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​OCRACOKE – The N.C. Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division is extending the alternate schedule on Pamlico Sound between Cedar Island, Swan Quarter and Ocracoke due to continued shoaling issues in the ferry channel just outside of Ocracoke’s Silver Lake Harbor.

The schedule through April 5, weather permitting, is as follows:

Ocracoke to Cedar Island:  7:30 a.m., 1 p.m.
Cedar Island to Ocracoke: 10:30 a.m., 4:30 p.m.
Ocracoke to Swan Quarter: 7 a.m., 1:30 p.m.
Swan Quarter to Ocracoke: 10 a.m., 4:30 p.m.

Shoaling occurs when sand and sediment fill into a ferry channel, making water depths too shallow and the channel too narrow for safe operation of the ferry system’s largest vessels.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Dredge Murden continues to work in the Bigfoot Slough channel to clear the shoaling, but dredging operations are dependent on weather and tides. Once the dredging work is complete and water depths and channel widths return to acceptable levels, the Ferry Division will resume its regular schedule on both routes.