North Carolina Outer Banks

[Eddie]

Would like some advice from anyone familiar with the East Coast and particularly the Outer Banks area. We are in Coinjock, NC tonight and heading south tomorrow. We are on the ICW and originally planned to stay at Alligator River Marina tomorrow night, Belhaven, NC Wednesday night, then on to New Bern. Alligator and Belhaven have nothing going on and we have been there before. We are considering Manteo and Ocracoke but would travel the Pamlico Sound rather than the ICW. Any issues with that?

 

[johnrupp]

Weather permitting you should have no problems. Looking at the marine forecast you should have smooth motoring. Calling for waves of one foot. If you’re able to cruise in the teens Coinjock to Ocracoke isn’t a bad day.

Although Manteo is nice I personally like the island feel of Ocracoke better.

When going by Roanoke Island there is a channel on both sides of island. If not stopping in Manteo stay in the channel on the west side of the island. Shorter, wider and deeper.

Take a look at the chart at the two channels approaching Ocracoke. The Big Foot Slough and the Nine Foot Shoal Channels merge just before the entrance to Silver Lake. It can be confusing as it looks like a couple of reds are out of place as the two channels meet. Keep a lookout for any temporary markers that are moved as the sands shift.

I was just cruising that area the past several weeks. Had to head north a week early to to Hurricane.

Have a great cruise no matter which way to decide to go.

John

 

[johnrupp]

Manteo and Ocracoke always have a lot more going on than Alligator River Marina or Belhaven.

 

[DavidM]

Agree with the above and definitely recommend Ocracoke above all others, at least in the summer.

David

 

[Eddie]

Perfect. Thanks so much for the info.

 

[caltexflanc]

I have encouraged people to take this route itinerary many times here. The weather the next few days looks almost ideal.

The municipal marina in Manteo is right downtown and well run. There is also a no-services town dock next door. Shallowbag Bay Marina is more resort like but a bit of a walk or bike ride to the downtown. There are excellent walking and bike paths almost the length of the island north of town. A fun thing to do is rent a car; the local Ford dealer used to, at least, or when they didn't have cars the Enterprise over in Nags Head would come get you. Then you can go check out Wanchese, the very active boat building and commercial harbor of tat part of the state, plus on over and down to the national seashore via the bridge over Oregon Inlet; very pretty.

Ocracoke is great, but still in recovery from the flooding last year from Dorian. The newspaper keeps a site of what's open. Great beaches, also fun to rent bikes or even a golf cart. The Anchorage is the commercial, more resort like full service marina, the National Park service docks a re a bargain but more bare bones. We always anchored there in the excellent Silver Lake Harbor, with a good dinghy dock.

For us, there is just no reason to take the ICW if the weather is halfway decent, and bypass these two outstanding destinations. You'll want to spend at least two or three days at each.