This anchorage lies on the waters of upper Gale Creek, north of the Waterway’s entrance into Bay River and southwest of flashing daybeacon #22 and .

We anchored in Upper Gale Creek April 19, 2012. Very pleasant night, well protected. We found a spot with 6 1/2 feet of water between a few crab pots.
Tom Potter

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s North Carolina Anchorage Directory Listing For Upper Gale Creek Anchorage

Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Gale Creek

Bonner Bay lies a short hop off the AICW’s passage through Bay River near Statute Mile 162.There are two anchorages just off Bonner Bay, Long Creek and Spring Creek.
As the skipper of “Moon River” discovered (see below), all the anchorages in this area are best entered and exited while referencing a well functioning chart plotter.

Anchorage off Bonner Bay
We did not attempt to sail as we had the Hobucken Canal to transit further on. It was only 1500 when we left the canal, but we had decided to take it easy and look for an anchorage early on. There were a couple of likely wide spots after the canal which looked promising on the chart but not so good when we got to them ~ exposed to the south. Years ago, Don and Gael Steffens, who wrote for “Coastal Cruising Magazine” which I used to edit, had written glowingly about Bonner Bay which they portrayed as a lovely quiet anchorage rarely frequented by cruisers. It was a couple of miles out of our way, but we decided to check it out. Jim was navigating, and he directed us from the canal to flashing red #4 in the middle of the Bay River. Neither of us could see this mark when we thought we should as it was
directly under the lowering Sun. Finally, we both spotted it and used it as our departure point into Bonner Bay which is relatively deep in the middle but shoal for quite a distance from the low lying shores of the bay. We both thought we saw a boat ahead of us enter the bay, but neither of us could see it when we got inside.
There are two narrow but navigable branches well inside the bay, but we chose to anchor in the outer bay and were joined later by a larger than average trawler who anchored just north of us. I think Don and Gael overstated Bonner Bay’s virtues somewhat. The land surrounding it is extremely low with nothing protecting one from a strong south wind coming off the Neuse River but a wide sandy beach. Nevertheless, we felt secure in the outer bay and slept well.
In the morning, we spotted a boat anchored way up the southwest creek in Bonner Bay, and shortly Ocean Gypsy was hailed on VHF 16. It was Moon River a lovely dark blue motorsailer designed by Mark Ellis and built in Canada by Bruckman. Moon River’s skipper was curious about the apparent shortcut we had taken as we approached Hobucken the day before. I like to cut the corners when I can and not necessarily follow doggedly along the purple path shown on the waterway charts. I had to admit to Moon River that my shortcut almost got us into difficulty, as we missed the outer channel marker and narrowly averted going over a 6 foot shoal. We probably would have been okay, but there were a few nervous moments as I watched the depth sounder indications of shoaling water, but soon we were back in the channel with 11 foot soundings.
Our conversation was suddenly interrupted as Moon River ran aground inside Bonner Bay. Now we could see them, and we stopped to make sure they were okay. “It doesn’t pay to try to talk on the radio and navigate at the same time”, said the skipper of Moon River, who quickly recovered deeper water, as we could plainly see. He thanked us for standing by.
Captain Ted Jones

Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Bonner Bay

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s North Carolina Anchorage Directory Listing For Long Creek

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s North Carolina Anchorage Directory Listing For Spring Creek

Bear Creek sits off the western flanks of the AICW, just south of Gale Creek. I have never recommended this stream as an anchorage, and have chosen not to include it in the “North Carolina Anchorage Directory” as it has an unmarked, twisting entrance channel, flanked by shoals. As you will read below, Captain Watson used a GPS chartplotter to skirt past the aforementioned shallows, and he has certainly proved it is possible to do that. It’s up to each individual captain to decide if they should follow the same procedure, or just avoid this potential anchorage entirely.

Subject: Bear Creek Anchorage
Cruising News: Went into Bear Creek (just south of the Hoboken Cut off Back River)for the first time. Unmarked channel, used the chart plotter and had at least 7 ft back to the end of the charted 7 ft tongue. Good holding (CQR) Would be a very good anchorage for protection from N winds. Watch the entrance, some big shoals on both sides, channel [is] “S” shaped.
Bill Watson

Mile 160.8 – Bear Creek. Time for me being of the essence, I endured very rough weather crossing the Pamlico River and had one hell of a time finding the Goose Creek markers. But eventually no problems mooring overnight in Bear Creek – if you take care to slowly follow the channel and don’t stray into the shoals all around.
Arnold

Campbell Creek has always been our favorite directly-off-the-AICW anchorage between Pungo and Neuse River. As noted below, the farther in you go, the better the protection, but the more possibility of finding crab pots. We have been here when the pots were not a problem, but, clearly. sometimes they are. Here’s hoping you find Campbell Creek pot free!

We briefly explored this creek in late August 2009. We only went west into the creek as far as the easternmost anchor symbol on the cruisers net [Anchorage Directory] chart. Depths were as charted but the wind had been from the S to SW at 10-20 knots for several days so wind driven tides could have some effect on the depths we found. We went no further west since the creek was full of crab trap floats. Far too many to permit unobstructed swing room with 5:1 scope. We also think the eastern most anchorage symbol location is more exposed to wind than the chart would indicate. The tree line seemed further away from shore than we expected. The easternmost anchorage could be a comfortable anchorage in settled conditions. The western most anchorage could be comfortable when the crab traps are not present.
Rick Parish

Click Here For the Cruisers’ Net’s North Carolina Anchorage Directory Listing For Campbell Creek

First, many, many thanks to Captain Chuck for all his kind words concerning the Salty Southeast Cruisers’ Net. They are MUCH appreciated!
We had an earlier posting here on both the “All North Carolina News” page and the “Goose Creek to Bay River” geographic sub-section page about a shoaling rumor along the Hobucken Cut. This is the partially man-made, partially natural connector that the Waterway uses to connect between the Pamlico and Bay Rivers. Anyway, that shoaling rumor was quickly put to rest!
Captain Chuck’s message relates to an entirely different navigational worry – namely, the reversal of marker colors at the southern foot of the Hobucken Cut and the hard to see nature of marker #25. Pay heed!!!

The R. E. Mayo Docks line the western banks of the ICW, immediately south of the Hobucken Bridge (on the Hobucken Cut between the Pamlico and Bay Rivers). These piers are a curious anomaly. Their primary purpose is to serve shrimping trawlers and other commercail fishing craft. Yet, they do accept pleasurecraft for overnight dockage. There are NO frills here, but from time to time you can purchase some seriously fresh seafood!

Subject: Hobucken Cut
Message: Just cruised by Hobucken Cut:  R-22 17.2',  G-23 16.1',  R-24  14.9',  G-25 15.7' no problems.  We are tied up tonight at R.E. Mayo Co.,nice folks, and a value price dock.
Neil Ingram
N-37 Trawler Silver Queen