10.3- Net-working

Shuttles, twine and electrical tape at the ready for net repair

For the past couple of days, First Mate "Fuzzy" of the commercial fishing vessel "Jenny" (like in Forrest Gump, he explained) has been repairing "mongoose trawl" nets on the deck of the Oriental Yacht Club in preparation for white shrimp season.

Jenny has been docked at the OYC for the past couple of weeks while Capt. Dave Hodges and crew repaired the bulkhead between the OYC building and Fulcher Seafood Co.

Jenny is a 40 foot "Core Sounder" wooden commercial fisher, capable of operating in less than three feet of water, thanks to a shallow draft and a tunnel-mounted prop.

Capt. Hodges is particularly proud of Jenny's hydraulic system for controlling the outriggers and warp cables, pointing out that very few vessels in her size-range sport such equipment, instead relying on engine-driven pulley linkages.

The Capt. and crew have stayed a little longer than planned because Jenny's starter fritzed out... They hope to have it repaired and re-installed soon so they can begin the white-shrimp season.

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9.04- Super-yacht on "A-Dock"

"Patti Lou" tied up to A-dock

(click on image to enlarge)

We don't see a lot of yachts over 100' here in Oriental - they usually head down to Beaufort or up to Norfolk for stop-overs.

This foreign-flagged luxury yacht found a spot along "A" Dock at Oriental Harbor Marina this evening, and the crew quickly got to work getting the saltiness off the deck.

You can see a shot this 3,600 horsepower vessel underway (max. 22 kts.), and some interior shots, at her builder's web site:
http://www.queenship.com/crescent/legacy.php?lid=2

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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)

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4.28- Land-Line

A bow line is at the ready, just in case she starts to drift away

As I have said several times lately, it is indeed sailing season.

Today's picture shows a smart vessel with fresh bottom-paint and other last-minute maintenance while "on the hard" at Clancey's Marina, on Camp Creek at the confluence of Camp, Smith's and Green's creeks.

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12.27- Paradise Cove Boat Ramp

Catfish "honor box" (under surveillance) at Paradise Cove Marina's boat ramp
(Click on image or here for full size)

Today I drove my visiting brother Fred around for a tour of Pamlico County.

Found this catfish drop-box for ramp fees at the Paradise Cove Marina boat ramp. I was surprised to see that the catfish itself is approved for use as a U.S. Postal Service delivery box (before it was modified, at least.)

Paradise Cove Marina expanded it's marina this year... The marina also boasts a fine bar / deck, open weekends during the season, and available for private parties.

Great place for a sunset and refreshments during the season... but remember to bring some DEET!

Small boat ramp, fee is $5.00.

Where is Paradise Cove Marina, NC?

View Larger Map

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12.09- Luminary assembly, Part One

Candles for luminaries are "pre-lighted" on the lawn of the Toucan Bar in preparation for the "Spirit of Christmas" parade

Oriental's annual "Spirit of Christmas" parade is coming up on December 13. That means it's time to assemble the 3000 luminaries (little paper bag lanterns) that will line Oriental's streets for the parade.


Parade Elf Lori Wagoner supervised the process, which this year took place at the Toucan Bar on the grounds of Oriental Marina & Inn.

The first step in the assembly process was to fold 3000 bags and "pre-light" 3000 candles.

The candles were each lit and allowed to burn a few minutes before being blown out and put back in their boxes.

This makes it easier to light the thousands of candles once they are in their bags and in place along the streets.

While the candle lighting took place out on the lawn, other volunteers folded the bags on the deck and inside the Toucan bar.

Parade Elf Lori Wagoner displays the "Bag Folding 101" instructional poster
(Click on picture or here for full size)

Folding the tops of the bags down provides some structural rigidity to the luminaries. The army of volunteer bag folders enjoyed some beverages and fun company during the arduous task:

The next steps will be performed another day... filling little sandbags, placing the sandbags in the paper bags, placing the candles in the bags, and lining up the finished luminaries for delivery.

You can follow the whole process right here over the next few days.

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11.30 - Belted Kingfisher

A male Belted Kingfisher perches on a mainmast spreader at Oriental Harbor Marina

"The only kingfisher in most of North America," according to the National Geographic Field Giude. "Common and conspicuous along rivers and brooks, ponds and lakes, estuaries..."

"Call is a loud, dry rattle"... The bird's call was what whaat brought my attention to its' presence, but I would describe it more as a repetitive chittering.

I have seen these birds hovering near the mouth of Whittaker Creek, but not gotten a picture before today.

Kingrishers "hover over water or watch from low perches, then plunge headfirst to catch a fish."

Very cool. Now added to my photographic life-list.

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11.22- Gale warning

Two red triangular pennants fly at the Oriental Harbor Marina flag mast

Two red pennants means "gale warning"... This means winds from 34 to 48 knots (39 to 54 miles per hour or 63 to 69 kmh) are predicted.

The Oriental Harbor Marina flag mast is visible from most places in the harbor, and from the bridge over Smiths Creek...

If you are thinking about going boating, it is a good idea to glance at the OHM flag mast first... One red pennant indicates a "small craft advisory," which is either 15 or 20 knots, I can't recall. Red square flags with a black square in the middle mean "hurricane warning"... I haven't yet seen those flags at the OHM.

