Where is outer banks beach

A small beach cottage would be perfect for a honeymooning couple. If you are traveling with a big family, rent a luxury vacation home with a private pool and split the cost. Coquina Beach is a remote and undeveloped beach that will make you feel as if you have landed in paradise. Be ready to spot numerous seabirds. The fishing here is great too. If you want to add seashells to your collection, this is the perfect place to search. To save on the driving fee though, take the easy walk from the parking area.

The beach has a makeshift road in the sand, so watch for vehicles. This beach was named after the colorful coquina clams that can be spotted in the water in spring and summer. Interestingly, a shipwreck occurred here and some of the wreckage of the ship still remains. When the weather is right, Coquina Beach is a great place to surf. From the beach, cross of the bridge to Longboat Key where you can find family-owned restaurants and local shops.

Charter a boat to get out on the water for the day and enjoy prime fishing and fun in the sun. This is a popular spot for sunbathing, swimming, and general beach fun. Keep your heart pounding by surfing, kiteboarding, or windsurfing at Pamlico Sound. More laid-back activities include fishing at the pier or bird watching at the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. Couples will love getting away from the world in this slice of the Outer Banks.

Rodanthe Beach is one of the Outer Banks beaches that allow beach bonfires with a permit. Time your bonfire for a night with a full moon for extra fun and romance. There is nothing like sitting around a roaring fire while watching the reflection of the full moon dance on the dark water.

This gathering of bird enthusiasts includes guided birding trips, kayak tours of the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, photography workshops, and educational programs. This is a great importunity to meet other birders. The great beach town of Kitty Hawk is known as the home of the Wright Brothers, though their first flight actually took place in nearby Kill Devil Hills.

You can learn more about their flight and see a replica of their plane at the Wright Brothers National Memorial. But geese can still be seen here. In addition, a number of watersports companies offer used gear for sale, especially at the end of the season.

The best way to find a deal is to stop by a local surf shop that has lessons or classes or a watersports rental company after Labor Day. When fall rolls around, the discounts traditionally heat up. No matter where a visitor lands, there are miles of shoreline waiting just outside their door, and plenty of purveyors who can help turn a beach vacation into a celebration of fun in the sun.

On the Outer Banks, there's no shortage of activities to do on the beach, from just dozing with a book and your feet buried in the sand to paddling out on a surfboard to catch a ride or two. Kids find endless hours of entertainment rummaging through shell piles, splashing in the surf, and just all around enjoying the sun and the water. New visitors to the Outer Banks, while well aware of the everyday beach activities that can keep everyone in the family entertained, may not know of some of the more unique beach activities, which are not only readily available regardless of the season, but are specific to the Outer Banks beaches.

Completely harmless and common throughout the Outer Banks, many giggles have been produced from a sand digger frantically trying to dig into the palm of someone's hand.

Coquina clams make brief appearances in between waves, but can also be found by digging into the wet surf line. Coquina shells come in a variety of patterns and colors, from brown stripes to bright neon yellow to hues of green, blue and violet.

Pretty on their own, and absolutely beautiful when discovered in a shore break cluster, coquinas are one of the Outer Banks smallest but most beautiful attractions. The best times to go are after low tide to ensure "first dibbs" on the shells or sea glass that just washed up, or right after a fall storm or Nor'easter, after the ocean has had a chance to settle.

Under these conditions, it's not unusual for shell collectors to find all sorts of treasures, including whelks, moon snails, scallops, olive shells, starfish, and even sand dollars.

Visitors come from miles around to catch a glimpse of the wild mustangs that have roamed the Outer Banks since they were famously shipwrecked in the s by passing ill-fated Spanish ships. While at one point these horses were supposedly roaming along just about every stretch of the Outer Banks, the only beaches to spot them in their wild habitat now are the deserted beaches just north of Corolla , collectively called by locals as "Carova.

These beaches are only accessible by a 4WD vehicle , however a number of local businesses offer wild horse tours of the area for vacationers who want to visit the Outer Banks' native residents. For folks lounging on the Carova beaches, wild horse spottings are not uncommon, as the horses are prone to dally down the beach, not too far from beach-bound families.

It should be noted that Ocracoke Island also has a wild pony pasture, which houses Ocracoke's population of wild horses and is open to the public.

