# St Mary's Mafia?



## Fletch_W (Jul 18, 2014)

Backstory:


I was looking for a private charter to and from Cumberland Island. I didn't want to wait until 9:45 to get there, I wanted to get there early and enjoy time there before the crowds and before it gets too hot. 

I contacted every single charter captain online that services the St Mary's area. 

None of them got back to me, except one.... we'll get to that later. 

I sit on hold on the phone for the Cumberland Ferry for a very long time. Eventually I hang up, because it's past their stated operating hours and I figured I'd just keep sitting on hold until I died. 

So the next morning, after reading office hours for the reservation line are 10 AM, I start calling at 930. I get the "outside operating hours" over and over, and I keep pressing redial over and over, 9:59 still outside hours, then at precisely 10am, pressing redial over and over mind you, I get the message "We are experiencing unusually high call volume blah blah".

I think "Great! I've got to be one of the first people in line... this shouldn't take long at all...."

41 minutes later, the recording stops abrubtly and some dude answers and says "Can I help you?"

"Yes! I am calling to make a reservation for the ferry."

"Yeah, hold on, I'm gonna transfer you"

So I get transferred back to the same recording I heard before. 

Three minutes later, another person picks up and says "Can I help you?"

"Yes, I am trying to make a reservation for the ferry"

"Yeah, um, yeah I guess I can help you with that... "

So the nice young man takes down my information, credit card, etc. 

As far as I know, the reservation is made. 




The charter captain I mentioned earlier... he calls me back to offer me one of his eco-tours, and explains that no one outside the Lang's are allowed by law to ferry people to and from the island, for money. Sure, they can pick you up and drop you off for free, and you can take your own boat there, but no one else can drop you off or pick you up for a fee, besides the Langs. 

Government Contract. 


Sounds ridiculous, but it's true. Got my email confirmation for my ferry reservation, and it's Lang's Seafood. 

Seems odd. 

Do you know what seems odder? 

I talked to one of the Lang's on his cell phone to try and book a private charter out there, not knowing about the Mafia, and he told me to call the restaurant. I called the number he gave me, and Old Man Lang picked up, and I said I wanted to book a private charter out to Cumberland. He yelled at some one in the front yard and asked me to hold, after about 5 minutes my reception or his reception started breaking up and he hung up on me. 


So I'm curious...


Why does this one marina have 100% legal rights to ferry people to and from a national park?

The unnamed captain I talked to today said this policy hurts alot of charter captains in the area that could really use the side business. 

Funny how Lang's just opened a second marina on Amelia to accomodate demand, but charter captains can't pick up onesies and twosies here and there without getting their license jeopardized. 


Seems really crooked to me. 


Maybe I'm looking at this all wrong. I'm open to the possibility that everything is hunky dory down there in St Mary's and I just got the wrong impression. My mind is open, please explain to me how this isn't a Mafia type deal that Lang has with NPS.


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## whatknot (Jul 18, 2014)

You are in luck, Fletch.   Calvin's contract with NPS to operate the Cumberland ferry expires in august - why don't you bid against him?  It does sound like your beef is more with the US government and NPS than my octogenarian cousin.   At least I hope so.   Maybe you just need Calvin's home phone number.


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## Fletch_W (Jul 18, 2014)

whatknot said:


> It does sound like your beef is more with the US government and NPS than my octogenarian cousin.   .




100% correct.


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## BigRedObsession (Jul 19, 2014)

Is there nowhere that you can rent a boat? I know that boats can be rented on Ft. Stewart, I bet they can be rented down there at the naval station.


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## ghost8026 (Jul 19, 2014)

Yes they can be rented on base but not sure if only for base workers or not...but yea that is true that the govt has a contract with them and noone else can profit for that....not sure about how the whole ferry operation works far as reservations and all never done that but it sounds like you har a rough time and sorry about all that...but maybe you could talk to a charter capt about a free ride over and jus give him a very genorous tip to cover his time and expenses


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## deadline34 (Jul 19, 2014)

The Langs are a vendor...which is a common practice throughout the national park system and not unique to Cumberland National Seashore.  They operate the ferry and the reservation system and rent bicycles on the island.  Other "for hire" captains are not permitted to land anyone on the island...whether they are paid or not...without the prior approval of the Chief Law Enforcement Ranger.


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## mdgreco191 (Jul 23, 2014)

What a load of - I AM A POTTY MOUTH -- I AM A POTTY MOUTH -!  No wonder I had such a hard time getting a dang reservation back in May.  A monopoly on a NP just doesn't seem right.  I don't think I would be as mad about this if said monopoly actually did a good job.  I had to send three faxes and spent about 3 hours on hold trying to get a reservation.  

I finally got a call on my cell from a girl wanting my credit card number to pay for my reservation!  I was very uneasy about this, but had tried so hard to get a reservation. I went ahead and gave my CC # to her and checked my statement soon after.  Turned out to be legit, but what a runaround just to pay for an over priced ferry ride!

I feel your pain Fletch!


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## Trandall8 (Jul 23, 2014)

Never done it but sounds really crazy. But does sound like so,etching government does and doesn't care about changing cause they have more important stuff not to do


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## HOBO (Jul 24, 2014)

What does Langs charge for a RT to Cumberland???

Just curious...

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## MadFish12 (Jul 24, 2014)

The only boats you can rent (besides kayaks) on the naval base are permanently in the water on Lake D. They can't be rented and taken off-base.


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## Steve762us (Jul 24, 2014)

mdgreco191 said:


> What a load of - I AM A POTTY MOUTH -- I AM A POTTY MOUTH -!  No wonder I had such a hard time getting a dang reservation back in May.  A monopoly on a NP just doesn't seem right.



It has to do with the NPS setting a limit on the number of people brought over to the park, on a daily basis.

With one contractor doing the job, the contractor keeps track of bookings/reservations to stay under the NPS limit. 

It would be really interesting on how bookings would be handled, if you had multiple contractors, and the aggregate total exceeded the NPS limit.


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## Oldstick (Jul 24, 2014)

Yeah private contractors are always superior to when the government operates things.



That must be why when I recently mailed my boat registration in for renewal it was the usual $15 + $10 late fee ( I expected this because the boat hadn't been used for 2 or 3 years) then I got informed there was an additional $10 processing fee for it from some company in MD.  That was several weeks ago and still waiting for the paperwork to arrive.  I suppose I should have paid a $20 fee for 2 weeks processing.


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## Steve762us (Jul 24, 2014)

Oldstick said:


> Yeah private contractors are always superior to when the government operates things.
> 
> 
> .



Good Golly...you must think the Affordable Care Act is just the bee's knees!


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## deadline34 (Jul 25, 2014)

$20 roundtrip to Cumberland...+ $4 park fee.


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## Oldstick (Aug 13, 2014)

Oldstick said:


> Yeah private contractors are always superior to when the government operates things.
> 
> 
> 
> That must be why when I recently mailed my boat registration in for renewal it was the usual $15 + $10 late fee ( I expected this because the boat hadn't been used for 2 or 3 years) then I got informed there was an additional $10 processing fee for it from some company in MD.  That was several weeks ago and still waiting for the paperwork to arrive.  I suppose I should have paid a $20 fee for 2 weeks processing.



Then the paperwork finally did finally arrive about a month later.  Then two week later, another exact copy of the same paper work arrives, including registration card and more stickers.  Definitely worth the extra processing fee I had to pay the contractor for their superior service - NOT.


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