Turnagain Bay Anchorage
Turnagain Bay is (at least until now) a seldom visited sidewater of the Neuse River, almost directly opposite the ICW’s entrance into the Neuse at Maw Point Shoal. I have always found the entrance too shallow to recommend this body of water in my North Carolina guide, but now it looks like Captains Jim and Lynn have had a somewhat different experience!
On Saturday October 13th, we looked in at the entrance of Turnagain Bay and had a pleasant surprise. In the 6th Edition of the Cruising Guide to Coastal NC, you’d mentioned that the entry shoal was impassable at less than 4 feet. I had the shoal marked on my electronic charts (C-Map), (and it was where it was supposed to be) and saw almost 8 feet going in and over 9 coming out. There seems to be some significant current in and out of the bay, but I don’t think the tide there would be more that a foot given what we see in Oriental. If the shoal had been impassable we had allowed time to go back west into South River in daylight, but as it turned out, we had a nice quiet anchorage in the bay. Glad there were no runs on the Marine’s range!
Once you are over the bar, the depths increase and there is 10 feet as charted extending in at least to the old canal. I think it is still quite shallow near the green marker 1A. I entered on a course parallel to a line through Green 1A and Red 2, lining up to slightly favor the red side of the channel (about 60 to 80 feet off 1A) , then swinging to port about halfway from green marker `1A’ to red `2’. We tracked halfway between the charted depth contours and saw 10 feet or better once past the bar. You can make out the outlines of the shallows in aerial photos that are on some of the mapping sites. The bar begins before 1A and is done by marker 2. The depth does come up quickly, so watch both the depth finder and the charts.
While Turnagain Bay is open, I’d recommend attempting entry only with a chart plotter, in fine weather and with plenty of light.
Regards
Jim and Lynn Duggan
IP 38 Cat Tails Oriental NC
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