Kitchen Cabinets in Carolina Beach, NC

Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina is experiencing worse erosion than anticipated, but officials are already working on a plan, according to WECT News.

The shoreline is monitored to stay in line with state and federal permits, and erosion has impacted a small part of the shoreline east of the sea wall.

Officials are working with agencies to determine the best course of action, which could include adjusting the sea wall or placing sand on the affected area.

The agencies' officials are working with are N.C. Division of Coastal Management and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

While shorelines change over time, town officials wrote in a statement, "Historical monitoring shows this area has experienced significant landward movement long before the terminal groin was built, which is why long-term monitoring and required responses were included in the permits."

Officials are required to take action regardless of whether development is nearby. Not doing so would be out of compliance with permits, could worsen the erosion, and likely cost the town more in the future.

Ocean Isle Beach isn't the only place experiencing erosion. California is also experiencing this, too, and according to a report by the Surfrider Foundation's State of the Beach, these beaches could disappear in the next 75 years.

Erosion is natural, but the burning of fossil fuels is intensifying it due to the knock-on effect of rising sea levels. In addition to this, extreme weather events' increasing severity is also playing a part.

Unfortunately, this isn't just happening at U.S. beaches; it's affecting them across the globe.

Marine scientist Omar Defeo has warned that half of the world's coastlines could vanish by 2100. This could have dire effects on local economies that rely on beaches and will drastically change the ecosystem.

Beaches are made up of submerged foreshore, beach, and dune. The dune acts as a protector, but without it, homes are threatened.

While reducing society's reliance on fossil fuels is the best way to combat a warming planet, permits and reviews like North Carolina's can help manage the issue locally.

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Just a month after starting, the Pleasure Island beach nourishment project has been stopped. But officials expect this pause is only for a few weeks.

CAROLINA BEACH | Officials and residents of Pleasure Island already have had to wait a year for a much-needed project to replenish their eroded beaches.

Now, the nourishment of Carolina and Kure beaches has been delayed again after starting in late November 2025.

But this time officials are hoping the pause is one that only lasts a few weeks, not months, and the work of pumping fresh sand onto the beaches can be wrapped up before the end of the environmental window for dredging in April and the start of tourism season.

What is the project?

The $23.5 million nourishment project is expected to see an estimated 1.6 million cubic yards of sand pumped onto Carolina and Kure beaches by the end of April.

The move follows a year delay in the work getting underway due to sky-high bids.

Surging demand for dredges in the wake of the battering beaches all along the Gulf and East coasts took earlier this decade coupled with just a handful of U.S. companies capable of doing the work meant there were a lot of communities chasing just a few opportunities to get sand pumped onto their beaches.

In the case of the Pleasure Island project, the Army Corps of Engineers estimated the 2024-25 project would cost about $20 million. The only bid came in at $37.5 million, prompting the government to rebid the project for winter 2025-26.

According to the corps and New Hanover County officials, the cost-share of the Carolina Beach portion of the project is 50% federal, 25% county, and 25% state. In Kure Beach, the break down is 65% federal, with New Hanover and Raleigh splitting the remaining 35%.

What is the state of the beaches?

The delay meant Carolina and Kure beaches had to weather another hurricane season with beaches that were already showing the strains of going longer than usual without a fresh injection of sand. The beach-building work, primarily funded by the federal government, generally takes place every four years.

While the Cape Fear region avoided any major storm impacts in 2025, A series of hurricanes moving offshore near the N.C. coast sent strong swells landward, lashing the coast for seemingly weeks at a time. Several subtropical storm systems also moved through the Southeast, adding to the heavy surf and rough ocean conditions.

The nourishment project started in November at the north end of Carolina Beach before Thanksgiving and was expected to wrap up in Kure Beach before April 30.

Work on beaches and in many cases dredging of coastal waters is only allowed to take place during the colder months to protect nesting sea turtles and shorebirds.

What happened?

In late December, island officials received notice from the corps that the nourishment was being temporarily paused.

The reason was the dredge from Norfolk Dredging Co. that was pumping sand from Carolina Beach Inlet was moving to work on another project.

"The project will resume in mid-February when a new dredge arrives," stated a release from Carolina Beach. "In the interim, the contractor will regularly have crews on the beach to ensure no safety or security issues arise with the piping and equipment."

Kure Beach also issued a statement about the beach project getting delayed.

"We have been assured that the project will be completed by the April 30, 2026, contract deadline," said Mayor Allen Oliver in an online statement.

What happens next?

The corps and town officials said they plan to hold an open house to update the public on the status of the project.

Changes due to the temporary stoppage include when sand placement might reach certain parts of the beach and how long piping and other heavy equipment might linger on certain parts of the beach.

"We will publish information on this meeting as soon as the date, time, and location are finalized," stated Carolina Beach in its Dec. 18 release.