But for an oceanfront wild horse encounter, Carova is the spot to be. The best shelling beaches can change overnight with a new current, a shifting sandbar, or the onslaught and quick departure of a seasonal storm. However, there are a number of Outer Banks beaches that seem to have decent shells regardless of weather, and die-hard beachcombers are encouraged to check out as many as they can. After all, the same shells that wash up on the Northern Outer Banks may be completely different from the shells that appear on the southern barrier islands of Hatteras and Ocracoke.

Carova and Northern Corolla can offer a wealth of great shells, especially at low tide, and along beaches that have a long, shallow sandbar, not a "drop-off" with waves breaking close to shore. Carova is distinctive because it is literally off the beaten path, so there are fewer beachcombers to compete with.

On these beaches, you'll want to keep an eye out for smaller gems, such as augers, murex, oyster drills and olive shells. Collectively, these are intricate, tiny shells that are perfect for small craft projects. Further south, Hatteras Island beachcombers flock to Cape Point and South Beach in Buxton , particularly in the winter when beaches are deserted, to take advantage of the array of different shells that the shifty Diamond Shoals wash up on a daily basis.

Beachcombers are encouraged to go early, as this stretch of beach is one of Hatteras Island's best known shelling locales, but the rewards for early birds are well worth it. Beachcombers can expect to find large, showpiece shells such as lightning whelks, knobbed whelks, channel whelks, helmet conchs, moon snails, and more. One of the most renowned beaches for shelling, however, is Ocracoke Island. In fact, in a recent Coastal Living Magazine ranking of best beaches for shelling, Ocracoke came in second, as a runner-up to Sanibel Island, Florida.

The reason is a combination of unpopulated and desolate beaches that are seldom picked over, proximity to both the Hatteras and Ocracoke Inlets, and gentle sloping beaches that allow shells to glide to the shore. The biggest draw here is the frequent appearances of Scotch Bonnets. Officially the state shell of North Carolina, the Scotch Bonnet is surprisingly rare, but this conical egg-shaped brown and white speckled shell washes up regularly on the beaches of Ocracoke Island - It's just a matter of lounging on the right beach at the right time.

When it comes to Kiteboarding on the Oceanside, any stretch of beach with wind and waves will do, but in recent years more and more kiteboarders have flocked to soundside " Kite Point " in between Buxton and Frisco on Hatteras Island, and its ocean counterpart just across NC Highway If you park at Canadian Hole on a windy day, a public parking area in this area of Hatteras Island, and walk across the highway to the sandy path to the beach, you're likely to spot a half dozen kiteboarders cruising across the ocean or rigging up their gear on the sand.

While most beaches can function well as a kiteboarder's playground, the local and visiting kiteboarding community can always be found in spades at Canadian Hole and Kite Point. When it comes to Kiteboarding on the Oceanside, any stretch of beach with wind and waves will do, but in recent years more and more kiteboarders have flocked to soundside "Kite Point" in between Buxton and Frisco on Hatteras Island, and its ocean counterpart just across NC Highway There are a number of beaches from Carova to Ocracoke where surfers have laid claim as the best spot to find waves on the Outer Banks, but a few tried and true locales have surfers from all around the country coming back year after year.

Kitty Hawk and Nags Head are both popular surf spots , and a number of local surf shops on the Bypass and on the Beach Road cater to these areas, allowing vacationers to stock up on boards, rentals, and lessons during their vacation. On these stretches of beach, it's not unusual to find clusters of surfers in either direction, particularly in the ocean waters close but not too close to the area's piers.

Further south, surfers come from miles around to the infamous S-Curves, just north of the town of Rodanthe on Hatteras Island, where waves are consistently good and where local surfers have been catching waves for years.

Buxton is another hotbed of surfing activity, from the narrow beaches in front of the small, northern Buxton hotels to the old Lighthouse location, just a few hundred yards away from where the new lighthouse stands.

In this area, the currents and sandbars that churn up the good waves can change at a moment's notice, so just look for the cluster of cars with surf racks on the side of the road, and chances are, you've found a good surf spot. Like most water sports, the beaches of the Outer Banks have always been renowned for surf fishing , no matter what area you're staying in, so it's easy to pick any beach, cast a line, wait, and enjoy the rewards.

For die-hard fishermen who want to explore every inch of the Outer Banks fishing scene, a trip to Cape Point is a must. Located in Buxton , Cape Point is the area where the Outer Banks begins to curve west, and offers close proximity to the Labrador and Gulf Stream currents.

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