Sunrise reveals boat sitting on Outer Banks beach, North Carolina park says

Waters off North Carolina’s Outer Banks are known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic,” and the latest victim is sitting in the surf at Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

The 32-foot sailboat Pura Vida grounded in the dark Monday, July 21, south of Avon, the National Park Service said in a news release.

“There were no reported injuries to the person on board the vessel when it came to shore at some time after 4 a.m.,” the park says.

Park officials did not report why the boat ran aground.

The Outer Banks are notorious as a region where the warm northbound Gulf Stream collides with the cold southbound Labrador Current. The end result is turbulent waters and constantly shifting shoals just below the surface.

The boat’s owner is working with the U.S. Coast Guard to remove it, which is best done sooner than later, experts say.

Grounded vessels left too long on Outer Banks beaches can sink on dry land.

It happened in 2021 with the Ocean Pursuit, which ran aground at Cape Hatteras National Seashore and sat for more than a year — long enough to become a tourist attraction.

“Each tide brings in water which makes the sand soft and malleable. Thus the boat sinks into the sand a little each day,” the National Park Service told McClatchy News as the Ocean Pursuit continued to sink.

Vessels long buried in the sand are known to reappear after coastal storms, only to be covered with sand again, the park says.