Onslow Bay
Overview
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
coast, between Cape Fear in the south and Cape Lookout
Cape Lookout (North Carolina)
This article is about the Cape Lookout in North Carolina. See Cape Lookout for other places with a similar name. Cape Lookout is southern point of the Core Banks, one of the natural barrier islands on the Atlantic coast of North Carolina, USA. delimits Onslow Bay to the west from Raleigh Bay to...
in the north. Thirteen barrier island
Barrier island
Barrier islands, a coastal landform and a type of barrier system, are relatively narrow strips of sand that parallel the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything from a few islands to more than a dozen...
s form the shore of the bay. It is part of the open Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
and affords no protection from oceanic swells.