Crystal Coast

In North Carolina, the Crystal Coast is an 85-mile stretch of coastline that extends from the Cape Lookout National Seashore, which includes 56 miles of protected beaches, southwestward to the New River.

The Crystal Coast is a popular area with tourists and second-home owners in the summer, with a name coined by the Carteret County Tourism Development Authority.

[1] The absolute boundaries of this coast are often disputed, but the main area includes all the major Carteret County beaches (those on Bogue Banks, which face south).

Besides the many quiet beach communities and numerous shops and restaurants in the area, other major attractions include Fort Macon State Park, which protects a series of historic coastal forts used from the early 19th to the mid 20th century, and the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, one of three such aquariums located along the North Carolina coast.

Numerous properties are held as second homes by people with full-time residences in the interior of the state, such as in the cities of Kinston, Goldsboro and the capital Raleigh.

This is one of the two spots in North America where the warm waters of the Gulf Stream approach the coastline, creating a "wreck diver's dream" with near-perfect conditions, according to Scuba Diving magazine.

In the 21st century, the Lionfish, a venomous non-native invasive species with sharp spiny fins and brick red bands covering its body, has been found in these waters, alarming conservationists.

Lionfish were previously thought to inhabit only the tropical and subtropical waters of the South Pacific, Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.

In Atlantic Beach, Fort Macon is a major draw for its Civil War history; it is the second most-visited state park in North Carolina.

The “Living Shipwreck” features a life-sized replica of a German U-352 submarine and Blackbeard’s infamous ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, which was found nearby off the coast a decade ago.

At the museum's Watercraft Center, volunteers build and restore boats in an effort to preserve the Crystal Coast's tradition of "backyard boat-building."