Moon Palace OBX

09/09/2026

Before the Coast Guard existed, before radios or motorized rescue boats, a small station on Hatteras Island was where North Carolina put its bet on saving lives at sea. ⚓

Commissioned in December 1874, Chicamacomico was the first United States Life-Saving Service station built in North Carolina, one of seven that went up along the coast that year. The crews who worked there, most of them local watermen who knew the shoals and currents better than any chart could show, trained constantly with beach carts, breeches buoys, and small surfboats, all of it built around the grim math of getting to a wrecked ship before the sea finished the job.

The station stayed in continuous service through the Life-Saving Service's transformation into the Coast Guard in 1915, all the way until 1954. What survives today is considered one of the most complete life-saving station sites left in the entire country, two stations and five outbuildings standing where generations of surfmen trained and launched.

It is one thing to read about how dangerous this stretch of coast was. It is another to stand where the people whose job it was to do something about it actually lived.

08/13/2026

Moon Palace still has availability in September/October 😎

07/27/2026

The busiest inlet on the Outer Banks did not exist until one September night in 1846, when a hurricane carved it open in a matter of hours. ⛈️

For years the barrier island south of Nags Head had been one long unbroken ribbon of sand. Then a powerful storm drove the waters of Pamlico Sound and the Atlantic together with such force that they punched clean through the island in two places at once, opening both Oregon Inlet and Hatteras Inlet in the same tempest. Where there had been dune and sea oats, there was suddenly a churning new channel to the sea. 🌊

The inlet took its name from the first vessel to pass through it, a side wheel steamer called the Oregon whose crew rode the fresh cut out to the ocean. Almost overnight the new opening reshaped shipping, fishing, and life on the Banks, and it has been shifting and migrating ever since, a restless gap that engineers still fight to keep open today. ⚓

It is wild to think that a landmark this important was born in a single storm, not carved slowly over centuries. Does it change how you see the Outer Banks to know how quickly that coastline can rewrite itself?

06/16/2026

Raise your flipper if you're excited about World Sea Turtle Day! 🐢

Did you know you can symbolically adopt an active sea turtle nest on Cape Hatteras National Seashore through our Adopt A Sea Turtle Nest program? When you adopt a nest, you will receive an adoption certificate and information about your specific nest when it hatches later this summer or fall!

Here's how our program works:

🎁Donate: Give a tax-deductible donation of $100 or more to reserve your sea turtle nest. Your gift will help us fund important projects that protect and enhance the Seashore and the vital sea turtle habitat it preserves. You'll receive a confirmation email for your donation.

🐢Receive your nest assignment: As nests become available, you will be assigned a nest and will receive an adoption certificate by mail or email with initial information about your nest. Nests are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.

⏰Wait patiently for your nest to hatch! When your nest hatches later this summer or fall (the average incubation time for our nests is 61 days), you will receive a personalized update with information Seashore biologists collect about your nest, including the number of hatchlings that made their way out to sea!

For more information and to adopt your nest, click the link below!
⬇️
www.obxforever.org/adoptaseaturtlenest/

Thank you for your support of these special creatures! 😊

📸 Cape Hatteras National Seashore

[Image description: A Loggerhead sea turtle hatchling on Ocracoke Island raising its right front flipper.]

06/10/2026

Fun for the kiddos 🦀

Who’s Ready for Field Programs?
Starting the week of June 15, you can join Park Rangers on Bodie, Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands for hands-on, immersive experiences to fully explore the wonders of the Outer Banks. Programs like Crabbing with a Ranger, Surf Fishing and Bird Walks all start next week. Some programs require advance registration- check out the events calendar at: https://www.nps.gov/caha/planyourvisit/calendar.htm to learn more.

05/28/2026

Listen to Radio Hatteras at 7:00 for the nightly sky watch! 🌖🌌

05/23/2026

It's World Turtle Day! It’s a perfect day to shell-ebrate all species of turtles! 🐢

Since 1990, World Turtle Day has been a day to celebrate turtle conservation efforts worldwide including, sea turtle conservation.

What is your favorite species of turtle? Let us know in the comments below!

To learn more about World Turtle Day: https://worldturtleday.org/

This conservation work for protected sea turtles in the northern Outer Banks is authorized by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission (ES Permit )

05/18/2026

05/01/2026

Sea turtle nesting season in NC has begun, woo! 🐢

Find a nesting sea turtle on your beach walk? Use this graphic to inform yourself on what to do!

This conservation work for protected sea turtles in the northern Outer Banks is authorized by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission (ES Permit )

04/09/2026

Have you been to Salvo Day Use?

While Cape Hatteras National Seashore protects over 70 miles of the Atlantic oceanfront beach, it also preserves over 200 miles of soundside beaches ready to be explored. Usually calmer and warmer, the sound offers a different perspective of the coastal environment.