I'm surprised to see so many shrimp boats in the harbor this morning. I
wonder if most of the fleet is idle.


Admiral Halsey wrote:
It varies from day to day. I know absolutely nothing about shrimping.

But you're going to tell us about it anyway.

... But
I assume there are good days for it, and bad ones.

Those are the big boys... they go from Mexico to New England, often out
hauling for a week. Check the web cam archive to see when they arrive
leave. The shrimpers that have to wait for a good day are much much smaller.


... After we live there a
while we'll no doubt learn more about it. By the way, one can buy fresh
shrimp at the docks there, when the boats come in.

Really? Who'd a thunk it?



The small building in the foreground on the left is a coffee shop. Looks
like business is pretty good.


That little place used to be the Oriental Trading Co. prior to Isabel

I didn't say what it *used* to be, I said what it is now. You want the
history of most of the town buildings? I go to Oriental fairly often,
starting in about 1968. Nowadays I have family there.



The anchorage is out beyond the sterns of the row of shrimpers on the
right. There is a new marina that takes up most of the old anchorage
around the corner. You can see the loom of the open Neuse River in the
distance to the left.


I believe that's right.

Good.




Incidentally, I've assumed that four-lane headed into Oriental was primarily
to provide faster access to the Minnesott ferry. Am I off-base on that?


Yep. It's for the blue-hairs who want to shop at the Wal-Mart in New
Bern and can't be bothered to wait behind the tractors that are often on
the road between New Bern & Oriental. Not many people use the Minnesott
ferry, I've rarely seen it more than half full.

DSK

"DSK" wrote in message

I'm surprised to see so many shrimp boats in the harbor this morning. I
wonder if most of the fleet is idle.


Admiral Halsey wrote:
It varies from day to day. I know absolutely nothing about shrimping.

But you're going to tell us about it anyway.

... But I assume there are good days for it, and bad ones.

Those are the big boys... they go from Mexico to New England, often out
hauling for a week. Check the web cam archive to see when they arrive
leave. The shrimpers that have to wait for a good day are much much
smaller.

See, you know more about it than I do. But I must admit I'm surprised they
only go out for a week. The sword boats go out for a month or more at a
time.



... After we live there a while we'll no doubt learn more about it. By
the way, one can buy fresh shrimp at the docks there, when the boats come
in.

Really? Who'd a thunk it?

That's not the case as many places. Here in the GLs we can't generally buy
fish off the boats. Some of the boats are owned by the wholesaler/retailer,
and some have contracts with them. Either way, the boat owners are
prohibited from selling directly.



The small building in the foreground on the left is a coffee shop. Looks
like business is pretty good.


That little place used to be the Oriental Trading Co. prior to Isabel

I didn't say what it *used* to be, I said what it is now. You want the
history of most of the town buildings? I go to Oriental fairly often,
starting in about 1968. Nowadays I have family there.

My, but you're testy tonight. I wasn't challenging your knowledge--only
updating what you said. Take a Prozac and call me in the morning.



The anchorage is out beyond the sterns of the row of shrimpers on the
right. There is a new marina that takes up most of the old anchorage
around the corner. You can see the loom of the open Neuse River in the
distance to the left.


I believe that's right.

Good.




Incidentally, I've assumed that four-lane headed into Oriental was
primarily to provide faster access to the Minnesott ferry. Am I off-base
on that?


Yep. It's for the blue-hairs who want to shop at the Wal-Mart in New Bern
and can't be bothered to wait behind the tractors that are often on the
road between New Bern & Oriental. Not many people use the Minnesott ferry,
I've rarely seen it more than half full.

I don't buy that for a moment. That sounds like a typical "I hate anyone
who wasn't born here" sort of mentality. It's highly unlikely that NC would
go to the tremendous expense to put four lanes in for the convenience of the
relatively few residents in the greater Oriental area. For increased
tourism? Perhaps. To accommodate the ferry traffic? Maybe. To gratify a
few transplanted New Yorkers who want rapid transit to New Bern? Not
likely.

