I took the 11am voyage leaving Ocracoke Monday morning and came home on the 1pm leaving Hatteras, along with nine other Ocracoke residents, but we weren't the first. Books to Be Red's resident redhead/owner Leslie Lanier took an early (car) ferry to Hatteras so she could ride on the maiden voyage leaving Hatteras at 9am! Yay, Leslie! Thanks for getting up so early; I slept til 9.

Passengers enjoying the sun deck as we depart from Ocracoke

Monday was the first day ever of passenger-only ferry service between Hatteras Island and Ocracoke. (It was also the first ever passenger-only ferry service anywhere in N.C.) The Ocracoke Express takes 70 minutes to get from the ferry landing at Hatteras to Silver Lake harbor in the village of Ocracoke. For the first two days of the ferry's service, the passage is FREE. Beginning Wednesday, May 21, the toll will be a nominal rate of $1 each way.

Inaugural passengers Archer Watkins (left) & Charlie Batchelor (second from right) pose with Ferry Division employees John McKenzie & LB Johnson. Capt. Watkins & Capt. Batchelor sailed to Ocracoke on their own boats then rode the Ocracoke Express for fun.

I like to send my husband, Capt. Rob Temple, on adventures in service to the Current's readers. He had every intention of writing an article about the inaugural voyage of the Ocracoke Express, or so he said. Then he tricked me by inviting me along for a romantic 2.5 hours on Pamlico Sound. (Romantic!?. We didn't even sit together! I avoided both the sun on the outside deck and the extra motion of the upper lounge, where Rob liked the view. My inner ears prefer the lower deck lounge.) And now, here I am doing the writing.

The lower deck lounge.

But I digress.

The mood around and aboard the Ocracoke Express was ebullient. As we arrived at the ferry's berth across from the NPS Visitor Center, we noticed a small crowd of enthusiastic passengers lining up to board. For now, until a ticket kiosk is built, you have to cross in front of the stacking lanes for the sound ferries and walk into the ferry office to get your Ocracoke Express ticket. (Be sure to leave an extra few minutes for that.)

Commissioner Tom Pahl and Capt. Rob Temple exemplify the high spirits of the Ocracoke Express passengers.

We were greeted first by Ocracoke resident turned NCDOT ticket-taker John McKenzie who told me he'd wanted to work for the ferry service for years. John welcomed passengers with friendly jokes and conversation, and said he's looking forward to his turn to ride the boat on Tuesday.

John MacKenzie: greeter and ticket-taker.

I also saw ferry division management all over the place. Tim Hass, who's the ferry division's public information officer, was providing information to the public as people arrived with questions. He was happy to report that 57 people and one dog had just arrived from Hatteras on the inaugural run.

Onboard, I saw Harold Thomas, director of the ferry division, who was chatting with passengers and asking for feedback. He introduced me to Julie White, the NCDOT deputy secretary of multimodal transportation division. (That means everything but highways including aviation, rail, and ferries.)

"We've gotten great positive feedback so far this morning," Julie said. As she and Harold discussed ways to improve the service (signage, maps, advertising the boat's free Wi-fi, more concession options, phone charging stations) and get more feedback (passenger surveys), she told me, "We're only 45 days from deciding to find a leased vessel until today. We've been full steam ahead."

Leaving Ocracoke in our wake

"We're looking for ways to provide the highest level of customer service," Harold said, noting that soon the online reservation system would go live. "The ability for visitors to make a reservation and know how long it will take to get from point A to point B will be a new stress-free way to experience the Outer Banks."

Harold also touted the bipartisan support that the passenger-only ferry has across the state and in the NC General Assembly.

About 2/3 through the trip, we passed a U.S. Coast Guard boat setting out markers in the sound. Harold pointed them put to tell Julie and me that they were putting out aids to navigation for the Ocracoke Express to follow. "The Coast Guard's been wonderful through this whole process," he said.

I asked about the $1 toll and why it was lower than we all expected it to be.

"The law requires us to charge a toll," Julie explained. "But the wording of the legislation, which we asked for, is that we can charge up to $15 round trip or $7.50 each way. That's our ceiling, not our floor, and not our goal."

The flexibility in tolls will also allow the ferry division to use demand-based pricing. "We can respond to demand, and charge more at the most popular trips, and charge less to encourage riderships at other times," Julie said.

Harold and Julie also explained that the toll revenue that's collected cannot and will not support the operations. It's not supposed to. It's not even legal! According the legislation, all tolls, concession, and advertising income goes into a vessel replacement fund and cannot be used for ferry operations. Operations expenses comes from the general ferry budget, which is a small drop in the NCDOT's total budget. As Julie explained, even if they charged the highest amount at $15 round trip, the revenues from that wouldn't add much to the vessel replacement fund considering that a vessel costs millions of dollars. So there's no incentive to charge the highest toll. The incentive is to charge a small enough toll that people will want to ride. More riders = more money spent in Ocracoke businesses = more sales tax revenue for the county and state. Win-win-win!

On the Hatteras side, Jed Dixon, the ferry division's deputy director, was working the crowd talking up the passenger ferry. Ferry employees were letting the visitors waiting in line for the car ferry know that they could abandon their car (to a parking lot) and get to Ocracoke so much sooner! Jed is optimistic that the passenger ferry ridership will increase as the season gets busier and the lines for the car ferries get longer. "When people see that they can park and get right on the boat, that will be the benefit of this," he said.

Right now, the ferry will run 3 round trips a day. It leaves Hatteras at 9, 1, and 5. It leaves Ocracoke at 11, 3, and 7. Jed says that they could tweak the schedule to add a 4th round-trip by shortening the turn-aorund time, but all the trips have to be compressed within 12 hours max. (A ferry crew can only work 12 hours without being replaced.)

We joined 77 people heading over to Ocracoke on the 1pm trip from Hatteras. Again, the mood was enthusiastic. The ferry is staffed by NCDOT crew members as well as the Seastreak captain (Capt. Brandon Adams) and crew that came with the leased vessel. All were polite and professional.

Sydney and Maddox of PA found a cozy spot to snack and play at their parents' feet. Their family chose to ride rather than wait in line for a car ferry.

One thing I learned was that Homeland Security (the yellow shirts) is required to randomly select passengers for screening. One man was asked to show his driver's license. Oops, thought I. I didn't bring an ID. What would happen, I asked, if I'd been the unlucky one randomly selected? "You might not be able to board the ferry," was the answer I received. Note to self: bring an ID next time, just in case.

On the way to Hatteras, we had light winds around 10 mph, and a perfectly smooth ride, but by the time we came home, the wind had picked up to 20-25. As someone who has gotten seasick on the Swan Quarter and Cedar Island ferry rides, I can say that I noticed the wind increase, but I felt almost fine. That's good news for my fellow sufferers of motion sickness.

The ferry cruises along at a brisk 28 knots (more than twice as fast as the Hatteras-Ocracoke car ferry).

Other factoids:

You can bring your dog! Pets are welcome, if they are on a leash. I'll assume cats in carriers are welcome, too.

There are 20 bike racks. Bikes were popular today, so 20 might not be enough.

I found one power outlet (near the trash cans at the concession stand).

Speaking of trash.... add some recycling bins, DOT! Make recycling easy!

The trams are running!

Work continues on the passenger ferry that the DOT is building. It will hold fewer passengers than this leased vessel.

There really is free wi-fi. Free. Wi-fi.

Give it a try! For $1, it's well worth the trip!

Tickets!

Ocracoke Circulator at your service