Coquina Beach
Nags Head, NC
Coquina Beach sits about eight miles south of Nags Head along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, home to the wreck of the Laura A. Barnes, a four masted schooner that washed ashore in 1921 and still sits half buried near the bathhouse. A boardwalk leads out from a real bathhouse with changing rooms, a step up from the bare parking lots at some other seashore accesses.
A real shipwreck and a proper bathhouse set it apart from the average seashore pull-off, though it's far enough from town that it's more of a planned trip than a spontaneous one.
How we score beachesWalk north from the main lot toward the shipwreck rather than straight out to the water. It's an easy five minute detour and one of the more tangible pieces of Outer Banks history you can just walk up to.
Free parking for cars, boat trailers, and RVs, with restrooms and outdoor showers at the bathhouse.
A boardwalk leads from the bathhouse to the sand, a step up from the smaller seashore accesses nearby.
Leashed dogs (10 feet max) are welcome, except in any posted resource closure area.
Water peaks in the upper 70s by August, right through the June through November hurricane season shared by the whole Outer Banks. Being part of the National Seashore keeps it less developed and less crowded than the towns just to the north.
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