We heartily recommend a visit to Manteo, NC, with is really GOOD restaurants, plentiful shopping and access to multiple historical attractions. And, you simply can’t do better than to coil your lines at SALTY SOUTHEAST CRUISERS’ NET SPONSOR, Manteo Waterfront Marina. Tell Captain Carl we sent you!!!

Manteo has a lot going for it and you will enjoy the history that abounds there. We went to Manteo last year. To read our story, go to http://www.betsyrick.com and click on the link to our blog. Then just scroll back a bit to last year or use the archive.
Rick Johnson
Harbor Host for Sneads Ferry, NC

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s North Carolina Marina Directory Listing For Manteo Waterfront Marina

Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Manteo Waterfront Marina

The Ocracoke National Park Service Docks are on the northern shores of Silver Lake Harbor, just east of its entrance.

We spent 3 nights at Ocracoke Island a couple of years ago. It is a lovely spot with lots to do. The US Park Service docks are not fancy, but are more than adequate. Several good restaurants are within walking distance and the beach is within biking range. Be sure to check out the picturesque lighthouse.
Mark and Bev MacMahon
M/V Calypso – AT34
currently motoring to Charleston, SC

M/V Oasis traveled to Okracoke from Oriental, NC last spring. Check out our Journal tab at http://www.oasiscrew.shutterfly.com. Scroll to North Carolina and Virginia entry dated May 23rd.
Pasted below is a brief part of that entry.
On May 10th we departed the ICW to take a side trip across Pamlico Sound to the Outter Banks of North Carolina and visit the island of Ocracoke, say that 10 times as fast as you can. The harbor here is called Silver Lake where the ferrys bring all the tourist and provisions for the island. They also have a small airport. Ocrackoe is where the infamous pirate Blackbeard was captured and taken to sea to be hanged at the direction of the then Governor of Virginia around 1774. We were here for three days and enjoyed bicycling around the island and enjoying the nice weather and the harbor waterfront at sunset.
Chuck and Frances
M/V Oasis

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s North Carolina Marina Directory Listing For Ocracoke National Park Service Docks

Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Ocracoke National Park Service Docks

Southern Shores, NC is a northern Outer Banks community, north of Kitty Hawk. To reach Southern Shores by water, you must cruise through shallow, southern Currituck Sound, north from the Wright Brothers Memorial Bridge. This route is used primarily by shallow draft vessels. Daymarker # 7 is part of the entrance channel into the Southern Shores Harbor.

NC – PAMLICO SOUND – SOUTHERN SHORES – SHOALING
Shoaling to a depth of 1-2 feet MLW has been reported in the vicinity of Southern Shores Daybeacon 7 (LLNR 31300). Chart: 12205.

Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To A “Navigation Alert” Position at Southern Shores

Recent Local Notices to Mariners and our own on-site observations have reported severe shoaling in Oregon Inlet passage. This passage is NOT recommended for ANY mariner without very specific, up to date, local knowledge, and, even then, only for those piloting shallow draft vessels of less than 4 ft. We have had a Navigational Alert set for this inlet since June of 2011.

NC – CURRITUCK BEACH LIGHT TO WIMBLE SHOALS – OREGON INLET – SHOALING
Shoaling to a depth of 7.0ft MLW has been reported 60 yards east of the Bonner Bridge in the center of the channel. Shoaling to a depth of 8.5ft MLW is reported 100 yards east of the center span of the bridge. The lowest depth observed is between Oregon Inlet Lighted Buoy 12 (LLNR 28025) and the center span of the Bonner Bridge at 5.0ft MLW. Chart 12204.

Mar 27, 2012
Shoaling to a depth of 3.5 feet MLW has been reported between Oregon Inlet Channel buoy 21 (LLNR 28070 and Oregon Inlet Channel Buoy 21A (LLNR 28073) and extending approximately 20 yards into the channel. Chart: 12204.

Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To A “Navigation Alert” Position at the Oregon Inlet Bridge

Recent Local Notices to Mariners and our own on-site observations have reported severe shoaling in Oregon Inlet passage. This passage is NOT recommended for ANY mariner without very specific, up to date, local knowledge, and, even then, only for those piloting shallow draft vessels of less than 4 ft. We have had a Navigational Alert set for this inlet since June of 2011.

