CAPE POINT TO OCRACOKE ATLANTIC OCEAN BEACHES AT CAPE HATTERAS NATIONAL SEASHORE

Cape Hatteras National Seashore beaches running from Cape Point on Hatteras Island to Ocracoke Island offer bathers warmer water and smaller waves than those running north of Cape Point to Bodie Island. These beaches are not along the colder Labrador Current but the warmer Gulf Stream, plus they do not take a direct pounding from the waves coming from the open Atlantic.

The following are undeveloped beach access points (east to west).  Also, though I do not recommend it, if you can pull safely off the road and onto the shoulder, you can walk over the dunes and to the beach at any spot unless marked with a Beach Closed sign. The main problem with doing this on the east-west section of Hatteras Island is that most of the road shoulder is beach sand, and if you pull off you might get stuck. Ocracoke Island is not as bad, but in the areas where the shoulder is dirt, there is a lot more brush on the dunes, and you don’t want to hike through dense brush. Only attempt to get to the beach if you see a well worn path or very minimal brush.

Hatteras Island

Frisco Campground
.25-mile walk to beach

Frisco Beach
100-yard walk to beach

Sand Bay Day Use Area
75-yard walk to beach

Ocracoke Island

Point Beach
There is a bathhouse with a small parking lot just as you exit the ferry from Hatteras Island. This beach is facing the inlet that runs between Hatteras and Ocracoke, so it’s not really an ocean beach, but it’s not on the bay either. It is approximately a 125-yard walk to the inlet. Currents that run through inlets tend to be strong, so I don’t advise doing more than wading in just to cool off.

Unnamed Beach Parking #1
Less than a mile from the ferry landing is a nondescript parking lot that holds about two dozen cars. A pathway leads 200 yards to the beach. There is no bathhouse or other facilities.

Unnamed Beach Parking #2
50-yard walk to beach

Pony Pens Beach Parking
150-yard walk to beach

Ocracoke Campground
If you are camping, you can walk to the beach from you campsite. There are all sorts of paths that have been cut from the beach side of the campground to the ocean. The walk is approximately 150 yards from the start of the paths. For non-campers, there is a large parking lot just before you enter the campground. This is also Off Road Ramp #68. You can walk down the sandy roadway to the beach, which is also about 200 yards away.

Ocracoke Beach
175-yard walk to beach

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