Extreme Shoaling Forces Reduction in Pamlico Sound Ferry Schedules for Ocracoke Island

Due to extreme shoaling in Bigfoot Slough just outside of Ocracoke’s Silver Lake Harbor, the North Carolina Ferry Division is reducing its schedule for service between Cedar Island, Swan Quarter and Ocracoke.

The schedule, beginning Dec. 4, will be as follows:​

• Ocracoke to Cedar Island: 7 a.m. and 1 p.m.
• Cedar Island to Ocracoke: 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
• Ocracoke to Swan Quarter: 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.
• Swan Quarter to Ocracoke: 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

The shoaling, which has caused low water conditions in and around Bigfoot Slough, means that only the smaller Sound Class ferries M/V Carteret and M/V Cedar Island are able to navigate the ferry channel.

The new schedule will remain in place until conditions in the ferry channel improve. The Ferry Division has already reached out to the Army Corps of Engineers to request emergency dredging assistance in the area.

Schedules between Hatteras and Ocracoke are not affected by the shoaling.