NC – OREGON INLET – HERBERT C. BONNER BRIDGE – VERTICAL CLEARANCE REDUCTION
The vertical clearance on the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge will be reduced to 61 feet MHW from 05 March until 15 June, 2012 due to a platform above the navigational span for painting and repairs. Chart: 12204.

Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To A “Navigation Alert” Position at the Oregon Inlet Bridge

The dredging or lack thereof of Oregon Inlet has been a hot button topic along the North Carolina coastline since the 1970′s. And, discussions centering around this issue along the Outer Banks can get VERY heated.
Oregon Inlet and its shallow water problems were the subject of a 1980′s novel, titled “The Hatterask Incident.” GOOD reading to this day!
Oregon Inlet lies just south of Nags Head, NC, and cuts west into Old House Channel and the Roanoke Sound channel. The commercial fishing fleet on Roanoke Island at Wanchese, NC, depends upon this seaward path for access to their offshore fisheries. On the other hand, there are those (and we are NOT among this group), who would argue that the massive dredging of this inlet, as argued for by Dr. Meredith below, would be an environmental disaster.
This is a controversy that NEVER seems to die!

Hatteras and Oregon Inlets Shoaling:
Bring in a Giant Dutch Hopper Dredge and do it Right!
The time is now to contract a vessel like the Dutch built Trailing Suction Hopper Dredge Congo River. The entire Oregon Inlet could be cleaned out in a matter of weeks through the use of a 40,000 cubic meter capacity vessel as pictured in Congo River Trailing Suction Hopper Dredge website.
A commercial trailing suction hopper dredge could discharge its dredge spoils close to the beach. In the case of Oregon Inlet dredging deposit the spoils, as close as possible, say at North Nags Head. And then let Mother Nature do the rest. The prevailing tides would carry the new sediment southward and inshore. A supplement to the South Nags Head beach restoration project. An added bonus would be a dramatic increase in zooplankton and fish populations on the newly constructed outer bar. Making South Nags Head a top surf fishing destination on the Outer Banks. Ditto for outer bar vis a vis world class surfing.
The US Army Corps of Engineers and their little side discharge Dredge Merritt was but a joke. Another waste of your hard earned federal tax dollars. Just another federal jobs program. Ditto for the hopper dredge Currituck with its tiny 300 cubic meter payload. You see how long that lasted, don’t you? In the long run, the Currituck proved to be five times as expensive as a real hopper dredge like the Congo River.
The Congo River with its 40,000 cubic meter payload, could completely clean out Oregon Inlet in a few weeks! And would not have to return for years, perhaps decades. Much less expensive than those never ending, make work federal dredge projects. And less expensive than building a long, terribly expensive, quickly foiled, granite rip rap North Jetty.
Wake up North Carolina! The Federal Government is the problem, not the solution. If necessary, finance a Congo River dredging project yourselves. Contract a large commercial trailing suction hopper dredge and the shoaling of Oregon Inlet problem could be resolved in a few weeks. The Congo River Hopper Dredge would be so effective that no granite rip rap north jetty would be needed. Saving hundreds of millions of dollars. And Congo River type massive dredging project would not have to be repeated for years, perhaps decades.
Citizens of the mid Atlantic, petition Congressman Walter Jones and your other elected representatives to, in turn, petition the central government to waive their restriction that requires only US built Hopper Dredges to do projects like this. The corrupt US Corps of Engineers has repeatedly tried with their tiny, breakdown prone dredges to open these two vital inlets. And look at all the money that has been wasted!
If the Bush-Clinton cabal can scam America in order to allow their coconspirators in Indonesia, China and Taiwan, to import hundreds of billions of dollars worth of junk products into America….if Congress allowed this fraud upon America, surely we can spend a few million dollars to employ our Dutch allies, to come in and really clean out Oregon Inlet and Hatteras Inlet.
Wake up Citizens of the Mid Atlantic! Ask the federal Government for a waiver and bring in a massive hopper dredge like the Dutch Based Congo River. To really open up these inlets!
George Meredith MD
Virginia Beach

Dear Captain Claiborne S Young,
It was only because I have been fighting with the Virginia Beach dredging bureaucrats that I even came to know about the requirement that only US Built hopper dredges can be used for US dredging! What a farce!
Think about that. We have foreign made super tankers, colliers and container carriers plying US waters every day. To the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars each year. Now, why in the hell would we keep want to big Dutch hopper dredges out…especially when they can do a much better job for much, much less.
Go forth and shout this from the hilltops. You have a bully pulpit!
Search George Meredith MD dredging pipeline marsh restoration etc for more details
Thanks,
GM

Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Oregon Inlet

Recent Local Notices to Mariners and our own on-site observations, the have reported severe shoaling in Oregon Inlet passage. This passage is NOT recommended for ANY mariner without very specific, up to date, local knowledge, and, even then, only for those piloting shallow draft vessels of less than 4 ft. We have had a Navigational Alert set for this inlet since June of 2011.

