Bald Head Island- South Beach- access 17(S16B)

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Bald Head Island is surrounded by 14 miles of beaches. South Beach is one of the most popular beaches of the island. At the far end of this beach lies Dune Ridge, offering an amazing panoramic view of the entire island. Today, the Village of Bald Head Island is fighting to restore and maintain the beautiful South Beach.

Access to the island is limited to passenger ferry and private boats. Cars have been banned on Bald Head Island and visitors & residents are encouraged to walk, bike and use electric golf carts.

Get directions to this beach

COVID-19

Keep your distance from other people.

Practicing social distancing is still essential. Only go to the beach if you are able to keep 6 feet or 2 meters away from others. Follow the instructions provided by your local health authorities. If your community has asked that you remain indoors and away from others, do so. Spending a day in any crowded place is the worst thing we can do for our most vulnerable right now and will counter our efforts to curb the virus’s spread.

Water Quality

Passed water quality tests at least 95% of the time
Historical Status
This status is based on the latest sample, taken on October 12th, 2021. Swim Guide - Main updates the status of this beach as soon as test results become available. These results were posted to Swim Guide on October 19th, 2021 at 10:38 AM.

For water quality icon legend, click:

Current Weather

22°C

Clear

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Monitoring Frequency

Source Information

The N.C. Recreational Water Quality Program's staff monitor water quality at over 200 testing sites across the North Carolina. Monitoring locations are divided into 3 tiers based on their location and average public use. The more popular a beach is, the more strict the water quality standard will be. The swimming season is from May - September, with April and October being considered shoulder months. All locations are sampled biweekly in October and once a month from November - March. Tier 1 beaches default to Tier 2 standards during the shoulder months and off season.

Tier 1 beaches are sampled weekly during the swimming season. All ocean beaches as well as brackish and freshwater beaches that average daily use during the swimming season will be marked Green when the geometric mean of 5 samples collected within 30 days contain less than 35 units / 100ml of water and when single sample test results are below 104 units / 100 ml of water. When water quality results fail to meet this standard, Swim Guide will show these beaches as "Red".

Tier 2 monitoring locations are sampled every two weeks April - October. These beaches will be marked "Green" when single sample results show enterococci levels below 276 untis / 100mL of water. When water quality results fail to meet this standard, Swim Guide will show these beaches as "Red".

A beach is marked Grey when there is no current or reliable monitoring information available.

Please note: Warning signs are only posted at beaches when a single sample results are above 500 units / 100 ml of water, however the press is notified to an alert when results show enterococci levels above 104 units / 100 ml of water for Tier 1 beaches and 276 units / 100 ml for Tier 2 beaches. Tier 3 beaches are in a separate region as boating is the primary use.

Recreational fishing permits are required for people over the age of 16 in North Carolina.

Swim Guide checks water quality results daily April - October.

Water Quality Graph