Seagull Says: Forecast? Drama with a chance of thunder.

🌊 TODAY’S TIDE (Weather + Surf Report)

• 🌞 Wednesday Weather
  Clouds are hogging the spotlight with a decent chance (50%) of an afternoon rinse. Temps top out around 79°, with a light SW breeze giving your beach hair some volume. Humidity is trying to win awards at 81%.

  Tonight? Mostly calm skies, low of 72°, and the kind of humidity (93%) that makes your hair say “good luck.”

• 🏄‍♂️ Surf Report
  It’s flatter than a stingray’s belly out there today. Your best shot at catching anything rideable is around 6-ish… or maybe Thursday. It might be a good day to clean your board and daydream instead.

📰 HEADLINES + CHATTER

Possums, property taxes, and paperbacks—just another day on the sandbar.

• 🐿️ Possums > PTO
  Dana Roepcke turned her kids’ old playroom into a rehab center for 51 possums, 11 squirrels, and 6 cottontails—and that’s just this week. Dare Wildlife Rehab is a one-woman show (plus her husband Frank, who thinks she’s “crazy”) that’s healing OBX critters one whisker at a time. Our fave? Smokey the opossum, who literally walked out of a bonfire and into Dana’s care. Now that’s hot.

• 📖 Summers, Squirrels & Sentimentality
  Linwood “Buddy” Swain’s book Summers by the Sea captures Hatteras Village life in the 1940s–60s, and it’s selling faster than Duck Donuts on a July morning. Between tears and laughs, readers are loving this memory lane ride. Find it at Buxton Village Books before it disappears like summer break.

• 📈 Reval-u-rattled
  About 200 Dare County property owners are still fighting their 2025 revaluations. Overall values jumped 67%, so we get it. If you're one of the lucky few who hasn’t opened their notice and gasped, congrats on being emotionally stable.

• 🚗 Rates Go Vroom
  Auto insurance is going up 5% across NC starting October 1. Why? Fancy bumpers, distracted drivers, and repair bills that rival beachfront rent. Motorcycle rates are actually dropping, so maybe it’s time to live out that midlife crisis after all.

🎟️ WEDNESDAY EVENTS

All the who, what, where (and a little why not) for your Wednesday wanderings.

• 🎣 Youth Casts + Catch Counts
  Fritz Boyden Memorial Youth Fishing Tournament
  Start 'em young! Local kiddos battle it out with the fishies — bragging rights (and likely snacks) on the line.
  📍7223 S. Virginia Dare Trail, Nags Head — All day

• 🛶 Reel Quiet Competition
  Season-Long Kayak Fishing Tournament
  Grab your paddle and your patience — it’s on like bass-on!
  📍Kitty Hawk Surf Co. (Various Locations) — 8:00 AM

• 🛍️ Sand + Shopping
  Tri Villages Market
  Locally made, sun-soaked, and very likely to feature someone selling beach-themed wind chimes.
  📍Camp Hatteras Resort, Rodanthe — 9:00 AM–1:00 PM

• 🎩 Hocus OBX-us

  OBXtremely Magical Show
  Yes, it’s a magic show. No, they can’t make the tourists disappear.
  📍Duck Town Park — 9:30 AM–10:20 AM

• 🦋 Wings + Whimsy

  Butterfly House Release
  Butterflies go free, hearts flutter, and someone will definitely cry.
  📍Elizabethan Gardens, Roanoke Island — 10:00 AM

• 🐴 Horse Meet + Greets
  Mustang Mornings at the Farm
  Come say hay to the OBX’s most iconic residents — now with less galloping and more snacking.
  📍Corolla Wild Horse Fund, Grandy — 10:00 AM–2:00 PM

• 🏐 Sandy Showdown
  Corolla Cornhole Tournaments
  Sand. Boards. Bags flying. Someone yelling, “That was in!”
  📍The Northern Outer Banks, Corolla — 3:00 PM–6:00 PM

• 📋 Agenda, But Make It Scenic
  Planning Board Meeting
  It’s Duck’s version of reality TV — with fewer housewives, more zoning talk.
  📍Duck Town Park — 4:00 PM

