OCRACOKE – The N.C. Ferry Division’s Pamlico Sound routes between Swan Quarter, Cedar Island and Ocracoke will temporarily remain on their spring schedules until completion of an upcoming dredging project in the Bigfoot Slough ferry channel near Ocracoke’s Silver Lake Harbor. The routes were scheduled to move to their expanded summer schedules May 20.
“Our boats are ready, our crews are ready, but the Bigfoot Slough channel is too shallow and narrow to operate our largest ferries safely there right now,” said Ferry Division Director Jed Dixon.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is responsible for maintaining the channel, has scheduled an emergency dredging project to begin in late May, which will take about a week to complete, weather permitting. Once the channel is deemed safe, both the Cedar Island-Ocracoke and Swan Quarter-Ocracoke routes will expand from their spring schedules of six daily departures to their full summer schedules of eight daily departures.
For real-time text or email updates on weather or mechanical delays, sign up for the Ferry Information Notification System at
www.ncdot.gov/fins.