OBX Bucket List

You can start planning a full year’s worth of bucket list “firsts” for you and yours to complete once you arrive on the Outer Banks. We enjoy the title of America’s First Beach, and rightfully so (the country’s first national seashore, the English’s first attempted settlement in the New World, man’s first powered flight, and more), so make your upcoming trip a vacation of firsts. You’ll be rewarded for stepping outside your comfort zone. 2019 promises adventures for doers and dreamers. Download our Bucket List or view the full list below.

 
2. Drive America’s First Beach, 4x4 or HWY 12
 
 
 
5. Watch a Lost Colony performance
 
 
7. Go shelling or sea glass hunting
 
8. Catch a sunrise by the ocean
 
9. Pull up a crab pot or shrimping net
 
10. Play a round of golf or mini-golf
 
11. Go Ghost Crab hunting at night
 
12. Sample local Kill Devil Rum
 
13. Pitch a tent at one of our NPS campsites
 
14. Grab binoculars and birdwatch at Pea Island Wildlife Refuge
 
15. Watch an episode of Wicked Tuna: OBX
 
16. Try a new water sport
 
17. Visit N.E.S.T. sea turtle exhibit at Roanoke Island Aquarium or watch a nest hatch on the beach
 
18. Fly a kite
 
19. Make or buy beach art from funky beach finds or in a local studio
 
20. Read a novel (extra points if it’s about the OBX or from an OBX author)
 
21. Take your pet to the water
 
22. Tag along on a tour of the Alligator River and see a black bear
 
23. Hear Red Wolves howling
 
24. Set foot on the Elizabeth II ship replica at Roanoke Island Festival Park
 
25. Get an aerial view of the islands in an airplane, helicopter, or biplane
 
26. Spend a week in a vacation rental home
 
27. Awe at a sunset over the sound
 
28. Attend an apparatus Drill at Chicamacomico Lifesaving Station
 
29. Step back in time to a living history site at Island Farm
 
30. Get lost in the lush greenery at Elizabethan Gardens
 
31. Watch Nights in Rodanthe and look for the famous house
 
32. Take a selfie with three lighthouses: Roanoke Island, Bodie Island and Cape Hatteras
 
33. Hop on a ferry in Hatteras for the day
 
34. Enjoy a family style seafood boil
 
35. Sled or run down Jockey’s Ridge sand dunes 
 
36. Learn about our 2,000+ shipwrecks at the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum
 
37. Spend happy hour on a pier or a waterside restaurant
 
38. Shop boutique stores along Duck Boardwalk, Outlets Nags Head or other numerous shops
 
39. Hike or bike alongside the marshes
 
40. Relax with a facial or body massage
 
41. Recycle bottles, cans and bags to keep the beaches clean
 
42. Sample ALL flavors of fudge & salt-water taffy
 
43. Rent a jet ski or jet pack for a few hours
 
44. Ride a horse alongside the shore
 
45. Go phone free for one day 
 
46. Visit Cape Point
 
47. Do yoga by the water
 
48. Attend a local event, music festival or artist showcase
 
49. Talk like a pirate
 
50. Build a sandcastle
 
51. Grill out
 
52. Make an OBX music playlist
 
53. Charter a sailboat
 
54. Explore a new town or village (we have 15)
 
55. Teach someone else a new skill (ex. how to fish, crab, tie a boat knot)
 
56. Chill out on a hammock
 
57. Take flight at the birthplace of aviation and sign up for Hang Gliding lessons
 
58. Brush up on all beach fire rules and host your own
 
59. Drive across the new bridge over Oregon Inlet
 
60. Become a keeper of heritage at Frisco Native American Museum & Natural History Center

Spotlight on OBX