
DATE: Sunday, May 4, 1997                   TAG: 9705020078

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: OCRACOKE                          LENGTH:  122 lines

FERRIES ARE BREAK FROM VACATION HUSTLE

THEY'RE FUN, they're romantic and most are free.

Ferry rides are the best deal on the coast for vaca-tioners.

When he came to this island as a visitor, said Bob Turner, ``the ferry ride was part of the adventure of the vacation. Once you were on the ferry, it was like leaving the world behind.''

Turner and his wife left the world behind for good when he moved to Ocracoke two years ago after he retired from a marine business in Maryland, but he still enjoys riding a ferry, the only way to get to the mainland.

Passengers can see the beauties of coastal waters as well as the richest yachtsmen in the fanciest of boats. Many riders say the rides are the most relaxing and scenic experience of their vacation.

``Each and every one of us sees the natural beauty in a prismatic way,'' said Dale Gray, a philosophical deck hand on the Hatteras Inlet ferry. ``We view it in a different way even though we're seeing the same thing.''

Looking outside the window of the small passengers lounge, it was easy to see what Gray was talking about. The wide ferryboat called the Lindsay Warren swept across the Hatteras Inlet as the sun eased closer to the horizon. The water multiplied the colors of the sunset.

A couple of children tossed cold french fries to the sea gulls hovering as usual just behind the boat. As the ferry turned into the channel, the armada of chartered fishing boats passed one by one, heading home for the day. Some of the captains waved as they passed.

No dolphins or schools of bluefish were spotted this day, but it is not unusual to see them.

``We saw a school of porpoises,'' said Nancy Ayres of Kansas City as she relaxed at Howard's Pub on Ocracoke Island. The day Ayres had crossed Hatteras Inlet the weather had turned wet and chilly, but the dolphins came out to play anyway.

Ayres had never been on a vehicle-carrying ferry before. ``If the weather becomes nice, we might take one of the other ferries,'' she said.

The 40-minute ride between Hatteras and Ocracoke and six other routes up and down the North Carolina coast make up the second largest ferry system in the nation. The state of Washington has the largest. Twenty-four ferries range in capacity from 18 cars on the Currituck/Knotts Island route to 50 cars on the Ocracoke/Cedar Island route.

Whether the lure is a remote beach or the ride itself, 2.3 million people rode North Carolina ferries last year, said Jerry Gaskill, director of the North Carolina Department of Transportation Ferry Division based in Morehead City. The free ride between Hatteras and Ocracoke is the most popular route. Ferries there carried 325,000 vehicles last year.

``People enjoy getting out on the boats,'' said Charles Utz, administrative officer for the NCDOT Ferry Division. ``I'm amazed at the number of people who say the ferry is their first boat ride.''

Residents are not as fond of the ferries. Instead of a 10-minute drive over a bridge, Ocracoke locals have to take a ferry for 2.5 hours across the Pamlico Sound to get to their county seat in Swan Quarter.

``It's a decompression time,'' Turner said, speaking of the necessary ferry ride to the mainland. ``It's one of the few times that you're not trying to get something accomplished. It does dictate your schedule, though.''

For vacationers, it is a long, rolling ride in the sun without worries of traffic lights or exhaust fumes - if the weather is nice.

There is a $10 toll on both the Ocracoke/Swan Quarter route and the Ocracoke/Cedar Island route, also more than two hours long. The only other ferry with a toll is the Southport/Fort Fisher route. The cost is $3. Reservations are recommended for all three.

The tolls haven't gone up since 1979, Gaskill said, and they account for only 7 percent of the ferry system's $18.3 million budget. There was a move afoot about three years ago to place tolls on all the ferries, to finance 20 percent of the budget.

``The proposal was well received by the Board of Transportation,'' Gaskill said. ``Some local commuters became highly emotional against it. It sort of died on the vine.''

The Ferry Service already offers annual passes for $150 to locals on the Ocracoke-Swan Quarter and Ocracoke-Cedar Island routes.

The North Carolina ferry system had its beginnings in 1934 when the state began subsidizing a ferry that crossed the Oregon Inlet, according to a history by the NCDOT Ferry System. Capt. J.B. ``Toby'' Tillet operated the ferry.

For about the next 40 years, the state extended its ferry service by buying private ferryboats and converting old Navy landing craft. Bridges ended the service over Oregon Inlet, the Alligator River and the Croatan Sound. Newer ferries are made especially for their purpose.

When Gaskill became director in 1993, he and a committee decided to make the ferry service more customer oriented.

Ferry deck hands have become ambassadors of sort, more than willing to talk to the passengers about sites at ferry destinations.

``Our main focus as a deck hand is to give tourists a sense of `We hope you enjoy your stay and that you will come back,' '' Gray said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

DREW WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot

A North Carolina ferry leaves Hatteras Island bound for Ocracoke

Island.

Graphic

N.C. FERRIES

North Carolina Department of Transportation sponsors 24 ferries

at seven routes across waterways along the state's coast:

Currituck/Knotts Island, a free 45-minute ride across 4 miles of

the Currituck Sound.

Hatteras/Ocracoke, a free 40-minute ride across 4 miles of the

Hatteras Inlet.

Ocracoke/Swan Quarter, a 2 1/2-hour ride over 27 miles of the