City: Bodie Island, NC

Category: Parks & Recreation

Telephone: (252) 473-2111

Address: NC 12

Description: The northernmost National Park Service campground on the Outer Banks, this facility offers 120 sites along the windswept dunes just north of Oregon Inlet. If you’re arriving from the north, look for the campground entrance on the east side of NC 12 just before crossing the Bonner Bridge. It is located on the ocean almost directly across from the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center. Water, cold showers, modern toilets, picnic tables, and charcoal grills are available here. There aren’t any utility connections, but dumping stations are nearby. Most of these sites are in sunny, exposed areas on the sand. Park rangers suggest that campers bring awnings, umbrellas, or other sources of shade. You may need mosquito netting and long tent stakes. Oregon Inlet Campground is open Apr through Oct. Campers are limited to a two-week stay. Reservations are not accepted, and sites are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. Fees begin at $20 per night. Golden Age Passport holders receive a 50 percent discount. This campground accepts cash, credit cards, and personal checks.

City: Bodie Island, NC

Category: Parks & Recreation

Telephone: (252) 441-6301

Address: NC 12

Description: The closest marina and fuel dock to Oregon Inlet, Oregon Inlet Fishing Center is on the north side of the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge, about 10 miles from Nags Head. The fishing center accommodates anglers with gas and diesel fuel and a well-stocked bait and tackle shop that opens at 5 a.m. The tackle shop carries a complete line of surf, inshore, and deep-sea fishing equipment, plus drinks, snacks, coffee, hot dogs, T-shirts, ice, sunscreen, sunglasses, and other items. The boat ramp at Oregon Inlet Fishing Center, with five concrete ramps, is one of the nicest in the area, with plenty of parking for vehicles and trailers. Restroom and trash facilities are on-site.

City: Bodie Island, NC

Category: Parks & Recreation

Telephone: (252) 441-6301, (800) 272-5199

Address: NC 12

Description: The Oregon Inlet charter fishing fleet is a historic landmark on the Outer Banks. Most of the 31 sportfishing boats in this marina were locally made and have the famous Carolina flared bow. Some of the Outer Banks’ most seasoned captains fish from this marina and have done so since it opened in the 1960s. Five boats offer near-shore and intermediate trips from Oregon Inlet Fishing Center. Inlet intermediate trips of 5 to 10 miles are available.

City: Bodie Island, NC

Category: Parks & Recreation

Telephone: (252) 441-6301

Address: NC 12

Description: Miss Oregon Inlet is a 65-foot headboat that offers half-day inshore fishing trips for around $36 per person or $26 for kids age 6 and younger. In early spring and fall, the boat makes one trip per day (except Sun), leaving at 8 a.m. and returning at 12:30 p.m. From Memorial Day through Labor Day, there are two trips: 7 to 11:30 a.m. and noon to 4:30 p.m. Buy tickets one day in advance, if possible, because the boat often fills up.

City: Bodie Island, NC

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (252) 441-5711

Address: West of NC 12

Description: This black-and-white beacon with horizontal bands is one of four lighthouses standing along the Outer Banks. It sits more than a half mile from the sea, in a field of green grass, closer to the sound than the ocean. This site, 6 miles south of Whalebone Junction, is one of the most picturesque on the Outer Banks. Photographers are drawn to the immaculately kept, spacious lawns, the charming double keepers’ quarters and oil house, and the proud tower. The lighthouse itself is not open for climbing, but the setting is worth the trip. The keepers’ quarters has exhibits about the lighthouse and a small bookshop. The grounds are perfect for a picnic, and nature trails lead into the wide expanses of marshland behind the tower, through cattails, yaupon, and wax myrtle. The trails end up at Roanoke Sound, offering a view of the private camp on Off Island. The slough that rushes through the water between Bodie and Off Islands is a popular fishing hole, and anglers often line the banks. The current Bodie Island Lighthouse is the third to stand near Oregon Inlet, which opened during a hurricane in 1846. The first lighthouse was built south of Oregon Inlet in 1847 and 1848 and was the only one in the 140 miles between Cape Hatteras and Cape Henry, Virginia. The lighthouse developed cracks and structural damage within 10 years and had to be removed and rebuilt. The second light was also built south of Oregon Inlet. It was complete and lighted in 1859. Confederate forces destroyed the second tower during the Civil War so that it wouldn’t fall into Union hands. The 170-foot lighthouse that stands today was built in 1872, this time north of Oregon Inlet because the inlet was moving south at a steady pace. Wanchese resident Vernon Gaskill served as the last civilian lightkeeper of the Bodie Island Lighthouse. The US Coast Guard operated the light for many years, and it was transferred to the National Park Service in 2000. The NPS hopes to restore the lighthouse so that it will one day be open to the public, but the price tag on the restoration work is $1 million. The first-order Fresnel lens will be of particular interest to visitors. The visitor center is open from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. every day except Christmas. The grounds are always open.

