 |
|
|
||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||
 |
 |
|||||||||||
 |
  Swan
Quarter - Ocracoke Toll Ferry The Swan
Quarter ferry is one of three ferry
routes normally available to and from Ocracoke.
It is the longest of the three, taking
about two and one half hours to cross the
Pamlico Sound. You can find this ferry's
location on the Coastal
Guide Map. Choosing which ferry to
take from Ocracoke is, as a rule, just
a matter of logistics. Which one gets you
closer to where you want to be at the other
end? Swan
Quarter is in the middle of Swan Quarter
National Wildlife Refuge, and an easy ten
minute drive from Lake Mattamuskeet National
Wildlife Refuge. This area is a popular
spot in the winter for wildlife enthusiasts
because so many geese and Tundra Swans
winter here. The "Silver Lake" would be making this trip from Ocracoke to Swan Quarter, as it did on both occasions during the October, 2003 photographic trips by the author.  On
both trips the "Silver Lake" had a very
noisy, hard oscillating vibration in the aft
quarter, which shook the boat frequently.
It was too noisy to enjoy being on deck
at the rear of the boat. In fact, it was
difficult to talk over the noise. Fortunately,
staying forward or in the passenger cabin
made both the noise and vibration much
less noticeable. Nothing like this was experienced
on any of the other ferrys. In it's defense,
it was built in 1965, making it one of
the two oldest "sound class" ferrys in
the fleet (the Pamlico being the other
ferry built in 1965). Both
the Swan Quarter and Cedar Island ferrys
pass near a small sandbar/island next to
the ferry channel just west of Ocracoke.
This location is a favorite
gathering spot for gulls, terns, cormorants and
pelicans. It's quite a sight to see thousands
of birds lining the water's edge, while
others swim nearby and small flocks come
and go constantly. If you happen to pass
by on a day when the breeze is blowing
out of the north, you might catch a hint
of what a rookery smells like.  There
was little on the Swan Quarter trip to
break up the long crossing. The weather
was fabulous, the water was calm, much
of the time nearly smooth as glass, and
the sky was a beautiful shade of blue.
Occasionally a gull
would perch atop a mast or fly past,
and for a while there were jellyfish floating
by. All in all it was a relaxing trip from
Ocracoke to Swan Quarter.
|
|||||||||||
| Additional
Ferrys: NC Ferrys - Page One Knotts Island-Currituck NC Ferrys - Page Two Bayview-Aurora NC Ferrys - Page Three Minnesott Beach- Cherry Branch NC Ferrys - Page Four Cedar Island-Ocracoke NC Ferrys - Page Five Swan Quarter-Ocracoke NC Ferrys - Page Six Hatteras-Ocracoke NC Ferrys - Page Seven NC Ferry Fleet Photos Related Links - NC DOT Ferry Division (1-800-293-3779) NCWaterways.com Ferry Schedule NCDOT Ferry Vessels  |
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
