The North Carolina Ferry System’s Hatteras-Ocracoke vehicular ferry switches to its early springtime schedule on Tuesday, March 4, increasing the total number of daily departures from 28 to 36.
Starting on March 4, the daily schedule will be as follows:
- From Hatteras: 5:00 a.m., 6:00 a.m., 7:00 a.m., 8:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., Noon,
1:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m., 8:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m., 11:00 p.m., Midnight - From Ocracoke: 4:30 a.m., 6:30 a.m., 7:30 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m.,
12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m., 10:30 p.m., Midnight
The Ocracoke-Cedar Island and Ocracoke-Swan Quarter ferries switch to their springtime schedule on March 25.
The Ocracoke Express passenger ferry, which provides service between Hatteras and the heart of Ocracoke Island (Silver Lake), is scheduled to run from May 13-Sept. 15.
The passenger ferry will have four daily round-trip departures (eight total trips) from Tuesday-Thursday when ridership is highest, and three daily round-trip departures (six total trips) during the less active days of Friday, Saturday and Monday. The ferry will not operate on Sunday when ridership is lowest, and will instead dedicate Sundays to vessel maintenance. This will help minimize any departure schedule impacts.
The Ocracoke Express passenger ferry and the vehicle ferries that travel between Ocracoke and Swan Quarter and Ocracoke and Cedar Island offer reservations 90 days prior to departure, and people are encouraged to make reservations for those routes as soon as possible. For more information on the ferry schedule, or to make a reservation for the Ocracoke-Cedar Island and Ocracoke-Swan Quarter ferries, call 1-800-BY-FERRY or visit the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division website.
For a PDF of the statewide 2025 ferry schedule, click here.
