The Sky Looked Like Cotton Candy

October 20, 2026

Good Morning OBX Crew!

What a week out here. With another storm pushing through, a lot of last week's events got cancelled, which is a bummer for everybody who had plans. Hopefully things settle down from here. The good news is this coming weekend is enormous: OBX Brewtäg, Harborween in Wanchese, the Dare to Scare 5K, and a Witches Paddle on Ocracoke all land on Saturday.

Let's get into it!

Cotton Candy Sky

A sunset walk on the beach is my favorite thing to do out here, and I don't think that's going to change.

A couple weeks back we were out walking and the sky went absolutely wild. Pink and orange all through it, soft, like cotton candy. It was 72 degrees. Both of my kids were thrilled just to be on the sand. And I looked up and got to watch my wife standing there with all of that behind her.

I took a picture. It's below.

Those are the moments I'm never going to forget, and they're the reason I keep coming back day after day. I've also realized how much I love going back through old photos, which has me trying to actually get better at taking them instead of just pointing and hoping.

So take a look, and then send me yours. Hit reply with your favorite OBX shot. I genuinely love seeing them and I'd like to start sharing some here.

Cotton candy pink and orange sunset over the beach on the Outer Banks

The Report

Conditions

Tides: High 4:46 AM · Low 11:38 AM · High 5:04 PM · Low 11:52 PM (Duck Pier)

Water Temp: ~66°F

Surf: [TBD — check morning of send]

Wind: [TBD — check morning of send]

Sunrise: 8:15 AM ↑

Sunset: 7:21 PM ↓

Moon: Waxing Gibbous 🌔

Humidity: [TBD — check morning of send]

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StayScreen

If you rent out a place on the OBX, this one is worth a look. StayScreen is a tablet that sits in your property and answers the questions you're tired of answering. Wi-Fi password, how the TV works, where to eat, what time checkout is. It changes depending on where the guest is in their stay, so arrival day shows arrival stuff and the last morning shows checkout instructions. Behind the scenes you get the part that actually saves you time: it syncs stays from the booking platforms, texts your cleaners and gives them their own turnover calendar, runs task lists with reminders, and shows you how each property is performing across platforms in one dashboard. It's $295 one time per property, which covers the tablet, the stand, delivery, setup, and the first six months of software, then $15 a month after that. There's also a software-only plan with a 30-day free trial if you want to try the back end first. You can poke around the live guest demo without signing up for anything, which is the fastest way to see whether it fits your place.

See the Tablet Demo