{"id":7176,"date":"2000-10-01T14:36:00","date_gmt":"2000-10-01T18:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/?page_id=7176"},"modified":"2024-06-24T17:44:05","modified_gmt":"2024-06-24T21:44:05","slug":"a-ferry-tale-for-all-seasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/a-ferry-tale-for-all-seasons\/","title":{"rendered":"A Ferry Tale for All Seasons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
Two blasts from the ship’s horn and slips away from the Cedar Island The Carteret<\/i> slips away from the Cedar Island ferry dock to begin the two-and-a-quarter hour Pamlico Sound crossing. Destination: Ocracoke Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moments before, families with kids, cats and dogs, hopeful fishing parties, Outer Banks residents returning from mainland business, and local commuters heading to their island jobs queued up for the trip. They’d come on motorcycles and bicycles, in cars, motor homes, and trucks pulling boats loaded with fishing gear \u2014 license plates from as far away as Canada and Kansas attesting to the lure of North Carolina’s coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now on board The Carteret<\/i>, passengers settle in to enjoy the excursion across the mirror-like sound under a cloudless blue sky. Some, new at the ferry game, cautiously step outside their vehicles. Two veterans pull deck chairs from the trunk and arrange them on the windy deck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another stretches across the front seat of her SUV with a pillow tucked behind her head and a paperback novel in hand \u2014 windows open to catch the steady breeze. Plants and shrubs for a seaside landscape are crowded in the rear compartment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we clear the dock, a young man pulls bread from a picnic basket. Greedy sea gulls swoop down to claim their prize from his upheld hand. Soon the gulls lose interest in the bread and return to the shore, now shrinking on the horizon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It will be a while before the Ocracoke lighthouse comes into view, so there is plenty of time to walk about the ferry, chat with passengers, and simply enjoy the moving images of sea and shore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There also is time to think about the evolution of the N. C. Department of Transportation’s Fen-y Division into one of the largest state-owned and -operated systems in the nation \u2014 second only to Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, a fleet of 24 ferries operates year-round to transport more than two million passengers across seven water routes over five bodies of water. In addition, the division owns a dredge and numerous support vessels, maintains its docks and passenger service centers, and operates its own shipyard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Born of geographic necessity, the state’s sophisticated ferry system provides much more than a pleasant way for tourists to “discover” coastal North Carolina. Ferries are an integral part of coastal culture and history, and continue to be the lifeline of many communities in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n