48 Hours in Ocean Isle, North Carolina

Let’s go to the beach beach, let’s go get away! I, indeed, did just that just a few weeks ago with some of my best friends. We all went to Ocean Isle, North Carolina for a pre-graduation trip and had the time of our lives. Today on the blog, I will be sharing my experiences traveling to Ocean Isle!!!

Ocean Isle, North Carolina is one of the last few islands off the coast of North Carolina before you reach the South Carolina border. The majority of the island’s tenants are either full-time or part-time residents, beachgoers who have been coming for years or even generations, and locals to the area from nearby communities. Unlike other beach towns, there is only one stoplight to my knowledge on the island and a roundabout in the center to distinguish its local businesses, including an ice cream shop that whips up homemade ice cream, an Italian ice shop, and a mini golf place. Most of the places to stay at local rentals, like condos or houses and there is just a handful of hotels, too. There are also a few restaurants but not many on the island. The majority of restaurants are in nearby towns/areas like Sunset Beach. It was really nice to not have a bunch of tourists on the island. My experience was much more down to earth that way, too!

My friend Sarah is extremely familiar with the Ocean Isle area. She is, in fact, one of the island’s frequent visitors that I mentioned up above along with her family. Her mom has, indeed, been traveling to Ocean Isle since she was a kid, too. Sarah introduced my friends and I to Ocean Isle and a condo rental service, which we decided to stay at and make our home on the island while there. The condos were two bedroom with room for the four of us and were well-equipped to keep us coming back and wanting to come back again as well.

When it came to dining, we decided to stock up on groceries at the local Food Lion outside of the island for lunch and breakfast. As for dinner, we decided to eat out on the island at The Ocean Isle Fish Company, which by the way has an AMAZING gift shop and Sharkey’s – a beach town restaurant chain. We also ate out at a restaurant whose name I forget in Sunset Beach along the sound. Each were pretty great and offered some delicious seafood delights at a reasonable cost.

As for going on the beach, I had never had that peaceful of an experience in the hot North Carolina summer or even in the hot Delaware summer for that matter! The crowded Ocean Isle beach is definitely not the crowded Bethany Beach, Virginia Beach, or any beach on the Outer Banks. We could easily have our speakers out and simply enjoy ourselves without much worry of being too close to others or in others’ ways. It was most definitely a nice and peaceful change of pace!

With having a crazy year that was not what me and my friends all expected for our Senior year of college, it was oh so needed to be able to take a weekend away to Ocean Isle. In past experiences, I have traveled to beaches that were much more crowded so it was a much nicer and more quaint experience than I have had in the past. That being said, I truly hope to be able to come back to Ocean Isle someday!

In the meantime, I am going to share some photos from the many memories I made while there!

XOXO – Katie <3