GUIDES BOARD FERRIES
Now You Can
Ask Those Cape Fear
Questions
BY MARJORIE MEGIVERN
If you've enjoyed the Cape Fear
River breezes on one of the
North Carolina ferry boats be
tween Southport and Ft. Fisher, you
know there are intriguing sights
along the way. They arc no longer a
puzzlement, however, thanks to a
more aggressive guide program on
board.
Last year when the Governor
Russell joined the Sandy Graham
in moving passengers and cars up
and down the river, two additional
young people were hired and
trained to welcome and inform pas
sengers about their route and the
Cape Fear area.
"The N.C. legislature appropriat
ed funds for guides back in 1984,"
said Brenda Marshhurn, assistant
manager of Brunswicktown, whose
duties include training these help
ers. "There were two in the begin
ning until we added a second boat,
when we hired two more."
One of the four newcomers
greeting passengers on hoard the
Governor Russell one day in early
June was Donnie Manning. Just
three days after completion of his
training he was giving guests a
warm welcome via the PA system
and encouraging them to ask ques
tions throughout the 30-minute
voyage. Then the NCSU sopho
more strolled among the crowd in
PHOTO BY MARJORIE MEGIVERN
DONNIE MANNING answers passengers ' questions about ferry operations.
his uniform of khaki shorts and
white shirt, distributing colorful
brochures about events on both
ends of the trip, and answering
those questions.
Manning was pleased to have a
job that, in his words, "isn't very
hard," and allows him to be outside
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and on hoard a boat all day.
"My dad told me about this be
ing advertised and I applied for it,"
he said. "I don't have any problem
talking to strangers and we learned
enough about the area and the river
to answer almost anything."
On this trip, two women ap
proached Manning to ask about the
boat's speed and frequency of cros
sings. An Ohio traveler wanted
technical engine information, and
this reporter quizzed him about a
tiny island to the starboard. He han
dled every query without hesitation,
obviously having done his home
work. (Be sure and look for Gull
Island, according to Manning a
nesting ground for the swarm of
gulls that follow the boat.)
"People ask mostly about land
marks along the way," Manning
said. "Sometimes they want to
know where there are good restau
rants in Southport or Carolina
Beach. Kids just love to feed the
gulls."
On that third day of his employ
ment, the young guide was emphat
ically happy with his work. "I'd
like to do it every summer," he de
clared.
The full-time summer guide jobs .
SOUTHPORT-FORT
FISHER FERRY
SUMMER SCHEDULE
Leaves Southport Leaves FL Fisher
8:00 AM 8:50 AM
8:50 AM 9:40 AM
9:40 AM 10:30 AM
10:30 AM 11:20 AM
11:20 AM 12:10 PM
12:10 PM 1:00 PM
1:00 PM 1:50 PM
1 :50 PM 2:40 PM
2:40 PM 3:30 PM
3:30 PM 4:20 PM
4:20 PM 5:10 PM
5:10 PM 6:00 PM
6:00 PM 6:50 PM
pay $5.31 an hour and each guide
gets two or three days off after
working a week. One guide is on
duty on each ferry from 8:30 a.m.
to 5 p.m. daily through August.
His co-workers this summer,
switching schedules every two
weeks, are Kris Shepard of UNC
Chapel Hill, Denise Stidham of
UNC-W and Tom Miller of Bob
Jones Universuy in South Carolina.
The students, all between 18 and 23
years of age, received five days
training from Marshburn, during
which time they met with local
chambers of commerce and learned
the geography and history of the
area.
"We tell them, though, to suggest
that people go to the chamber or to
a particular site themselves if they
have lots of questions about it,"
Marshburn explained. "We also
warn them not to get bogged down
with one person on a trip, some
body who wants to talk a lot."
Marshburn accompanied the four
on their maiden voyage, June 5,
then proclaimed them ready to "so
lo."
"I choose guides carefully," she
said. "They must be enrolled for the
fall quarter in a university or col
lege, but age is not a factor. Also, I
try to look for communications or
history majors, because these are
naturals for the job, but it's riot a re
quirement."
Asked why there was not contin
ual patter over the public address
system during the trip, as on similar
historic jaunts, Marshburn said that
kind of guided tour had been tried
unsuccessfully with engine noise an
interference.
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