David Connolly, spokesperson with the corps' Wilmington District, said on Jan. 6 that a meeting is tentatively planned for later in January.

He added that the switching out of the dredges was something that was expected, with the former beach dredge moving up to work on a project in the corps' Philadelphia district. A Norfolk dredge that is currently working on a dredging project in the Cape Fear River will move to Pleasure Island to replace the departed dredge.

"This was planned because, once we exhaust the quantities of material in the inlet, we must use the approved offshore borrow source to complete this Carolina and Kure Beaches Coastal Storm Risk Management (CSRM) contract," Connolly said via email. "The initial, smaller dredge would be less efficient in the offshore borrow area but well is suited for the project in Philadelphia."

He said that nearly 900,000 cubic yards of sand has been pumped onto Carolina Beach so far, targeting the most vulnerable areas at the north end of town, and the overall project is still expected to wrap by the end of April as originally scheduled.

Could there be more sand coming to Pleasure Island?

Yes, with the corps planning to conduct maintenance dredging of parts of the Intracoastal Waterway, including in the vicinity of Freeman Park, this winter.

The project could mean more sand for Carolina Beach, especially Freeman Park, which has seen severe erosion in recent years.

But there's a potential catch.

"Timeline for this project are anticipated to occur this winter but are dependent on when projects utilizing the same dredge further north are completed," Carolina Beach stated in a Nov. 3 news release.

Reporter Gareth McGrath can be reached at [email protected] or @GarethMcGrathSN on X/Twitter. This story was produced with financial support from the Green South Foundation, the Prentice Foundation and the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. The USA TODAY Network maintains full editorial control of the work.

CAROLINA BEACH | When he was 17, Dave Tilley came to the coast to attend the University of North Carolina Wilmington and study communications.

"Then I found the ocean, and I've been doing it ever since," the 59-year-old captain of the Carolina Beach-based charter boat Wild Rover III said with a bright smile. "It's in my blood, and there's nothing else I'd rather be doing."

A big, jovial man with a hearty laugh that looks like he could have been delivering presents at the end of December if he wasn't telling fish stories, Tilley is the kind of guy that naturally draws people to him.

It's that passion and energy that Tilley says he loves passing onto his boat guests, whether they are professional fishermen or landlubbers looking to test their sea legs for the first time.

"I just enjoy it," Tilley said of interacting with people. "The stuff you see out there is amazing, and I enjoy sharing my love of the ocean with people."

And even though he's worked on boats up and down the N.C. coast for decades and probably knows more about fishing in his right pinky finger than most people, sometimes he gets visiting anglers offering him "advice" on where or how to fish.

"I just tell them we're going to do it my way, and it usually works," he said with a chuckle.

Through his decades on the water, Tilley has seen plenty of changes.

He laments the growing bureaucratic red tape and regulations charter boats and the fishing industry in general now have to operate under, and he questions some of the stock assessments officials use to determine catch limits and seasons.

Tilley said the rising cost of everything is also a daily headache, including maintaining and fueling his 52-foot boat, named after a Confederate blockade runner, that carries a 600-gallon fuel tank.

"And it's gallons per mile, not miles per gallon," he said. "Let's just say when I fill up, it's not like taking your truck to the gas station."

But even with all the changes, Tilley said there's nothing he'd rather be doing.

"It's different every single day," he said of matching wits with the Atlantic's finned residents. "The fish change, the conditions change, the people change, it's always interesting."

Along with being a charter boat captain, Tilley also runs a website − saltwatercentral.com − that provides real-time weather forecasts, fishing reports, custom offshore maps, and guidance for recreational and commercial fishermen.

The idea for the site came to him in the 1990s when he started taking local National Weather Service meteorologists on fishing trips and realized that while they knew all the ins and outs of reporting the weather, they really didn't understand the ocean environment and its local idiosyncrasies and variabilities that well.

And Tilley freely acknowledges that at first blush the self-taught computer coder doesn't look like someone who would design and build a website that pulls together information from a bunch of online weather sources and mixes it with some of his vast fishing and boating experience.

"But I'm just a fishermen who also happens to be a computer geek," he said laughing.

Over the decades, Tilley said that as much as he loves the ocean, he also has learned to have great respect for its wonders and vast powers.

"It has taught me to roll with it, don't fight it," he said as a slight wind rocked the Wind Rover III from side to side in its berth at the southern end of the Carolina Beach Yacht Basin. "And you can't hurt its feelings."

Tilley knows he's not a young man anymore, but he said he doesn't see himself hanging up his fishing rods anytime soon.

"Till the Lord says I can't," he responded with a hearty laugh when asked how much longer he'll keep working in a profession that often requires the energy of a young man.

"Plus, it keeps me busy and out of trouble."

