Save Newport Real News in Newport Beach
One week ago today, the Cheyenne left the Newport Harbor after Chris Miller, the Harbor Resource Manager, decided he simply didn’t want to renew its permit any longer (even though they were paying mooring fees and producing revenue). The owner appealed the decision in early August, but later that month the hearing department denied the appeal. The decision was made after Harbor Commissioners Paul Blank, Duncan McIntosh and Doug West all voted against renewing the mooring permit, according to the Daily Pilot.
This boat– like all boats– has had some setbacks in its operations. Since it was designed as an international ocean exploring vessel and fitted to carry a submarine on-board to explore the depths of the worlds oceans, this particular boat had a few more issues than most are able to. One of the final touches will be finishing the glass dome for the submarine, a process that requires it to be carved perfectly from a single chunk of glass and takes 6 months to complete.
Currently, you can see the boat temporarily docked in Dana Point, as shown in this sunset photo from Newport resident Pauly Naughton.
Owner of the Cheyenne, Chris Welsh, told us that it was just for the time being, though he is giving a presentation tonight, at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point.
Friday, the boat will be departing to Bishop Rock & the Cortes Bank, and then will be off to the Channel Islands to do archaeological dives at Santa Cruz Island. After that, the location for the boat is up in the air, but the sub itself (and shark cage!) will be taken to dive the Farallones in San Francisco, where the hope is to film great whites. At that point, the sub will likely be based out of The Aquarium on the Bay.
Here is a photo of the Sub, Deep Challenger, the real star of the show:
