Dexter Filming Locations: The Police Boat

The location: Police Boat

Q. What is it supposed to be on the show?

A. A police boat.

Q. Where is it supposed to be on the show?

A. In the water just off the old fuel docks at Bayfront Park.

Q. When did we see it on the show?

A. In Episode 11, of Season 5, "The Big One".

In the previous episode, Stan Liddy abducted Dexter in his van, and drove him to an old fuel dock. Dexter escaped and killed him there, leaving his body in the van.

In this scene, police arrive at the dock's murder scene, riding in a police boat.

(Which makes me ask: Why they didn't just drive, like Liddy did?. But, what the heck, it made for a more dramatic entrance...)

They arrive at the pier, Dexter examines the body, and Quinn gets into trouble when LaGuerta spots Liddy's blood on his shoe.

Q. What is it actually in real life?

A. A privately-owned boat called the "Neptune II" - (which is not a police boat).

Q. Where can I find it in real life?

A. Believe it or not, this boat is usually docked right behind (east of) the café is where they filmed the scene of Lumen talking to Dexter (about leaving) at a seaside cafe.

To be precise, it's a few spaces to the north of the Boardwalk Cafe, at Ports O'Call Village, on the main channel of the Los Angeles harbor, in San Pedro.

It's docked behind the next door building, near a small blue carousel.

The Neptune II is used daily by a local cremation company (The Neptune Society) to take mourners three miles out to sea to scatter the ashes of their loved ones. (You can see one example of this here.
)

According to this article, the boat is run by husband & wife team Dick & Alice Weiss, and the Neptune Society has handled the at-sea funerals of Cary Grant, William Holden, and Alan Hale - the skipper on "Gilligan's Island."

I assume they chose to rent this particular boat for three main reasons:

One, it's docked close to the pier where they filmed the scene.
Two, it's a commercial boat that can be chartered.
And three, it has that neat-looking gold eagle on front, which looks somewhat official.

All they had to do was add the word "Police" to the hull and sail it less than a mile south to the end of the dock.

They also shot the scene of Dexter buying Lumen a knife (at a Cuban marketplace) at Ports O'Call this season. But that was farther to the north, at the Crusty Crab.

I shot the photos below, at Ports O'Call, in November 2010:

Here is an aerial photo of the boat at dock. And here is a map link.

Q. How the heck did you figure out where it was?

A. Rick recognized the Neptune II and told me where to find it at dock. (Thanks, Rick!)

I then went down to check it out, and shot the matching photos you see above.

( Ironically, since I've been to Ports O'Call Village on many occasions, I've probably walked right past the Neptune II many times without noticing it...)

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