Most Outer Banks visitors chase the Atlantic side of Core Banks, where breakers pound the shore and lifeguard flags snap in the wind. You'll find the opposite physics here. Back Sound Beach curves along the island's western edge, sheltered by the barrier itself, and the water behaves more like a lagoon than a coast. The bottom is firm sand and broken shell, sloping so gently that toddlers can wade while their parents scan for scallops in the shallows.
“One of the few Outer Banks beaches where you can wade a football field from shore and never lose your footing.”
Credit: FlickrBlack Sand Beach, Maui
The beach is accessible only by boat—private skiff, water taxi from Beaufort, or the passenger ferry to Cape Lookout, followed by a half-mile walk across the island. That barrier to entry keeps the shoreline nearly empty, even in July. You'll set up your umbrella beside driftwood logs whitened by salt, and the only soundtrack is the tick of fiddler crabs and the occasional groan of a shrimp boat motoring past.
Bring everything you need: water, lunch, sunscreen. There are no concessions, no restrooms beyond a vault toilet at the lighthouse, no shade except what you carry. The reward is a beach that feels like your own private anchorage, where the water stays calm enough to read the ripples from feeding fish and the horizon is stitched with sailboat masts instead of hotel towers.