• 🔊 Meditation + Sharks
  Sound Bath Under the Sea
  Lie on the floor. Breathe. Ignore the 400-lb predator behind the glass.
  📍NC Aquarium, Roanoke Island — 6:00 PM–6:45 PM

• ⚾ Bats, Beach, and Ballpark Fun
  Flying Dutchmen Home Game
  Your new hometown team takes the field. Go Dutchmen, go peanuts, go OBX pride!
  📍TowneBank OBX Park, Kill Devil Hills — 7:00 PM

• 🎭 Drama Under the Stars
  The Lost Colony
  History, mystery, and theatrical fog machines — a local classic.
  📍Waterside Theatre, Manteo — 8:30 PM

📍THE BEAK OF APPROVAL

🎣TW’s Bait & Tackle- Tackle shop meets social club.
Whether you’re an expert angler or just pretending, TW’s is part bait, part gear, part OBX institution. Locals swing in for fresh bait and fishing advice. Tourists swing in to figure out what exactly a “bloodworm” is.

📍Multiple locations (Nags Head, Kitty Hawk)

Bonus: They carry the good sun shirts. The kind you swear you don’t need until you fry your shoulders.

🚨 CRIME + SAFETY CORNER

Crickets and calm. Which means someone must be plotting. Stay tuned.

⛱️ VACAY OR STAY

🏡 FOR SALE: Lake Views and a Plug for the Apocalypse

This 3-bed, 2-bath Currituck ranch has lakefront vibes, a shiny sunroom, and a backyard that’s basically prepped for anything—fenced, shed’d, and generator-ready. Inside? Immaculate. Outside? Just 15 minutes from the NC/VA line, but worlds away from the chaos.

📍177 Laurel Woods Way, Currituck | $405,000

Bonus: You could probably survive a zombie apocalypse here, and still make it to Target in time for the Circle deals.

🌊 VACAY: Sawyer’s Lodge – Bridge-Free Bliss With Historic Drama

Perched on its own private peninsula like it owns the place (because it kinda does), this 5-bed, 4-bath Currituck escape brings the heat: private pool, hot tub, dock, and a whole lot of waterfront. Originally a 1920s hunting lodge, it's been lovingly restored into a getaway fit for your crew and your pets. Think vintage charm meets HGTV glow-up.

📍Sawyer’s Lodge | Currituck Mainland, NC

Bonus: No beach traffic, no key pickup chaos, and 200+ feet of soundfront where you can watch locals haul in the day’s catch while pretending you're in a Nicholas Sparks novel.

🕵️‍♀️ HEARD AROUND, IN, OVER, or UNDER THE DUNES

Many readers ask if these are true or made up. Folks, we couldn’t make this stuff up if we tried. This is life in the OBX—sand, sass, and seagulls watching it all go down.

• 🦀 A Corolla visitor claimed they were “chased by a crab the size of a dinner plate.” Locals say it was more side-scuttle than speed chase, but sure.

• 🚗 Someone allegedly called 911 because a turtle “refused to cross the road in a timely fashion.” The turtle remains unfazed and fully unbothered.

• 🌪️ Overheard: “If the wind gets any worse, I’m filing for joint custody of my trash can with my neighbor.”

🔗 QUICK LINKS

• ⛴️Ferry Schedule – You can’t teleport to the Outer Banks (yet), so here’s how to float your way here the old-fashioned way.

• 🐾OBX SPCA Pet of the Week (more like every 10 days): Zeus, the cat, though he appears to be eating well, could use a fur-ever home to have more play time and extra lovin’! Sidenote from Zeus, he prefers a home with a well-stocked pantry. 😽

• 🌊Live Surf Cams – For “checking the surf,” but really just spying on beach traffic and seeing who already claimed your favorite spot.

• 💬Submit a Tip or Event – Got a hot lead, weird sighting, or something the seagulls should be squawking about? Slide it our way.

🧂FINAL PEEP FROM THE PERCH

If your coffee didn’t wake you up, we hope this newsletter did. Forward it to your favorite chaos-loving cousin or that friend who still thinks the OBX is just a Netflix show.

Sign up. Stay salty. Be nosy.