Reporter Gareth McGrath can be reached at [email protected] or @GarethMcGrathSN on X/Twitter. This story was produced with financial support from the Green South Foundation, the Prentice Foundation and the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. The USA TODAY Network maintains full editorial control of the work.

CAROLINA BEACH, N.C. (WECT) - A nonprofit focused on improving Carolina Beach through fundraising for parks and greenways has outlined a new project.

The Friends of Carolina Beach Parks and Greenways (FoCB) announced several beautification projects it plans to complete this winter due to a collaboration with the Cape Fear Garden Club.

Mike Hoffer, who completed his term on the Carolina Beach Town Council, said that as the chairman of the Carolina Beach Tree Project, his new goal is to keep the town green and healthy.

“Like most people, it saddens me to see mature trees come down in the name of development,” Hoffer said. “Our best solution to offset this is to continue planting the canopy trees of tomorrow, so that’s what we’re doing.”

Hoffer said the Tree Project, a subcommittee of FoCB, began in 2022 and since then volunteers have planted 72 future canopy trees as well as grasses, palms, shrubs and wildflowers.

One of the goals, to expand the wildflower garden along the Island Greenway at the Alabama entrance, was completed in early November. The garden is now 8-by-125-feet and will be an even larger perennial pollinator garden.

FoCB is now focusing on planting 30 canopy trees in the median of Harper Avenue, which is made possible through the Cape Fear Garden Club’s Tree Endowment and its commitment to plant 100 trees, according to FoCB organizers.

The garden club donated 12 live oaks for the project. Hoffer said he is still seeking 18 additional trees from the community.

The third goal FoCB has set out to complete is to enhance the gardens and Friends Nursery along the Island Greenway near the State Park.

FoCB received a $7,500 Cape Fear Garden Club Azalea Garden Tour Grant after it applied in early summer to help with the enhancement.

Grants were awarded at the October Garden Club monthly meeting. FoCB plans to kick off additional beautification at the nursery property in winter 2026, including native plants, pollinator-friendly bushes, fruit trees and a long-needed irrigation system.

“We will need the full support of our volunteers and neighbors. Planting is the easy part. Watering the trees for the first year is of paramount importance and it will take a dedicated team,” Hoffer said.

To volunteer, visit FoCB’s website.

Atlantic Coast beaches have a charm all their own, but they don’t often get the same level of gushing admiration that their counterparts on the Gulf Coast are so accustomed to. While Florida beaches get praised for looking like the Caribbean and having out-of-this-world blue waters, beaches in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia have to work a little harder to earn their fans.

However, there’s one beach in North Carolina that has sand and surf to rival even the dreamiest of Gulf Coast beaches, and it’s Emerald Isle. Part of the 85-mile barrier island that’s affectionately known as the Crystal Coast or the Southern Outer Banks, Emerald Isle is the kind of laidback family getaway that makes you want to return year after year. Its white sand and crystal-clear, emerald waters (hence its name) are a bit of a best-kept secret, but once you discover their beauty, you'll be devoted—hook, line, and sinker.

What Makes Emerald Isle’s Water And Sand Different?

While the water at beaches in other parts of the state are typically murky and appear dark blue or even brownish in color, the water off the coast of Emerald Isle is much clearer and takes on a signature blue-green hue. Last summer, North Carolina locals were astounded by a rare but entirely natural phenomenon that caused the ocean along the Crystal Coast to sparkle with a brilliant blue radiance that folks previously only associated with places like the Bahamas or Turks and Caicos.

The phenomenon, caused by an uncharacteristically low number of tropical storms and hurricanes coupled with unseasonally light offshore winds, allowed sediment to settle closer to the ocean floor and the water to exhibit its true vibrant turquoise color. During the middle of the day when the sun was brightest, visitors swore they had been transported to a faraway tropical island.

While Emerald Isle’s sand can’t claim the same sugar-white distinction that Florida’s quartz sand beaches can, its stretches of shoreline do trend toward the light khaki and even off-white, which is a far cry from the mineral-heavy, graham cracker-colored sand found on other beaches in North Carolina.

How To Experience Emerald Isle’s Water

Spending consecutive days alternating between sunbathing in the soft sand, then taking a dip in the sea when it gets too hot, is a must. But once you’ve mastered the fine art of “beaching” in Emerald Isle, you may want to graduate to exploring the ocean from new angles. See the water from above by hanging ten with a surf lesson from Hot Wax Surf Shop or testing your balance on a stand-up paddle board. When you’re ready to dive deeper, you can experience Emerald Isle from underwater by snorkeling or diving. The clear conditions and light-colored water make it easy to spot all kinds of fish and marine life, as well as remnants from long-ago shipwrecks in an area that’s known as The Graveyard of the Atlantic.