishers etc., plus hotel (well, actually "Condo-tel," but it amounts to the same thing) accommodations for overnight visitors from land or sea, showers and laundry facilities (small fee for those not docking), on-site Tiki-Bar (Best Sunset Service, Drinks and Views, as voted unanimously by yours truly) as well as the indoor bar, restaurant (and occasional live music venue) the Toucan Bar and Fresh Grill. (Just don't display any fear towards Donna... she can smell it a league away, and then you're done-for!)

For overnight accommodations ashore (comfortable full service suites) or in a convenient slip (plus Fuel Dock) at the very heart of Oriental on Raccoon Creek see Oriental Marina & Inn

The Oriental Marina & Inn Monitors:

• Channel 16 (hailing) and
• Channel 71 (direct comm. with vessels coming into slips)

-30-

1.26- Seals in Raccoon Creek

An 11 meter Naval Special Warfare Rigid Inflatable Boat cruises up Raccoon Creek
(Click on image or here for full size)

I usually see these 11m NSW-RIBs way out in the Neuse River cruising at 45 knots between the Cherry Point Marine Station and the Piney Island / BT-11 target range...(see related prior postings re: NSW-RIBs and the BT-11 target range)

I was watching this one headed back up-river towards Cherry Point when it surprisingly turned into the Oriental Harbor channel.

So I grabbed a camera and headed down to the Oriental Yacht Club in time to find the boat slowly cruising up and down Raccoon Creek...

One guy on board was pointing out various things around the harbor and creek-sides... I wonder if it was some sort of tactical orientation or a simple sightseeing side-trip after a day of storming Piney Island?

I have noticed a lot of U.S. Marine air traffic over the river the past couple of days, including Harriers, CH-35E Sea Stallion helicopters (see related prior posting re:CH-35E), CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters, and MV-22B Osprey VTOL/STOLs.

I'm guessing these guys are U.S. Navy SEALS, as the NSW-RIB's primary mission is SEAL insertion and extraction, and I have not found any reference to the U.S. Marine Corps using them.

-30-

12.12- Spirit of Christmas Boat Parade

A sailboat decorated with lighted forestay and backstay follows a lighted power boat in the Spirit of Christmas nighttime Boat Parade

(Click on image or here for full size)

After sunset today, a fleet of lighted and decorated boats paraded from Whittaker Creek to Oriental Marker No. 3 and back, as spectators watched from Lou-Mac Park and the South Avenue waterfront.

It was a bit difficult to capture the boats on camera as they passed about a half-mile away out in the Neuse River, but I like how the above time exposure shot shows the motion of the boat in the squiggly trails left by each of its many lights hanging along the forestay and backstay(check out the full size version to see the squigglies) They remind me of a seismograph output, or the medical monitors on the hibernation pods in "2001 Space Odyssey."

I have for the past few days been indulging in not quite sticking to the "Photo" (singular) part of the "City Daily Photo" concept, and I was tempted to do so again today...

But I must really stop that: that is why I have another blogsite, after all.

So, you can see more photos of tonight's Boat Parade, decorated boats, caroling crowd, and lighting of the "Spirit of Christmas Star" at my other blog, "The Dinghy Dock.""

-30-

11.18- Doin' the Ditch...

Vessels moving south on the Intracoastal Waterway near Swansboro, NC

I took this picture from the third floor balcony of a new home being built just south of Swansboro, NC.

The house fronts on "the Ditch"... the 1,090 mile long Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, a series of natural and man-made (or altered) protected waterways running from Portsmouth, VA ("Mile 0") to Key West, FL.

There was a continuous stream of sailboats and stinkpots running in front of the house all day, as the weather was nice, and has been kinda nasty the past few days. Folks who had to lay up for weather are now cruising to make up time.

-30-

11.17- Minnesott Beach Ferry

Minnesott Beach-Cherry Point ferry

This is the ferry that crosses the Neuse River between Minnesott Beach and Cherry Point. Minnessot Beach is 12 miles from Oriental, and is the nearest place you can cross the river without your own boat, particularly if you are driving a car or truck.

