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Need a little help from you guys around Jacksonville - My son just graduated from Marine boot camp and will report to Gieger tomorrow for eight weeks. He will have weekend liberty at some point and I was kinda thinking of dragging the boat up that way in a month or so for maybe a 4 day weekend. Any advice on best places to stay that are close to water and easy to get outside - never fished those waters - how far to trolling for dolphin/wahoo/etc. Any other advice or help would be 'preciated. Anybody have a condo for short rental maybe?? TIA
Try waterway inn in Swansboro- located on the ICW- with slips. About 50 yds from a public ramp, 500 yds from Dudley's marina, and the closest spot to the recently dredged and marked Bogue Inlet. Inshore fishing (spanish/kings/dolphin) is good and plenty of artifical reefs. About 20 minutes from lejeune, 35 from geiger.... rooms have fridges/microwaves, grills by the water-
Another vote for the Waterway Inn. I stayed there a couple of years ago and the owners are really good folks. He used to have an older Seacraft about 25 or so feet. Rooms are small though.
You want to stay around the sneads ferry area. Not as much traffic and congestion as swansboro. Courthouse bay on Camp Lejeune has a great boat ramp. This is located across the bridge aboard camp Lejeune. This ramp is about 4 miles to the New River inlet or Intercoastal waterway.
also the ramp has been redone in hubert area queens creek by the red barn, you can cut thru the back gate if you are coming from sneads ferry way. it will put you on icw and a few miles from bogue or browns inlet
you can get a bite to eat at the "red barn". that way you could also stay in jax if you needed to, should be ok as long as not payday
Thanks guys-My son just started his training so he will be there 8 weeks - thinking now about waiting til Labor Day to make the trip. Appreciate the info.
turn on 172 off hwy 24 in hubert, just before you get to the back gate take a left on bear creek rd
then go about 3-4 miles and take right on red barn rd
ramp is down on right
it was jam packed this weekend
be careful launching at the red barn...not sure what kind of boat you have, but it's not a very nice ramp. It's more of a local old school ramp...you would be in the ICW in minutes. Just want you to know.
Have heard that the New River Inlet was very shallow right now -- waiting to be dredged...
marineheel when was the last time you went to that ramp? they improved over the winter, not saying its big are, b/c its not, good for launching a small boat, though, quick to browns and bear inlet
new river hasn't been dredged and only had one buoy about 3 weeks ago
the area is deep just need to follow the channel
about 4ft in some places but navigable
As your son is in the Marine Corps, he can get you reservations at the Hostess House at the main base, (locally the main part of the base is called “main sides“) or at a cabana at the beach on base. There are also three Marina's on Base. One at New River Air Station (next to Camp Geiger), Gottschalk Marina (largest) at main sides, and one at Courthouse Bay, which is the closest to the beach and New River Inlet. You can also launch a boat at the many boat ramps on the base. The two closest improved boat ramps to the beach are Freeman Creek about 2˝ miles from the beach, and Mile Hammock Bay about 4 miles from the beach in the other direction. You have to have a special permit to use the Freeman Creek Ramp that is on the ICW near the NE boundary of the base as it in next to a firing range and can be closed. Mile Hammock Bay is ˝ way between the beach and Courthouse Bay to the SW. Mile Hammock Bay ramp may occasionally be closed due to firing, field exercises, or training. It consists of two docks, and a large ramp that can handle large air cushion vehicles, large landing craft, and small Amphibious ships. You could probably launch 30 boats on that ramp at one time, and there is plenty of parking, but no facilities, but there may be a couple of “porta-johns” in the area.
Currently New River Inlet is probably the best inlet to use between the ports of Morehead City and Wilmington. It is currently the only one that is dredged on a regular basis. The other local inlets either are not dredged, or the dredging has been reduced in recent years. There has been connector channel relocation at Bogue Inlet (Swansboro) and water doesn’t seem to want to use the new channel. New Topsail inlet in the other direction isn’t dredged as often and it’s hard to predict what condition it will be in next week, let alone Labor Day.
As far as fishing spots, there are several Artificial Reefs, and other things that are mark on the inexpensive charts you can get locally. Most boats going out look for someone else to go outside with. You can go out with a 21 foot boat, in good conditions, but most consider 23-25 foot ideal. Flat bottom or Bay boats are not recommended for going out in the ocean, as a thunderstorm can blow up quickly.
There is a Holiday Inn Express on HWY 210 in Sneads Ferry near the North Shore Country Club. While there, you will be about a 25 mile drive to Geiger. Good restaurants nearby. There is a public launch ramp across the high bridge going onto North Topsail Island about a mile from the hotel. The ramp is 3 or 4 miles from New River Inlet. They dredged the inlet last week but there still are no markers. Not a problem getting out of the inlet if you can read the water. The other ideas about staying on Camp Lejeune are good. I'm not sure if they have guest quarters on Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) New River. You will have to go through MCAS New River to get to your son on Camp Geiger. I work on Camp Geiger about one day a week. PM me if you have any other local area questions.
__________________ Cheers, Jack B.
2008 Nautic Star 2110 Bay w/Yamaha F150
Camp Gieger-Camp Lejuene Trip 
