Maps of the North Carolina Coast and Outer Banks

If you are planning a fishing trip to the Outer Banks or North Carolina coast, one of the first things you are going to need is a good map. The following Outer Banks maps and maps of the NC coast are great resources, but be careful before using them for navigational purposes. Either a good GPS, the Electronic Navigation Charts (ENCs) listed below, or ideally both, can provide much more accurate data to keep you on track and off the shoals.

Online Nautical Charts for the NC Coast & Outer Banks
One new tool we recently found is NOAA'a Online Nautical Chart Viewer. It's very easy to use, highly accurate and just what you'd hope it would be. Below are the links for the North Carolina coast and Outer Banks:

Cape Hatteras to Charleston
Approaches to Cape Fear River
Cape Fear River Cape Fear to Wilmington
New River Inlet to Cape Fear
Intracoastal Waterway Neuse River to Myrtle Grove Sound
New River;Jacksonville
Cape Lookout to New River
Portsmouth Island to Beaufort, Including Cape Lookout Shoals
Beaufort Inlet and Part of Core Sound;Lookout Bight
Morehead City Harbor
Pamlico Sound Western Part
Ocracoke lnlet and Part of Core Sound
Neuse River and Upper Part of Bay River
Intracoastal Waterway Albermarle Sound to Neuse River;Alligator River;Second Creek
Pamlico River
Cape Hatteras-Wimble Shoals to Ocracoke Inlet
Cape May to Cape Hatteras

Maps of North Carolina Outer Banks Inlets Great maps of all the NC coastal and Outer Banks inlets including COLREGS Demarcation Lines that clearly show where inland waters end and the Atlantic ocean begins. These maps are pretty large, so be carefull if you are on a slower connection.
Bardens Inlet (Cape Lookout) Bear Inlet Beaufort Inlet Bogue Inlet Browns Inlet Cape Fear River Inlet Carolina Beach Inlet Drum Inlet Hatteras Inlet Lockwoods Folly Inlet	Masonboro Inlet Mason Inlet New River Inlet Ocracoke Inlet Oregon Inlet Rich Inlet Shallotte Inlet Topsail Inlets Tubbs Inlet

NOAA Digital Maps of the North Carolina Coast
NOAA now provides Electronic Navigation Charts (ENCs) that are fully interactive digital maps that can be downloaded to your personal computer. Below are a few of the ENCs and some available software for viewing the ENCs. The free viewer has been tested by our staff and works well, but the paid software products have not been evaluated yet. If you have or do use one of the following software packages, drop us a line a let us know what you think. From looking at the features and screenshots, these great tools might soon make a laptop for your boat just as essential as a GPS.

NOAA Office of Coast Survey Home
ENC Overview
ENC Direct to GIS
Vector Shoreline Maps
Free ENC Viewer

National Geophysical Data Center
NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center provides scientific stewardship, products, and services for geophysical data from the Sun to the Earth and Earth's sea floor and solid earth environment, including Earth observations from space. There are a lot of tax dollars at work here and it would take you a few weeks to check out everything on this site. If you are technically savvy and are looking to get more data to help you find the new fishing spots before everyone else, this site is for you. A few links to sample data are provided below, but the NGDC has everything from topo maps, bottom sediment data, to magnetic anomalies.

NGDC Homepage
Bathy/Fishing Maps
NC Coastal Relief Maps