Welcome to Bald Head, NC

Boating in Bald Head, NC Map View

Berthage with electricity, gasoline, diesel fuel, water, ice, a pump-out station and marine supplies are available at Southport.
Navigation:
Click the “Map View” button above to see a chart of this harbor.
Cape Fear River, 370 miles long and the approach to the city of Wilmington, empties into the sea immediately westward of Cape Fear.
Prominent features:
Oak Island Light (33°53’34″N., 78°02’06″W.), 169 feet above the water, is shown from a 155-foot cylindrical tower, upper part black, middle white, and lower part gray, on Oak Island on the western side of Cape Fear River entrance. It is the most conspicuous object in the approach. The abandoned lighthouse, known as Old Baldy, on the west side of Smith Island, and the buildings of the Oak Island Coast Guard Station, westward of Fort Caswell, are also conspicuous.
Water tanks at Yaupon Beach, Southport and at Kure Beach and two silver radar domes about 1.3 miles southward of the tank at Kure Beach are visible well to seaward. The floodlights at the buildings on the beach about 1 mile westward of Oak Island Light are reported to be highly visible at night. The lights on the stack, microwave tower, and on the buildings of the nuclear powerplant, on the west side of Cape Fear River 2.5 miles above Southport, are prominent at night.
Frying Pan Shoals platform tower (33°29’06″N., 77°35’24″W.) is reported to be a good radar target in the approach to Cape Fear River. It is also reported that under ideal conditions the configuration of Cape Fear and Oak Island Light prove of some value as radar targets when closer in; these targets, however, should not be relied upon too strongly.
Frying Pan Shoals are the principal danger in the approaches to Cape Fear River. Isolated wrecks, some marked, and obstructions with varying depths over them are in the approaches.
In 2007, a rock was reported with shoaling to 28 feet at 33°42’38″N., 78°02’08″W.
Bald Head Shoal and Jay Bird Shoals (Middle Ground) are dangerous shoals on either side of the bar channel.
Caution should be exercised in Cape Fear River at times when tides are higher than normal and after heavy rains as logs and floating debris may be encountered.

Coastal Stories See All

Southern Resident killer whales swim just off Seattle’s shore. NOAA experts anticipate that the West Coast and the Pacific Islands will feel the effects of the 2026–2027 El Niño event most directly. Credit: NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center; taken under NOAA permit #781-1824

How Will El Niño Affect Your Local Fisheries?

10/10/2026

By fisheries.noaa.gov, fisheries.noaa.gov. What does El Niño mean for U.S. fisheries and marine life? What can fishermen and coastal communities expect to observe and experience as this event continues and potentially intensifies? And what are scientists at NOAA Fisheries doing to track this natural phenomenon? The El Niño-Southern Oscillation is a powerful… SEE MORE

NOAA's flood inundation map (left) depicting the forecast for flooding extent in New London, Wisconsin, and a photo of flooded streets in New London (right), dated April 17, 2026. (Image credit: NOAA NWS)

NOAA’s flood mapping tool now covers nearly 100% of U.S.

10/7/2026

By fisheries.noaa.gov, fisheries.noaa.gov. NOAA’s National Weather Service announced today that Flood Inundation Mapping (FIM), a revolutionary tool for predicting river flooding, is now available on an experimental basis to nearly 100% of the U.S. population. This is a massive expansion from FIM’s prior coverage of 60% of the country. FIM… SEE MORE

Meet Hawaii Fish Company, Tilapia Farmers in Hawaiʻi

10/4/2026

By fisheries.noaa.gov, fisheries.noaa.gov. For husband and wife duo Ron and and Estralita Weidenbach, fish farming is a family business. The couple met in the 1970s while Ron was consulting at the East West Center in Honolulu and the World Bank, focusing on sustainable aquaculture projects in Asia. Estralita was a… SEE MORE

Bald Head, NC

Welcome to Bald Head, NC

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Boating in Bald Head, NC Map View

Quietly Sophisticated: The Hood 42 LM

Coastal Stories See All

How Will El Niño Affect Your Local Fisheries?

NOAA’s flood mapping tool now covers nearly 100% of U.S.

Meet Hawaii Fish Company, Tilapia Farmers in Hawaiʻi

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