NC – CURRITUCK BEACH LIGHT TO WIMBLE SHOALS – OREGON INLET – BRIDGE REPAIRS
Mariners are advised that steel repairs, cleaning and painting operations will be performed from March 5, 2012 through June 15, 2012 at the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge across Oregon Inlet, at mile 0.9, in Dare County, NC. To facilitate the work at Span 145, the navigation channel, a decking platform will reduce the available vertical clearance to approximately 61 feet, above MHW. Mariners should use extreme caution when transiting the area. Chart :12204

Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To A “Navigation Alert” Position at the Oregon Inlet Bridge

Big Foot Slough, the primary conduit from Pamlico Sound to Ocracoke, one of the North Carolina coastline’s most popular ports of call, was last dredged in June of 2011. Shoaling is slowly beginning to reappear.

NC – OCRACOKE INLET – BIG FOOT SLOUGH – SHOALING
Shoaling to a depth of 5.0 ft MLW has been reported in the vicinity of Big Foot Slough Channel Daybeacon 10B (LLNR 29070.1). Chart: 11555.

Shoaling on the east side of Big Foot Slough is pretty much a constant situation, particularly in the area of red markers 8, 10, and 12. It isn’t unusual to see shore birds wading only a few feet outside of the channel, and when I was last there the shoal area encroached 15-20 feet into the channel and was quite visible at low tide. I presume the sustained winds from Irene only made the situation worse.
As a “local” who goes out to Ocracoke several times a year, and has a sailboat with 5’6″ of draft, I hold to the center of the channel, or favor the green markers when entering or leaving Ocracoke by Big Foot Slough.
Rick Brass

Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To A “Navigation Alert” Position on Big Foot Slough Channel Near Marker #10B

If you have made this passage recently and especially since Irene, please let Paula and Dave hear from you and share with all of us. See link below for a thorough discussion of this alternate route.

Any Oct. 2011 updates to this alternative? As a sailboat with 64′ mast, we would like to consider this route, but wonder if Hurricane Irene stirred up the sand in this channel. Is the channel east of Roanoke Island in the Roanoke sound still passable for a 5’7″ draft? Thanks for any info.
Paula and Dave email: Innispf@gmail.com

Click Here For a Recent Article on This Alternate Route

Silver Lake Harbor Anchorage lies in the venerable shadow of the 75 ft. Ocracoke Light and is accessible from the NW via Nine Foot Shoal Channel or by Big Foot Slough Channel, which has been recently dredged, and from the south via the Ocracoke Inlet.

We made our annual trip to Ocracoke this past weekend and anchored in Silver Lake. Silver Lake has great holding, 10-foot depths and can hold a good 20 boats. The water is a good clarity enough so I could clean the hull and running gear, but still gets some sediment from the ferry traffic.
Last year, you could get free wifi in Silver Lake, but this year no longer. There is a “Silver Lake Harbor” site broadcasting, but it is password-protected, with no opportunity to access – free, paid, or otherwise. This was disappointing, but that’s life. 3G still works. Someone is missing the boat (pun intended) by not having a free log-on through an ad-sponsored portal.
Captain Ben Matthews

I came out of Silver Lake on 7/16/11 through Nine Foot Shoal Channel, concerned that it may have shoaled further over the winter at Red 8. I had good depths and showed 7ft for about a hundred feet right at Red 8, just like the chart shows, so it did not appear to have shoaled any further. Just call it Seven Foot Shoal Channel from now on.
Skipper Sam

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s North Carolina Anchorage Directory Listing For Silver Lake Harbor

Click Here To View A Photo of Silver Lake Taken by Capt. Ben

Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Ocracoke’s Silver Lake Harbor and Its Approach Channels