Springtime weather is returning to the Outer Banks, and that means three popular routes will soon be adding departures to their daily schedules.
On March 1, the Ocracoke-Cedar Island and Ocracoke-Swan Quarter routes will increase daily departures from two to three from each side per day, while the Hatteras-Ocracoke route will go from 14 to 18 departures from each side per day.
The schedules, effective Tuesday, will be as follows:
- Cedar Island to Ocracoke: 7:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 4:30 p.m.
- Ocracoke to Cedar Island: 7:30 a.m., 1 p.m., 4:30 p.m.
- Swan Quarter to Ocracoke: 10 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m.
- Ocracoke to Swan Quarter: 7 a.m., 10 a.m., 1:30 p.m.
- Hatteras to Ocracoke: 5 a.m., 6 a.m., 7 a.m., 8 a.m., 9 a.m., 10 a.m., 11 a.m., noon, 1 p.m., 2 p.m., 3 p.m., 4 p.m., 5 p.m., 6 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 9 p.m., 10 p.m., midnight.
- Ocracoke to Hatteras: 4:30 a.m., 6:30 a.m., 7:30 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m.,11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 6:15 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 8:45 p.m., 10:30 p.m., midnight.
The Cedar Island and Swan Quarter routes will remain on these schedules through May 23, when they will go to a full summer schedule. The Hatteras route will add more departures on April 5 before going to a full summer schedule May 17.
You can find and download a complete ferry schedule here.