You need to read my various posts again... No one is railing against anchored out liveaboards! It is THESE anchored out liveaboards.
The crowded anchorage problem in Oriental has been 99% non existent, before these three
boats moved in there for good. The OP has repeatedly misrepresented the "facts". In fact, I never have failed to find a spot there in previous years, before these three
boats moved in. It was sometimes crowded, but if we were all laying to one hook, it was always doable.
The
current boats in question are occupying a space NORMALLY large enough for 6 or 7 boats, due to the multi
anchor moorings they have set. The 99% of boats that are passing through and lay to one hook, can no longer
anchor in there without fouling the "permanents" multiple lines, running across the bottom. The new hypothetical transients can't even anchor anywhere near the "anarchist three", because they may then swing into the "moored" boats, which, due to having several hooks out, will swing in a far smaller circle. (We have 180 degree
wind shifts here all the time)!
Like I said, the OP is making it up as he goes along... There have been a FEW boats who did the same sort of thing as this over the 7 years we've been here, so that might make 5 or even 8 out of hundreds, if not thousands of boats... FAR less than 1% of them.
To say it is inevitable makes no sense. Does that mean give in to it? Most folks here have enough common sense not to "squat" in a small transient courtesy anchorage.
This is not about liveaboards or their rights, like I repeatedly pointed out. I SUPPORT
ANCHORING OUT RIGHTS 100%! It is about consideration and common sense. This is the wrong place for what they're doing. NO ONE has the absolute right to anchor where ever they please. (Try it in ANY channel, or next to the aircraft carriers in Norfolk)!
Really, it is not about legalities, it is about you as the person
anchoring getting YOUR needs met in a way that doesn't infringe on others' rights in the process.
Yes... It is OK for "me" to do it responsibly, just like anyone else... responsibly. Forget the who, and focus on the how...
For one thing, (on the US east coast), being a long term
liveaboard anywhere above Titusville
Florida, (which I previously described in detail), is BRUTAL in the
winter. This is even more true up here! It may get down into the teens.
IF one wants to go for it here anyway, then they need to pick an "appropriate" spot.
RESPONSIBLE ANCHORED OUT
LIVEABOARD:
First... They need a LARGE roomy anchorage with a marina close by, that offers anchored out services, like a pumpout
dock or possibly even a
pump out
boat, like in Titusville.
This hypothetical marina ALSO offers fuels &
propane, parking spaces for your car or bike, showers, mail drop,
dinghy dock, and maybe even has a small attached grocery store.
Anchored in THIS sort of spot, you are getting YOUR needs met, while being
legal, responsible, and considerate in every respect. You are not landing your dink on public or private land, nor locking up your bike there. You are
renting this sort of space... it's yours! You are also not contributing to the
water pollution problem, (as trivial as it may be in the overall picture)... You are also NOT keeping anyone else from using the anchorage!
Now, if you have a sound
boat with WELL MAINTAINED ground tackle, set so well that it is up to AT LEAST 80 mph winds... Then, that is being a responsible liveaboard. I estimate that I have had that much
wind or more about 100 times over 40 years, and anchored a sistership in a catagory 4.
A lot of
marinas offer these services to "responsible" liveaboards, with reasonable
fees well under $100/month, perhaps closer to half that!
The anchorage in Oriental was never envisioned other than as an extension of the 2 boat free dock. The anchorage and the free
dinghy dock there is a courtesy to "transients", because the town is situated right at a double cross roads. It is the only logical "provisioning"
ICW stop over spot within a day, AND is also the logical stop over spot for boats heading out into Pamlico Sound from New Bern, several hours up the Neuse River.
The marina near this anchorage does NOT offer the liveaboard services I previously mentioned, because it is not that type of marina, it's private. This is therefore, exactly what I said, the worst possible anchorage for a person to long term stay in, much less THREE of them, with their ground tackle all over the place on the bottom.
Along with their regularly shitting in the slow flowing (already polluted) Neuse River, what these folks are doing is the HEIGHT of irresponsible, inconsiderate behavior. Their poor judgement and excesses cut down on the anchoring rights that I BELIEVE IN and we all want to continue to have.
As the world becomes even more overpopulated, we will loose more and more of these freedoms over time. Why speed things up? The best DEfense against these inevitable things, is to keep a low profile, and "be of no OFfense".
With the exception of once when anchored in Trinidad, (which is another story)... In almost 3,000 nights on the hook, (in over 20 countries), no one EVER complained about the anchoring out that "I" did. It isn't the who, like I said, it's the how & where.
Btw... If you want to be perceived by the land dwellers as a responsible person who just prefers to live anchored out, vs being a "dirt bag", appearances matter! It doesn't take much to have your boat AT LEAST look good when viewed from a quarter mile away through binoculars. That is NOT a high degree of spiff!
Mark
Maybe if we are lucky the Steamer will still be open, they have pool tables there.
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