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9.27- Appeasing Poseidon

Captain Tim Rogers waves down the approving "aargh"s from the crowd as he implores the graciousness of Poseidon during the naming ceremony for "Coriolanus"
(click on picture or here for full size)

Sorry, no more C-Dory pictures today as I improvidently promised yesterday... more important event takes precedence:

Capt. Robbie today held a re-naming ceremony and party for his Catalina 25 at "Paradise Cove Marina" on Broad Creek.

In today's picture we see Captain Tim Rogers (a certified Captain with Oriental's "World Wide Marine Training, Inc.) as he pays homage to the ruler of the seas and asks that he guard the newly named "Coriolanus" with his mighty arm and trident and that he ensure her of safe and rapid passage throughout her journeys within his realm.

For my non-boater readers: It is notoriously bad luck to rename a boat... See, the mighty Poseidon/Neptune keeps a register of all vessels sailing in his realm, and if you rename it you might be seen as trying to operate without his knowledge, which will of course only invoke his wrath.

Bad things happen to boats when they are renamed (this has been widely confirmed), unless the proper homage is payed and notification given to the ruler of the seas... and of course liberal offerings of libations into the water.

Re-naming ceremonies are also a great excuse to party with friends, and Capt. Robbie, his wife Sandy along with scores of family, friends and neighbors took full advantage by celebrating the event at Paradise Cove Marina to celebrate.

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9.11- Fulcher Seafood docks as seen from OYC

(click on picture for full size image)

Three commercial trawlers docked at Fulcher Seafood Co. docks in Raccoon Creek, as seen from the deck of the Oriental Yacht Club.

"Betty H.," "Capt. Ryan" and "Capt. Jeff" were docked at Fulcher Seafood Co. this afternoon when I dropped by the "Oriental Yacht Club."

I'll have more to say about the OYC in the future... I need to get some more info so I don't end up telling some lies about it.

It is in some pretty old buildings, though, and it has this funky covered deck sticking out into Raccoon Creek right next to the Fulcher Seafood fish-house and docks, also on Raccoon Creek.

You can see the very end of the OYC deck, with it's peaked roof, on the extreme left side of the blog title/banner picture at the top of the page.

This is my fist B&W entry in either of my two blogs. I learned photography as a lad and young man with analog cameras... by the time I was in Junior High School I was doing almost exclusively B&W photos and my own processing and printing, which I continued to do for myself and my JHS and High School yearbooks and newspapers.

I kind of gave up photography at some point in college, no longer having access to good darkroom facilities and having failed to maintain / replace my aging and abused cameras and equipment.

As I re-entered the hobby in the digital age, I adapted to color photography, which was quite expensive back in the analog days, but now is just as inexpensive as B&W... As they say, film sure is cheap nowadays.

Now I have been seeing a lot of great B&W work on "City Daily Photo" blogs, and decided to give digital B&W a try for a while... not exclusively, mind you, but now that I have figured out how to switch the cameras to B&W mode, I expect to be doing a bit more...

Now I just have to figure out how to switch my brain and eyes to B&W mode; I hope it's something like riding a bicycle.

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9.08- Climbing the Mast

Self portrait while sitting astride the spreader bars of the Hirondelle's mast during a pause in my descent from retrieving a slipped haliard.

During tropical storm Hanna, the jib-halliard on Captain Dave's Pearson 39 (the Hirondelle) became detached from the deck, and the loose end rode up the mast until its shackle stuck in the fairlead (translation for lubbers and stink-potters: the rope used to raise the front sail came loose and the end slipped up to the top of the mast and got stuck there).

This being Oriental, other captains quickly offered assistance and tools to retrieve the halliard.

This morning, Capt. Tory came to help, bringing his "boatswains chair" (a.k.a "bosun's chair," a devise used to haul folks up masts for rigging work) and the heavy-duty drill with winch-fitting bit he uses to raise sails on his own boat.

We rigged the boatswain's chair to the main haliard and to an extra haliard (for safety) and I got the job of going aloft to retrieve the slipped jib-haliard from the top of the 55 foot (17 meter) mast.

Capt. Tory slipped the drill into the main haliard winch, and I got a motorized lift to the top (most of the way... some hand-cranking was required.) I had to stop at the spreader bars to untie the safety line, slip it around the spreaders and re-tie it to the boatswain's chair before continuing up. Same on the way back down. This was because the mainsail haliard and the extra haliard were on opposite sides of the mast.

It turns out the shackle at the end of the jib haliard had opened, and the loose end of the haliard naturally rose to the top of the mast due to gravity and wind acting on the part of the line that runs back down the mast. Once at the top of the mast, I grabbed the shackle end and lowered it down to the deck with no trouble.

Capt. Dave also gave me a couple of "while you're up there" tasks... running a new signal haliard (for flags) and another line for a future project.

While I was up there, Capt. Roy and Capt. Ken came by to watch from dockside.

