Mile Hammock Bay Anchorage
Statute Mile: 244.5
Lat/Lon: near 34 33.058 North/077 19.510 West
Location: entrance channel lies north of the gap between the ICW’s flashing daybeacon #66 and unlighted daybeacon #67
Minimum Depth: 8-feet
Special Comment:These waters are under the control of the US Marines. Anchorage may not permitted during certain exercises
Swing Room: sufficient for vessels as large as 50 feet
Foul Weather Shelter: Good
Rating: 
Click on Chartlet Below to Open a Chart View Window,
Centered on the Location of This Anchorage:
Comments from Cruisers (15)
We’ve stayed at Mile Hammock several times, never when it is as calm as the picture shows [http://cruisersnet.net/?p=122589]. If you happen to arrive when the Marines are training, it can be quite tedious.
We arrived at 2 pm one afternoon and helicopter pilots were training and were landing just off the Northern bank every 10 minutes. At first we thought it was cool, but with the roar from the engines, it became quite distracting, especially when they didn’t finish until 10 pm that night. The holding has gotten suspect and we have had to anchor several times until our anchor took hold. It still is a good anchorage if you can get your anchor to work. Good cruising.
Phil Mullins
S/V Katash
Stayed here in January 2013, as well as May of 2013.
Quiet anchorage in January, pretty noisy in May. Helicopter flights – landings and takeoffs – included passing directly overhead at less than 500 ft, continued until 10:30 pm this May! My wife did not have to remind me to turn on the anchor light that evening.
I also found the area of poor holding this May. We slowly dragged as we set the anchor. Pulled it up, and on the second try, setting it more slowly, finally got it to grab. Interesting after maybe 100+ nights on the hook along the ICW, this is the only spot we didn’t grab the bottom first try. We may have powered down on it faster than the bottom could handle. Maybe the trick here is to back down a bit slower than normally.
Usually stay there and did again 5/8/13. Entered at mid/lower tide and had 8′, favoring red side. Quiet night after noisy afternoon with practicing landings by helicopters and vertical lift airplanes. Interesting show though!
s/v Skye
We have anchored in Mile Hammock Bay many time, recently in April. Entrance depths are good – I can’t remember exact depths but I would say more than 7 ft. We were not bothered at any time by night maneuvers, though I remember a flight of heliocopers without lights in the early evening after dark several years ago – very ineresting. We have also seen during the day other interesting craft – a HUGE hovercraft and the Osprey which takes off vertically and flies horizontally. In April all was quiet. The big rusted ship is gone.
Jean Thomason
Very easy to enter. Depths 8 to 12 feet as charted. We recommend stopping earlier rather than later during the Spring and Fall migrations as it is a popular place that does fill up. The is a shallow area furthest in, but again charts are correct.
We have never been disturbed by night activity on Camp LeJeune. You may expect to see amphibious training or Blackhawk or Osprey aircraft during the day. We look forward to it.
Lastly, ALWAYS listen to VHF 16 when progressing further north for the occasional times when there is live fire across the ICW. Traffic is allowed only hourly then.
Stephen & Beth Deitch
Nightingale
We were there a few days ago [as of 5/10/13] with ten other boats. Plenty of room. The entrance is buoyed with red and green marks and we came in at high tide with plenty of water (17 feet or more). The anchorage was great – very secure and quiet. There were no maneuvers that night, only a few helicopters early evening. Recommended highly. Good holding in mud.
Tom Law
We began our Loop in Florida a month ago and are anchored out tonight at Mile Hammock in the midst of Camp LeJeune, NC. Interesting noises outside (artillery and helicopters and Osprey).
Cathryn Rice
For those heading south, Mile Hammock Bay is a very good anchoring area. It is a couple miles south of Onslow Beach Bridge and before the intersection of the ICW with the New River. The area is within the U.S. Marine Base Camp Lejeune but unless the Marines are having an exercise in the area, is available to ICW travelers. We keep our boat at Old Ferry Marina which is a couple miles up the New River, and frequently go to Mile Hammock Bay with others for rafting up, etc.
Reid Gantt,
Atlantic 30
“Vouivre”
Anchored in Mile Hammock Bay on 19-Jul-2010. Wanted to make an early start and pulled anchor in a SE wind, blowing us NW and aground. We were NW of the last marker in. Got to do the Onslow County Dance on the floor of Mile Hammock Bay, pushing and cajoling our trawler in waist-deep-water, in the right direction until climbing back aboard, starting engine, and moving off. Marines took there hovercraft out the night before, so we were entertained by that and some V-22 Ospreys doing maneuvers before anchoring. Floor of MHB, dark mud, shells, pretty hard. Still cleaning the mud from my tennis shoes.
When we got to Mile Hammock Bay, there were already 5 boats anchored. We found a spot just inside the basin entrance and dropped the hook. Later four more boats joined the anchorage making a total of ten boats (make that eleven counting the permanent resident). Considering the high wind situation (20 and gusting) we all needed maximum swing room. The wind stayed strong until sometime after 0130. Despite other’s remarks on holding, our Rocna held firm with only 5:1 all chain scope.
Spent a very calm night here on 21 Feb 2010. We were the only boat in the anchorage as would be expected this time of the year. Leaving the next morning we found two dredges at the New River Inlet. We did bump going past them but after calling the lead dredge, we found the right path and never saw less than 10 feet.
There is one spot where getting an anchor to set can be more difficult. Directly in front and close to the large ramp can sometimes be a difficult spot, at least with CQR. Have had similar problem there twice now, and since it was sparsely populated, spent a couple of hours playing with scope, backing down/not back down, etc before giving up and moving further to the east(?) and edge of the charted white area resulted in good holding. One of only 2 spots that Kittiwake has had trouble more than once. While anchored the marines did some underwater navigation, and it was enjoyable to watch – Kittiwake was an obstacle. Remember, it’s the marine corps water (just like the bridge), and they’re usually nice enough to let us use it.
Bill,
s/v Kittiwake
There is one spot where getting an anchor to set can be more difficult. Directly in front and close to the large ramp can sometimes be a difficult spot, at least with CQR. Have had similar problem there twice now, and since it was sparsely populated, spent a couple of hours playing with scope, backing down/not back down, etc before giving up and moving further to the east(?) and edge of the charted white area resulted in good holding. One of only 2 spots that Kittiwake has had trouble more than once. While anchored the marines did some underwater navigation, and it was enjoyable to watch – Kittiwake was an obstacle. Remember, it’s the marine corps water (just like the bridge), and they’re usually nice enough to let us use it.
We did spend an eveing in Mile Hammock Bay. The 2 sailboats nor we had any holding issues but another trawler who was using nylon rode and not enough of it dragged aground after spending almost 2 hrs trying to set his anchor and gave SeaTow some b’ness. He was scary and we wanted him to experience the security of a marina for the nite but he gave it another go and used 2 anchors which worked well.
Bill & Laura Bender
M/VKindred Spirit III
Anchored there mid July this year without any hassle from the military. Two other sailboats were there ahead of us. Last year passing through that area we were delayed (the ICW was closed) due to military maneuvers. Kind of interesting to watch but glad it wasn’t in the sweltering heat.
Pat Cummins, s/v Kentris