Shoal · Cape Fear, North Carolina
Frying Pan Shoals
A tongue of shifting sand running some 28 miles south-east from Cape Fear into the Atlantic, named for its shape: the cape is the handle, the shoals the pan. With Diamond Shoals and Cape Lookout Shoals it is one of the three great hazards of the Carolina coast, and a lightship was kept at its outer end from 1854 until the light tower replaced it in the 1960s. Much of it carries only a few feet of water, and the sea breaks white across it in any swell.
Open in the viewer from Cape Fear point, Bald Head Island →
Quick facts
| Type | Shoal |
|---|---|
| Charted depth | 10 m (33 ft) below MLLW |
| Position | 33.5635°N, 77.7000°W |
| From Cape Fear point, Bald Head Island | 40 km (25 mi), bearing 142° SE |
| Source | NOAA ENC US2EC02M; Curated (SC DNR / NC DMF / dive references) |
How to see it
Underwater, so there is nothing to see from the shore. From Cape Fear point, Bald Head Island, 40 km (25 mi) away, CoastFinder draws it below the horizon at its bearing and distance, with its charted depth.
Point your phone at the real thing. The CoastFinder app draws this shoal over your live camera view from any beach, pier or boat near Cape Fear, with its distance and depth, and it works with no signal.
Nearby
- George WeemsShipwreck · 10 m · 4.4 km
- RosinShipwreck · 25.9 m · 8.4 km
- AR-400 artificial reefReef · 19.2 m · 12 km
- Capt. Greg MicKeyShipwreck · 19.2 m · 13 km
- Frying Pan Shoals Light TowerLighthouse · 40 m · 14 km
- Mount DirfysShipwreck · 3.6 m · 16 km
Not for navigation. Positions and depths come from public charts and records, with their sources named above; they are for looking, not for piloting a boat.