Boat ramp in Oriental ?

[paul_stewart]

A question for Tom Latrop or others who know:

We would like to launch our CS20, Dawn Patrol, from Oriental. I was thinking of using the Wildlife ramp into Smith's Creek (at the end Midyette Street). I'm wondering.... is leaving our trailer and car there overnight allowed and is that a safe area to leave a car? Is there a different boat ramp / marina you would recommend instead? Driving in from Vandemere.

--Paul

[ilnadi]

I had a boat in marinas in Oriantal for many years but never used the ramp. See if there is any info on Towndock.net.

There also used to be a marina/ramp search page on ncwaterways.com but their link seems to be broken.

is leaving our trailer and car there overnight allowed and is that a safe area to leave a car? Is there a different boat ramp / marina you would recommend instead? Driving in from Vandemere.

--Paul

[John Burritt]

I went by the wildlife ramp in Oriental ~ 7:00 this morning. There were 4 vehicles & trailers parked. At least 2 of them appeared to have spent the night - maybe more. All looked good - unmolested. According to the signs, the tow vehicle must stay attached to the trailer, or the trailer will be removed. Hope this helps.

[paul_stewart]

Thanks very much for the replies.

My son Alan and I launched our CS20 'Dawn Patrol' from this boat ramp at about 9:30am Saturday May 21 and returned at 3:00pm Sunday May 22. We had a good experience using the boat ramp. When we arrived Saturday the parking lot was about 80% full with trailers all attached to vehicles. We read the rules, which are entirely reasonable, and decided to give it a go. The concrete ramp and floating docks look new, the parking lot is nice smoothed gravel, and there was even a port-a-john on site. The site is surrounded on three sides by well-kept townhouses/homes and lawns/shade trees. The boat ramp is in a great location for access to Oriental's harbor and the Neuse River. I would recommend it. (Thank you, NC Wildlife Resources Commission.)

From Oriental, we cruised south to Beaufort and back. Leaving lovely Oriental we crossed the Neuse, traversed the ICW southbound to Newport River and entered the Beaufort area. We sailed past sailing replicas of the Nina and Pinta near Beaufort's Smith Airport. The drawbridge operator said he liked our CS20 ("sharpie".) We docked at Beaufort docks for the night. We met some WaterTribe friends there -- DogsLife and his son Mike. Sunday we headed back north on the Newport River but this time traversed the Harlowe waterway instead of the ICW. Then we crossed the Neuse River and flew into Oriental on a fast spinnaker run hitting 10 knots --nice ending.

The Harlowe Waterway (Harlowe Creek, Harlowe canal, Clubfoot Creek) is beautiful and was much more pleasant than the ICW waterway (Adams Creek, ICW Canal, Core Creek).

Harlowe route: quiet, wild, 3 low bridges (10' vertical x 20' horizontal clearance), no traffic, more time on the Newport River and Neuse River, scenic, beautiful.

ICW route: boat wakes, more miles spent inland, less time on the Newport and Neuse rivers, chased by barges, lots of power-boat traffic, lots of development.

On this short cruise the winds were often light or vanishing, the weather hot, and we were on a limited schedule so we used our 2HP Honda motor frequently --especially on the ICW and under the Harlowe bridges (the straight hand-dug middle section).

--Paul

[John Burritt]

Talk about being a nickel short & a day late. One of the vehicles I saw was probably yours. Glad you had a good trip.

[paul_stewart]

John,

I greatly appreciate that you kindly took the time to check it out!

--Paul

[paul_stewart]

Routes

Red: Saturday, south across Neuse River and down ICW, then upwind across Newport River to Beaufort.

Blue: Sunday, pushed north by light winds, up the Harlowe waterway, and then the best winds of the trip into Oriental.

--Paul