Haulover Day Use Area

Haulover Day Use Area is a public beach and water access on Pamlico Sound, along NC 12 near Buxton. The shore shelves gradually into shallow water, making this a simple place to wade, paddle or launch a small boat. When spring and fall winds arrive, windsurfers and kiteboarders turn the broad sound into the main event. If boards are your reason for coming, remember that the show depends on the wind; on a still day, this is a quieter way to reach the water.

The nickname Canadian Hole comes from Canadian windsurfers who made the Outer Banks a regular stop beginning in the 1980s; kiteboarders joined them later. The best window for wind sports is usually spring or fall, though conditions vary. You can also just watch from shore. The wider Pamlico Sound is nursery habitat: eelgrass shelters young marine life, and fiddler crabs and shrimp use the shallows. For a photo, come late in the day and frame west across the open sound; the long horizon and a fringe of marsh grass give the picture more than a sheet of water.

The soundside parking and bathhouse sit right by the water. Restrooms and changing rooms are in the bathhouse; showers are seasonal, and a bottle-filling station is provided. A sandy path crosses NC 12 through the dunes toward the ocean side, so take care with traffic if you make that separate walk. There are two accessible-marked parking spaces, but neither is van-marked or served by a striped access aisle, and one is partly covered by a sand embankment. That is a meaningful limitation if you need transfer space beside your vehicle.