City: Bodie Island, NC

Category: Tours & Attractions

Address: NC 12

Description: Though not as broad as it once was due to storms, Coquina Beach is still one of the widest beaches on the Outer Banks and a favorite getaway. Just 6 miles south of Whalebone Junction, this beach has half the crowd but all the amenities you need: a lifeguard in the summer, a bathhouse, restrooms, outdoor showers, and lots of parking. Part of the allure of this remote area is that it’s miles away from any business or rental cottage, making it a superb spot to sunbathe, swim, fish, and surf. The sand is almost white, and the beach is relatively flat. Drawing its name from the tiny butterfly-shaped coquina clams that burrow into the beach, at times almost every inch of this portion of the federally protected Cape Hatteras National Seashore harbors hundreds of recently washed-up shells and several species of rare shorebirds. Coquinas are edible and can be collected and cleaned from their shells to make a chowder. Local brick makers also have used the shells as temper in buildings.

City: Bodie Island, NC

Category: Tours & Attractions

Address: Coquina Beach, NC 12

Description: One of the last coastal schooners built in America, the Laura A. Barnes was completed in Camden, Maine, in 1918. This 120-foot ship was under sail on the Atlantic during a trip from New York to South Carolina when a nor’easter drove it onto the Outer Banks in 1921. The Laura A. Barnes ran aground just north of where it now rests at Coquina Beach. The entire crew survived. In 1973 the National Park Service moved the shipwreck to its present location, where visitors view the remains of the ship behind a roped-off area that includes placards with information about the Laura A. Barnes and the history of lifesaving.

City: Bodie Island, NC

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (252) 441-6301, (800) 272-5199

Address: NC 12

Insider Pick:

Description: Sportfishing enthusiasts, or anyone remotely interested in offshore angling, must stop by this bustling charter-boat harbor on the north shore of Oregon Inlet. Set beside the US Coast Guard station on land leased from the National Park Service, Oregon Inlet Fishing Center is owned by a group of 18 stockholders, most of them local fishermen. All vessels charge the same rate. A day on the Atlantic with one of these captains may give rise to a marlin, sailfish, wahoo, tuna, or dolphin on the end of the line. An exciting afternoon activity is to head to the boat docks at Oregon Inlet Fishing Center between 4 and 5 p.m. When the charter boats return to the docks, you’ll have an opportunity to see a variety of Gulf Stream creatures as the mates unload the boats and hurl the huge fish on the docks. In summer the docks are crowded with spectators. Next to the fishing center store is a display case housing a 1,152-pound blue marlin, caught in 1973 and brought back to this fishing center. The store stocks bait and tackle, supplies, hot dogs and snacks, T-shirts and hats galore, and more. The fishing center has an air-fill tank for putting air back into your tires after driving on the beach (there’s a four-wheel-drive access across the street). The boat ramp at the fishing center provides easy access to some of the best fishing grounds on the East Coast. There is plenty of parking, and restrooms are on-site.

City: Bodie Island, NC

Category: Tours & Attractions

Address: NC 12

Description: In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the federal government operated two lifesaving stations at Oregon Inlet. The Bodie Island station was on the north side of the inlet. The Oregon Inlet station was on the south. Both of these original facilities are now closed. The Oregon Inlet station sits perilously close to the migrating inlet, the victim of hurricanes and decades of neglect. It is weatherworn and bedraggled, a testament to the ravages of salty winds and storms. Yet this building is a picturesque reminder of the history of the Outer Banks and how quickly changes occur. There is plenty of parking next to the station, and you can walk around the grounds and out to the jetties, but you can’t go inside the building. This is also a popular and lucrative fishing spot. You can fish from the rock jetties, wade out into the deep cove, or walk the catwalk on the south end of the Bonner Bridge. The Bodie Island station has been replaced by the Oregon Inlet Coast Guard station, which includes a 10,000-square-foot building, a state-of-the-art communications center, maintenance shops, an administrative center, and accommodations for the staff. Coast Guard crews have rescued dozens of watermen off the Outer Banks. They also aid sea turtles and stranded seals by helping the animals get back safely to warmer parts of the ocean.