I hung my little Kodak camera, in video mode, from my sidefor the trip, and stitched together a video of my journey, and the panoramic view from atop the mast. In the picture above, and the video below, you will see the Bauer 10 dinghy tied up in Hirondelle's slip, off the starboard bow.

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9.07- Slow Sunday at the Deli

Umbrellas guard empty tables on the deck of the Oriental Harbor Deli & Bistro, as a thunderstorm darkens the western sky.

As the "alien season" in Oriental fades in the wake of Labor Day and worries about Hanna-Ike-Josephine storms, there are few visitors in town this weekend.

During the summer season, aliens (and a few locals) enjoy lunch and dinner on the deck at the Oriental Harbor Deli & Bistro, with a grand view of Smith's Creek and the Oriental Harbor Marina.

Though clearly open for business today, I did not see a single customer this afternoon. The whole town is extremely quiet and empty for an early September weekend, but no doubt Hanna prompted weekend travelers to stay home for this one.

The Oriental Harbor Deli & Bistro resides in the early 20th century passenger depot building of the Norfolk & Southern Railroad Co.

In addition to the Deli, the old depot is also now home to the Oriental Harbor Marina's heads and laundry room, and "The General Store," which offers Oriental souvenirs, a surprising collection of wines and $2.00 cans of coke (the wine is much more reasonable than the cokes).

The N&S RR ran regular passenger service from New Bern to Oriental into the 1940's. The N&S RR 's first lines to Oriental were built in the very early 20th century, and provided important transportation for local timber and produce (mostly cabbages), as well as passengers.

Before the N&S RR built its line into Oriental, the Old Dominion Steamship Company had been providing freight and passenger services from Oriental to New Bern, Elizabeth City, Portsmouth, VA (and available transfer service to as far away as New York City) from its pier on the Neuse River at the end of King Street.

The N&S RR line traveled along Midyette Street to service three lumber mills, including the giant John L. Roper Lumber Co. mills located along Camp Creek, before crossing Broad Street to the passenger depot on the harbor front at Water Street. While N&S RR acquired an easement to build a planned spur across the village to the former ODSS warehouses and Neuse River pier on King St., it was never built.

The depot building now stands about about 100 yards away from its original location.

Below is an old N&S RR Map I have enhanced to show the main properties, rail lines and proposed rail line discussed above...

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9.04- Preparing for "Hanna"... and "Ike"... and "Josephine

Capt. Dave spreads out the jib he has removed from the "Hirondelle" in preparation for approaching tropical storm Hannah.

A beautiful, calm clear day here in Oriental... perhaps the proverbial and literal "calm before the storm." Many local sailors and stink-potters are making preparations for some potentially nasty weather.

As Hannah approaches the East Coast, many local sailors are, like Capt. Dave, removing the canvas from their boats and adding extra lines in preparation for high winds.

The Wildlife Boat Ramp is also busy as owners of trailer-able sailboats and power boats haul them out to stay on dry land for a while as a string of hurricanes and tropical storms wander in our direction. Local boat yards are also putting many boats on the hard today. No doubt all will be doing the same all day tomorrow.

Capt. Dave will be watching NOAA, WeatherUnderground and other sources of hurricane/tropical storm info as the three storms approach, and is beginning to think about finding a good "hurricane hole" in which to anchor Hirondelle if things look particularly nasty for either of the next two.

According to NOAA, we can expect a good steady 40 knot easterly winds with 50 + knot gusts by 8:00 pm tomorrow (Friday) night, with hours more of the same to follow.

That wind will no doubt bring rising wind-tides, which Local Knowledge says will exceed 4 feet, enough to cover Hodges St. at Town Dock, in front of The Bean, but not much more.

All day Saturday the continuing 40 + knot winds will swing across to southerly and end westerly, dieing off precipitously the more westerly they become. By 5:00 pm Saturday, winds will have fallen to below 20 knots westerly. According to NOAA...We shall see.

My brother, "Cabin Boy" Fred has successfully made it back to New Orleans from his brief (3 day) and agonizing exodus to Memphis (where he sat in on a gig playing his newly-acquired Mexican made fender copy guitar} after the Gustav scare.

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8.31- Chicken Dance and Ice Cream at the Tiki deck

As sunset approaches, an accordionist entertains some ice-cream-eating fans with the "Chicken Dance" on the Tiki Bar deck at Oriental Marina & Inn on Raccoon Creek.

These young ladies requested the "Chicken Dance," then danced about 5 seconds before returning to their ice cream (from "The Bean," across the street)... they kept moving to the beat, and seemed pleased with the song, but doing the Chicken Dance does require clapping one's hands too often to be compatible with eating ice-cream.

The Tiki Bar deck is a great place to watch the sun setting over Raccoon Creek and the commercial trawlers tied up at Garland Fulcher Seafood. I'll feature a sunset shot from the Tiki deck sometime soon.

Aliens staying in the hotel or on boats at the marina mix with a good crowd of local regulars, and on summer weekends there are usually a bunch of kids and dogs playing on the grass between the Tiki, the Toucan restaurant and the visiting sail and power pleasure boats tied up at the Oriental Marina & Inn slips.

Sometimes the older (MUCH older) kids play bocce on the lawn, and on most summer weekend nights there is a live band on the deck.

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