Shooting The Breeze

2019 was a tough year for many islanders. Hurricane Dorian dominated the headlines in the fall, closing Ocracoke Island for nearly three months, and flooding and ocean overwash seemed to accompany every storm throughout the year, leading to multiple road closures and revived conversations about how to protect N.C. Highway 12. But it you look [...] Editor's Blog |  Full Article

As the recent Christmas Tree Lighting in Hatteras village cemented, the holiday season has officially arrived on Hatteras and Ocracoke islands, and the Island Free Press is brewing up some cool new ways to share our local holiday spirit with our off-island readers. For the first time ever, the Island Free Press will be covering [...] Editor's Blog |  Full Article

Blue recycling roll carts still remain, untouched, at some Hatteras Island residences, but it’s been more than two months since Hatteras Recycle in Salvo closed its doors for good after Hurricane Dorian. “That was the last straw,” Todd Phillips, who had started the business in 2007, said of the September 6 storm. Phillips sold the [...] Editor's Blog |  Full Article

On Saturday, November 2, the first-ever Cape Hatteras Surf Fishing Heritage Celebration was launched at the Fessenden Center in Buxton, and an estimated 200 attendees drifted in and out of the transformed gym to attend a dozen presentations that focused on varying aspects of fishing, and its Outer Banks roots. Hosted by the Cape Hatteras [...] Editor's Blog |  Full Article

This will be a brief blog, because at the Island Free Press, our work is currently better spent providing as much updated info as possible on the status of services, reentry to Hatteras Island, and where to go to get help. In that vein, if you know of any resources available to residents of Hatteras [...] Editor's Blog |  Full Article

On Friday, August 23, the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) voted for the adoption of the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan Draft Amendment 2 by a 6-3 vote at their quarterly meeting in Raleigh. These management measures resulted in a proclamation this week by the Division of Marine Fisheries that closes the commercial and [...] Editor's Blog |  Full Article

This summer, coastal newspapers all around the country boasted headlines of record-breaking sea turtle nests along their local beaches. These headlines were especially prevalent in communities along the shorelines of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, which includes are our own home turf of the Outer Banks. As of the first week of August, [...] Editor's Blog |  Full Article

Earlier in July, representatives from the National Weather Service (NWS) and Dare County came together to host a Hurricane Community Forum in Buxton. The goal of the event was to share essential information with island residents who are regularly impacted by coastal storms, and while the presenters were preaching to the choir when it came [...] Editor's Blog |  Full Article

It was the end of 1998, and Hatteras Islanders were dispirited at the prospect of moving the historic Cape Hatteras Lighthouse one half-mile from its eroding seaside perch. Congress had provided $9.8 million for the project earlier that year, and Buffalo, NY contractor International Chimney had already started preparations for the move. That’s about the [...] Editor's Blog |  Full Article