Effective immediately, Ocracoke Island is open to all visitors. The mandatory visitor evacuation and state of emergency are lifted from the recent passing of Hurricane Maria.
Cape Hatteras National Seashore visitor services and facilities south of Oregon Inlet, including all campgrounds, will reopen this afternoon at 1:00 pm. Facilities north of Oregon Inlet reopened this morning at 9:00 am.
Beach access ramps will reopen as assessments are completed. The status of beach access ramps will be posted throughout the day on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Facebook page at www.facebook.com/capehatterasns.
Beachgoers should be aware of ocean debris that may have washed ashore and buried items that were exposed during tropical storm conditions. Also, it is important to be aware that dangerous rip currents and large swells are still producing life-threatening surf conditions.
Sound Class ferries are running on a amended schedule. Check NCDOT Ferry Division website here for further details. Crews did test runs on the routes Thursday morning and found no issues with ferry channels or navigational markers.
Here is the current schedule:
Cedar Island to Ocracoke: 7 and 10:30 a.m., 4 p.m.
Ocracoke to Cedar Island: 7:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 4.
Swan Quarter to Ocracoke: 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 4:30.
Ocracoke to Swan Quarter: 7 and 9:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m.
The Hatteras-Ocracoke route will be on its fall schedule:
Hatteras to Ocracoke: 5 a.m., 6, 7, 8, 8:30, 9, 10, 10:30, 11 and 11:30 a.m., noon, 1, 1:30, 2, 2:30, 3, 4, 4:30, 5, 5:30, 6, 7:30, 8, 9, 11, midnight.
Ocracoke to Hatteras: 4:30 a.m., 6:30, 7:30, 8:30, 9:30, 10, 10:30 and 11:30 a.m., noon, 12:30, 1, 1:30, 2:30, 3, 3:30, 4, 4:30, 5:30, 6, 6:30, 7, 7:30, 9, 9:30, 10:30, 12:30 a.m.
