Beaufort

Radio Island Beach

ICW mile 204

NOAA ENC chart tiles · planning aid, not for navigation

🏖 Sandbar⚓ Anchorage

✈ Brief this trip–

Right now at this spot

oldest reading 1 hour ago

Rough — bigger boats only

Experienced crews in bigger hulls. Everyone else will have a bad day.

The sea state in that call was measured 32.5 nm away at NDBC 41159 — that is open water, not this basin.

What that call is built on

· Observed wind N 3 kt gusting 8 — NDBC BFTN7 · Beaufort
· Observed seas 3.6 ft — NDBC 41159 · Onslow Bay
· Adjacent sounds and rivers moderate chop — NWS AMZ158

Wind now

N 3 kt

BFTN7, 0.8 nm off · 49 min ago

Gusting

8 kt

BFTN7, 0.8 nm off · 49 min ago

Seas now

3.6 ft

15s period · 41159, 32.5 nm off · 1 hour ago

Inside the waterway

Adjacent sounds and rivers moderate chop

Water and airWater 74°F

NDBC BFTN7 · Beaufort (0.8 nm) · NDBC 41159 · Onslow Bay (32.5 nm) · NOAA 8656483 Beaufort, Duke Marine Lab · MLLW

What a local would tell you

Sheltered beach between Beaufort and Morehead with a sandy shore you can nose up to. Good fallback when the wind makes Shackleford uncomfortable.

The tide today

NOAA has not returned a prediction for station 8656483 right now, so there is no curve to draw. Nothing here is worth guessing at — check the station directly.

Sand & tide

When is the sand out?

Barrier-island beach

No prediction

NOAA returned no tide prediction for today, so there is no clock to run. Nothing here is guessed in its place.

Beaching it right now

No tide curve

NOAA has no prediction covering this moment, so we cannot tell you which way the water is going. Do not nose onto sand on a guess.

About this spot

The sheltered fallback when the wind makes Shackleford uncomfortable. Beaufort Inlet current runs past the end of it — mind where you leave the boat.

Rule of thumb, not a survey

This is a rule of thumb, not a survey. Nobody has measured the height of this sand to a datum, so the times are the tide curve run against a threshold we chose — treat them as give or take three quarters of an hour, and tell us if we're wrong.

Tide curve: NOAA 8656483 Beaufort, Duke Marine Lab, six-minute predictions, MLLW. Height of the sand: No threshold. A sandy shore you nose up to, not a bar that covers.

What’s biting here

All species

Red drumOpenPeak

Peak month, and 74°F is right in their band.

Min 18" total length · 1 per person per day

Spotted seatroutOpenPeak

Peak month, and 74°F is right in their band.

Min 14" total length · 3 per person per day

FlounderClosedPeak

Peak month, and 74°F is right in their band.

Unlawful to possess right now.

Ranked on the month and the measured water temperature. Limits are North Carolina’s current rules — confirm with DMF before you keep anything.

Depth

Nobody has reported a depth here. This spot is tide-sensitive, so sound your way in and post what you read. We timestamp it and correct it to the datum automatically, so the next boat gets a number they can actually use.

Getting there

from Wrightsville Beach

Distance

75.7 nm

by the waterway

Run time

190 min

arrive about 7:16 PM

Fuel, round trip

81.1 gal

54% of your 150 gal

Home before dark

4h 3m late

you would finish after sunset

On the ICWstatute mile 204

Worked out for

a typical 26 ft centre console · 2 ft draft · 26 kt cruise · 14 gph

✈ Full briefing 🧭 Plan the run

Distance from ICW mile markers where both ends have one, winding-padded straight line otherwise. Time and fuel from your boat profile at 26 kt.

Worked out for a typical 26 ft centre console — we do not know yours yet. Add your boat and these become your numbers.Add your boat

What else is out here

straight line, true bearing

⚓MarinaSea Spray0.6 nmNNW ⛽Fuel · Pump outHomer Smith Docks & Marina0.7 nmNNE 🍤Dock & dineBeaufort Docks1.1 nmENE 🛻RampEmerald Isle Boat Ramp16.1 nmW 🛥Public dockMoore Street Dock21.4 nmW

Nearest artificial reefAR-315 Atlantic Beach Reef3.7 nmSW

49 ft site average · Concrete, Vessel

NCDMF site reference position, not a surveyed obstruction. Material stands well above the site average — never steer over a reef on these numbers.

Distances computed from the shipped place dataset and NCDMF reef records. Great-circle, not a route — check that the water actually connects.

Live from the water

No reports here yet. If you run this spot, post what you see — fuel price, depth, how busy it is. Depths get corrected for the tide automatically, so the number you leave is worth something to the next boat.

Know before you go

AccessBoat or road

ProtectionBetter than the outer banks

BottomSand

ShelteredBeachFallback spot

Comments

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✈ Brief this trip Map

Tide curve unavailable (NOAA 403) · Tides unavailable (NOAA 403)

Conditions, tides and alerts are live from NOAA CO-OPS, the National Weather Service and NDBC. Distance, run time, fuel and clearance are calculated from your boat profile. Member depth reports are corrected to the datum at the moment they are filed. Planning aid only — not for navigation. Carry current charts.