Life on a Sandbar
It was a rather blustery day, with winds over 35mph. Just as the Carteret was heading out the ditch, she was hit by a strong gust, causing the vessel to slide gently onto a sandbar just outside Silver Lake harbor – and stay there. And stay there and stay there.
Nine hours later, the tugboat Albemarle (finally) pulled it off. The crew and eight passengers spent some quality time together waiting for that moment.
“I was really impressed by the way the situation was handled,” said passenger and Ocracoke resident Teresa Adams on Saturday morning. She was back onboard another ferry, demonstrating the triumph of hope over experience. “I need to get where I’m going,” she laughed. On her way to a baby shower for her 7th grandchild, Teresa was trying to leave Friday to give herself an extra day.
“Knowing island life, if I really need to be somewhere at a certain time, I’ll try to leave a day early,” she said. She took getting stuck in stride. “The ferries are just one of the many advantages – or disadvantages – of island life.”
She says that her main concern is that people will blame the captain and crew.
“It was that particular gust at that particular moment,” she said. “Just bad timing – the wind hit and we slid onto a sand bar. It was no fault of the crew."
No one was injured and there was no damage to the ferry, which resumed carrying passengers on Saturday after a crew-only test run across the sound.
"I laughed when I read the news report about ‘no injuries’ because of course no one got hurt," Teresa said. "It wasn’t a big bump or jolt, we just stopped moving.”
Teresa commends the ferry crew for keeping the eight passengers informed of the situation. The communication was excellent, she said, which made a huge difference in getting through the day.
And there was food aboard, which must've helped.
The first thing the crew did was open up the snack and drink vending machines. Free nabs! (This news came as a great relief to a certain 7 year-old I know, who worried about how people would get to eat when they ran out of quarters.) The galley cook fired up the stove and served a “really good meal” of hot chicken-and-rice soup.
Besides eating, what does one do on the ferry for nine hours? Sleep. Read. Chat with the other passengers. With the blessing of wi-fi and cell phones, there were movies to watch, people to call, photos to take, texts to send.
Luckily, the Carteret didn't block the channel, and other ferries could pass by. (This was especially good since the big winds had shut down the Hatteras ferry operations, and the sound ferries were the only way on and off the island.) Two ferries that passed by tried to throw the Carteret a big wake to slosh (is that an official nautical term?) them off the sandbar, but to no avail. The tug Albemarle came down from Hatteras and made three unsuccessful attempts to dislodge the vessel, then decided to wait for the tide to rise and winds to die.
The USCG gave permission for the passengers to be offloaded by ladder onto the tug and brought ashore. But before that plan commenced, the tug (on its 4th try) pulled the Carteret loose.
“We came off the sandbar just like we went on,” Teresa said. “It just finally slid off.”
