Shooting The Breeze

The first few days of 2021 have certainly felt like a chaotic continuation of 2020, with record-breaking COVID-19 numbers, political turmoil, and even a small coastal storm to boot, but there is ample reason to believe that there are bright spots in the future. From a vaccine that is already being administered on a county [...] Editor's Blog |  Full Article

Oh, 2020. We were so excited to see you arrive, and we’ll be so dang glad to see you leave. To say that 2020 was an unusual year is a massive understatement. Looking back at our past “Year in Review” round-up of notable stories, the bulk of our previous lists were topped by hurricanes, new [...] Editor's Blog |  Full Article

2020 is an unprecedented year, where the concept of time has been altered. More than once I have heard the question “What day is it again?” (or have asked that question myself), as months ticked by in relative isolation, and traditional events that indicated the season – like the 4th of July fireworks show, or [...] Editor's Blog |  Full Article

If you have lived on Hatteras Island for any length of time, then you likely know Danny Couch. A lifelong Hatteras Island resident, Danny has been involved in the public service arena for roughly 30 years, and has spent the past four years as Hatteras Island’s representative on the seven-member Dare County Board of Commissioners [...] Editor's Blog |  Full Article

On August 6, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) revised their annual hurricane outlook for 2020. Initially released in May, NOAA’s revised report stated that the Atlantic Basin could have noticeably more named storms than expected, leading to an “Extremely Active” remainder of the 2020 hurricane season. Certainly, the days and weeks that followed [...] Editor's Blog |  Full Article

Finding a little levity in the news has been difficult in 2020, to say the least. We’re in the midst of a global pandemic, a highly-charged political atmosphere, and we’ve already had nine named tropical storms or hurricanes as of the beginning of August. As such, finding “good news” stories to share can be challenging [...] Editor's Blog |  Full Article

Our wonderful co-founder and editor, Irene Nolan, had a relaxed tradition of posting an annual list of beach etiquette guidelines for new and long-time visitors alike. Initially launched decades ago when she was the editor of the now defunct Island Breeze, Irene’s guide was a smart and timely list of the dos and don’ts when [...] Editor's Blog |  Full Article

On March 17, North Carolina’s bars and restaurants were shuttered to the public, per an Executive Order from the governor, marking the first big move of soon-to-come social distancing guidelines. On March 20, access to Dare County was prohibited by local officials, (which barred non-resident property owners entry to the county), and on March 27, [...] Editor's Blog |  Full Article

Hatteras and Ocracoke islanders are unfortunately used to emergency situations. We’re used to seeing empty grocery store shelves, adjusting to business closures, and essentially dealing with a landscape where everyone is hunkering down at home, waiting for an approaching storm. We’re used to shutting off access to our islands before or after a catastrophic event, [...] Editor's Blog |  Full Article