New island attracts fishermen and the curious.
Dynamic, beautiful, ever changing–all of that is on full display as a new island is forming off the Point at Cape Hatteras. Writing for the Virginian Pilot, Jeff Hampton gives the details and tells the story.
“The Outer Banks has a new attraction this summer: an island. It’s a mile long and three football fields wide and it’s just off the tip of Cape Point, the world-famous surf-fishing site near the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.
“Yeah, isn’t it crazy?” visitor Janice Regan said. “It was just a little bump in April.”
She and her 11-year-old grandson Caleb searched it Memorial Day for seashells. Caleb christened it “Shelly Island” for the loads of large, unblemished whelks and other shells they found.
They are not the only ones exploring the surprise sandbar.
It is attracting anglers, seashell collectors, adventurers, photographers and the plain curious. The “Shelly Island” name is spreading on social media.
Getting there is not without danger. The ocean breaks one way on the east shore of the point and in the opposite direction on the southern shore. A flow as powerful as a rip current and about 50 yards wide rushes between the point and the new island.”
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