A vacationer’s paradise and a place with a rich history of sunken ships, swashbuckling pirates, and vanishing colonies, there are plenty of untrue things about the Outer Banks of North Carolina.To help wrongly informed visitors and locals alike know more about what is and is not true about the OBX, we’ve put together a list of 15 myths you may think are true about the Outer Banks, but really aren't.
1) There aren’t any waves on the Outer Banks during the summertime. The wintertime is certainly the best time of year to go surfing in the area, but there are still plenty of waves to be had during the summer (especially if you have a longboard).
2) You can have a lot of luck fishing on the OBX anytime of year. Fishing is superb overall on the OBX, but very few boats head out of Pirate’s Cove Marina and Oregon Inlet Fishing Center from November through February. Quite a few of the local piers also shut their doors for several months during the year.
3) Wild horses can be found up and down the beach. It would be pretty awesome to have wild horses roaming every Outer Banks town’s beach, but this is not the case. You can only see the wild horses in the Northern beaches of Corolla and Corova and Ocracoke Island.
4) The by-pass (or U.S. 158) is the fastest way to get from one point to another. This is sort of true and sort of not true. The by-pass is most definitely the fastest road to travel on during the less busy off-season months, but in the summertime, beach road (NC 12) is the way to go.
5) All locals know how to and regularly go surfing. It would be amazing if all locals were avid wave riders and regularly exercised most of the muscles in their body in the ocean, but unfortunately this isn’t the case.
6) There is nothing to do on the Outer Banks during the winter time. Completely false! There are dozens if not hundreds of reasons why you should visit the Outer Banks during the winter.
8) Seafood is expensive to buy. Pshhh! Seafood is quite expensive to buy in a number of restaurants on the beach, but you can buy releativly cheap, unprepared, fresh local seafood at close to a dozen small businesses on the OBX including: Austin Seafood Company, O'Neal's Sea Harvest, and Billy’s Seafood.
9) You can drive on any of the town’s beaches during the winter. I wish this were true, but there are only a few Outer Banks towns that allow you to drive your 4x4 vehicle on the beach.
10) Emerald Isle is part of the Outer Banks. It seems like once or twice a week I see a tweet that says so and so is at Emerald Isle on the Outer Banks. To clarify, the OBX is a 200-mile-long stretch of land that runs from Northern Carova to Southern Ocracoke Island.
11) Corolla, North Carolina is pronounced the same way as the Toyota vehicle. This one really bugs me. The Toyota Corolla is pronounced Kuh-ROE-Luh and Corolla, North Carolina is pronounced Kuh-RAH-Luh. Hear the difference?
12) Hotels are a better deal than vacation rental homes. Absolutely not truth behind this and in fact, you can save hundreds if not thousands of dollars per person if you choose to stay in a rental home versus a hotel.
13) There are no businesses open during the off-season months. Although quite a few places close up shop during the off-season, there are still dozens of restaurants and local stores open year-round. And each year, more and more places are staying open more days out of the year compared to previous years.
14) The Outer Banks and Nags Head are the same thing. Wow, I can’t count how many times I’ve seen this happen. The Outer Banks is a group of towns on the coast of North Carolina. Nags Head is one of those towns.
15) Blackbeard was born on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Although no one is positive where the infamous pirate was born, it is believed that he was originally from Bristol, England. Blackbeard did however spend a few years living in Ocracoke and was executed off the coast of North Carolina on November 22, 1718.
