The NC Ferry Division today halted the Cedar Island and Swan Quarter ferries due to shoaling in Big Foot Slough.
This is the area where the hopper dredge Murden is working, but Ferry Division Spokesman Tim Hass said today that this area filled in “last night or this morning.”
The Ferry Division tweeted this around 8:30 this morning.
The Murden will continue to dredge this area and the Ferry Division will do a survey later today.
“Hopefully, we will have a partial schedule tomorrow,” Hass said.
Hass on Tuesday said that the Murden, owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACE), arrived on Ocracoke on March 17 and worked for a day and a half in Big Foot Slough, which is just outside of Ocracoke, before halting due to inclement weather the last several days.
Since early March, the Ferry Division has canceled some ferry runs in the Pamlico Sound due to shoaling in Big Foot Slough.
Instead of wholesale suspending service, the Ferry Division has canceled various runs each day, Hass said.
For daily updates, islanders are urged to monitor the N.C. Ferry Pamlico Sound routes on Twitter: @NCFerryPamSound.
Hass said the Swan Quarter, the largest boat in the Pamlico route fleet, drafts deeper than the others and will be out of service until the slough is dredged.