The ferry is seen here from the Minnesott Beach side, framed between pilings at the ferry port on this side of the river.

The ferry leaves from each side of the river every 30 minutes or hour (depending on time of day) and the ride takes about 15 to 20 minutes. The ride is free.

The ferry doesn't run in high winds, storms, or heavy fog...

If the ferry isn't running because of any of the above, you have to decide whether it is best to wait out the weather, or drive all the way up the river to New Bern, cross the river bridge, then drive down the other side of the river ... it takes about an hour or so of driving.

-30-

9.26- "C-Brats" Meet

A 25' Cruiser by "C-Dory" tied up at the Wildlife Ramp, waiting to get
underway to the "C-Brats" gathering at Whittaker Pointe Marina.
(Click on picture or here for full size)

About 40 "C-Dory" boats are gathering this weekend at Whittaker Pointe Marina here in Oriental... Many were putting in at the Wildlife Ramp, but others came to Oriental by river and/or ICW.

These smallish boats have a lot of cruising amenities; two berths in the bow, galley with sink and alcohol or diesel stove, available enclosed head / shower or dinette convertible to two berths plus a third pilothouse seat, 6'5" of headroom.

Last week I featured a "Ranger Tug R21," a similar small pilothouse cruiser, at anchor in the harbor...

One or two Ranger Tugs may be coming in for the meet, as Ranger owners are welcome in the "C-Brats" club.

I'll get some pictures of the actual meet at Whitaker Pointe for tomorrow's post.

See the C-Dory manufacturer's site from Fluid Marine.

See the "C-Brats" online forum site.

-30-

9.21- "Kandy Bar"

A cruiser relaxes and reads aboard his vessel, "Kandy Bar," while at anchor in Oriental Harbor.
(Click here for full size)

This handsome boat (for a stink-pot, that is) is a "Ranger R21"... it was built by a company called "Fluid Motion," but is sold by "Ranger Tugs"... The R21 has a sleeping berth, but the newer "R21 EC" ("extended cabin") adds 18 inches to the pilothouse, and includes amenities such as a galley, pressurized water and sink, and built-in head.

"Fluid Motion" and "Ranger Tugs" are owned by the same guy, John Livingston, out of Kent, Washington... Another company, "Martini Marine" also claims to be the manufacturer, though they do so on the Ranger Tugs internet domain. I can't really find out why there are three different company names associated with the boat.

To add to the confusion, these boats were also manufactured and sold as "C-Rangers" in some sort of marketing agreement with the folks who make the very similar "C-Dory," but that was apparently a short-lived arrangement.

There were also two "C-Dory"s (I don't know what the plural is... "C-Dories"?) tied up in Raccoon Creek today... probably some sort of meet-up, or maybe they were cruising in convoy.

According to the "C-Brats Online Forum," there will be a NC gathering of these types of boats here in Oriental, at Whittaker Pointe Marina, next weekend...

I will try to drop by and get some pics of a bunch of these Ranger and C-Dory boats gathered together, and maybe learn a bit more about them to share with everyone (like what's the deal with the three different "Ranger" companies?)

According to Ranger Tugs, the Ranger 21 is based on Bristol Bay fishing trollers...

Bristol Bay is home to an apparently very competitive Salmon gill-netting fishery, and is the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world.

By regulation, the Salmon trollers are limited to 32 feet in length, and do have a distinctive style... According to Wikipedia, the 32 foot limit is prompted in part by the extreme 30 foot tides, dangerous and uncharted shoals and other navigational limitations, but I wonder if it has more to do with fishery management... will have to research)... See some examples of the Bristol Bay trollers (with 20 inch drafts!) from one manufacturer, Rozema Boat Works.

Also, as I did in my discussion of much-closer menhaden fishing industry (no sockeye around these parts), I recommend the following video of the Bristol Bay commercial fishermen's extremely dangerous and hard work... at the end of the video, related videos of Bristol Bay trollers at work will appear:



All in all, I'd say that life on a 21 foot Ranger is much more relaxing than on a 32 foot Bristol Bay troller! I'm sure the captain in today's picture would agree.

-30-