We were there in December '03, and both boats were full, or almost, every
trip, even at the end of the day. On two occasions we had to wait for the
second boat. NC is to be commended for its free ferries, and even the ones
that charge are reasonable.

Bull

Admiral Halsey wrote:
See, you know more about it than I do. But I must admit I'm surprised they
only go out for a week. The sword boats go out for a month or more at a
time.


It varies. Depends on how close to home they are trawling and how long
it takes them to fill up. The Oriental boats are among the better built
& equipped, and usually the captains are rather savvy.

Many of them will still trawl right down the middle of the channel
though, dammit.


That's not the case as many places. Here in the GLs we can't generally buy
fish off the boats. Some of the boats are owned by the wholesaler/retailer,
and some have contracts with them. Either way, the boat owners are
prohibited from selling directly.


Isn't that kinda dumb? Do the fish wholesalers have a stronger lobby?
This kind of interference in free markets is one of things that make me
sceptical of some recent "conservative" economic claims.


That little place used to be the Oriental Trading Co. prior to Isabel

I didn't say what it *used* to be, I said what it is now. You want the
history of most of the town buildings? I go to Oriental fairly often,
starting in about 1968. Nowadays I have family there.


My, but you're testy tonight.

Sorry, didn't mean to be testy. But most of the buildings along the
"main drag" in Oriental have changed many times over the past 15 years.
Tourism & retirees have been an uncertain bonus for the local economy.

Incidentally, I've assumed that four-lane headed into Oriental was
primarily to provide faster access to the Minnesott ferry. Am I off-base
on that?


Yep. It's for the blue-hairs who want to shop at the Wal-Mart in New Bern
and can't be bothered to wait behind the tractors that are often on the
road between New Bern & Oriental. Not many people use the Minnesott ferry,
I've rarely seen it more than half full.


I don't buy that for a moment. That sounds like a typical "I hate anyone
who wasn't born here" sort of mentality.

Oh, I don't hate them. Many of them are nice folks, although prone to
complain too much.


... It's highly unlikely that NC would
go to the tremendous expense to put four lanes in for the convenience of the
relatively few residents in the greater Oriental area.

There's where you're making your mistake. "Relatively few residents."
Look at the map of eastern NC... doesn't have to be a small scale or
topo map, the road atlas will do. Notice the peninsula between the Neuse
& Pamlico Rivers, between Little Washington and New Bern. Unexplored
jungle & swamp, right? A few quaint sleepy villages with dogs on front
porches and no stop lights, right?

Wrong. It's full. Huge phosphate plant and mile after mile of suburban
homes built in the former swamp. The rate of expansion is actually
slowing down because they're running out of "land" soupy enough to hold
up a house. Used to be a lot of tobacco & turkey farms in the area, but
lately the county has jacked up taxes to where only expensive houses
will turn a profit.

I suggest you drive Hwy 55 a few times and see what you think. There are
still a few relatively rural spots left, but it's being aggrssively
marketed as something it ain't. It's mostly retirees, which ought to
suit the real estate agents just fine as they can resell the house
quickly, but I guess they're just greedy.

Also the NC legislature has been very complicit in overdeveloping the
whole coastal area. About 20 years ago they got the bright idea to turn
it into a combination of Florida North and New Jersey South. By now the
process is almost complete.



We were there in December '03, and both boats were full, or almost, every
trip, even at the end of the day. On two occasions we had to wait for the
second boat. NC is to be commended for its free ferries, and even the ones
that charge are reasonable.


OK, that's a new one on me. Weekend traffic maybe? I've never heard of
anybody having to wait for a second boat before. Often I've taken the
ferry as a pleasant afternoon break and been the only car on board.

BTW the ferries aren't free. They're paid for out of tax money, of course!