Outer Banks Expedition Program

Outer Banks Expeditions begins and ends at Shell Point, Cape Lookout National Seashore on Harkers Island. Expeditioners will travel in the customized bus, “The Mothership,” to a waterside campsite where they will camp in three to four person tents.

The first full day of the expedition is spent learning kayaking basics. These skills are put the use in a multi-day river trip to explore the transitions zones between a fresh water river and the inland sea between the mainland and the barrier islands. Expeditioners then paddle across Core Sound to the uninhabited Shackleford Island, home of wild mustangs and a unique maritime forest. Here there will be time to fish and scavenge for mealtime supplements and learn about the history, ecology, and lifestyles of this unique barrier island. All expeditioners visit the Cape Lookout Coast Guard Station where they will participate in the Cape Lookout Studies Program. Expeditioners may find and relocate nests of Loggerhead Turtles and search for dolphins.