Swan Quarter, Cedar Island ferry runs to Ocracoke to resume

Sans Souci is a cable ferry located on the Cashie River in Bertie County, North Carolina. The ferry is operated by the North Carolina Department of Transportation. | smkybear CC via Flickr

OCRACOKE — Ferry service on Pamlico Sound resumed on Tuesday as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continued work on shoaling issues in Bigfoot Slough near Ocracoke.

The N.C. Department of Transportation said in a news release that service from Swan Quarter and Cedar Island to Ocracoke began with a two-boat, alternate schedule while the corps continues its work.

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.

Dredging operations are expected to continue through the week, weather and times permitting. Once the dredging work is complete and water depths and channel widths return to acceptable levels, the Ferry Division will resume its regular, three-boat schedule on both routes, the department said.