OBX Artificial Reef Locations

Location Map and History of Artificial Reefs Off the Outer Banks

The History of OBX Artificial Reefs: From Backyard Tires to Bonner Bridge Titans (and Everything in Between)

Welcome to the OBX Artificial Reef Locations page on obxmaps.com! The interactive map right here on this page pinpoints every permitted ocean artificial reef off the Outer Banks—from the cluster just south of Oregon Inlet to the ones near Hatteras Inlet and beyond. Zoom in, click the markers, grab the GPS coordinates, and you’re ready to go.

But before you hit the water, remember: tides rule everything out here. Check our Outer Banks Tide Charts so you don’t fight a ripping current on the way out. If you’re launching from the beach, grab your Beach driving permits and study the 4x4 Beach Access Map—nothing kills a fishing trip faster than getting stuck in soft sand at Ramp 44. Heading down to Hatteras or Ocracoke? The Ocracoke Ferry schedule is your friend. And if you’re new to the area, our Where is Outer Banks located page explains why these reefs sit in one of the most productive mixing zones on the East Coast.

Now, let’s dive into how these underwater neighborhoods actually came to be.

The Wild West Years: 1950s–1970s (When Fishermen Played God with Tires and Appliances)

Back in the 1950s and ’60s, the Outer Banks had no official reef program—just a bunch of local fishing clubs who looked at the flat, featureless sand bottom and said, “Nah, the fish deserve better.” They loaded skiffs with whatever would sink: old automobile tires weighted with concrete, washing machines, refrigerators, even the occasional rusted-out car. These were the true DIY reefs.

The first semi-official spots in Dare County popped up around what we now call AR-160 Oregon Inlet Reef (visible on our map about 5–6 miles southeast of the Oregon Inlet sea buoy). Local anglers marked the spots with beer-keg buoys and dumped whatever they could haul. One story that still gets told at the docks in Buxton involves a guy who sank his ex-mother-in-law’s ancient Maytag wringer washer. A sheepshead allegedly moved in the same week and has been “paying rent” in quarters ever since.

By the early 1970s the state finally stepped in. In 1974 the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries launched the official Artificial Reef Program. One of the first permitted sites near the Outer Banks was AR-230 Mr. J.C. Reef, just south of Hatteras Inlet (check the map—about 4 miles out). It started with an old menhaden boat and bridge rubble and quickly became a gag-grouper factory.

Other early Outer Banks sites you’ll see on the interactive map include AR-130, AR-140, and AR-145—all within 8–12 miles of Oregon Inlet, built with train boxcars, pilings, and early concrete pipe. These were the pioneers.

The Vessel Era: Big Boats, Bigger Fish (1980s–2010s)

The 1980s and ’90s brought the golden age of intentional ship-sinking. The state started taking decommissioned tugs, barges, dredges, and surplus military vessels, stripping them clean (no oil, no batteries, no secrets), then opening the sea cocks.

AR-160 Oregon Inlet Reef got two massive 440-foot Liberty Ships (Dionysus in 1978 and Zane Grey in 1974)—true skyscrapers on the otherwise flat bottom. AR-230 Mr. J.C. Reef picked up a 105-foot tug (the Mr. J.C. herself), a yard freighter, and a landing craft. AR-220 and AR-225 near Hatteras Inlet received train boxcars and consolidated concrete.

Divers still talk about swimming through the engine rooms of these wrecks and finding sand tiger sharks using the wheelhouse as a recliner. The fish populations exploded. Amberjack used the structures like racetracks. Grouper stacked like cordwood.

The Bonner Bridge Revolution: 80,000 Tons of Concrete Reborn (2018–2022)

The single biggest reef-building event in Outer Banks history happened when the old Herbert C. Bonner Bridge was demolished. Instead of hauling 80,000+ tons of perfectly clean concrete to a landfill, NCDOT, the Division of Marine Fisheries, and local clubs turned it into habitat.

The crown jewel was the brand-new AR-165 Oregon Inlet Reef (7 miles south of the Oregon Inlet sea buoy—dead center on our interactive map). In January 2020 they sank the 88-foot tug American. In May 2021 they added the 108-foot Valley Forge. Then came barge after barge of 10-foot-diameter Bonner Bridge culverts—thousands of them—creating tunnels, walls, and fishy cul-de-sacs that look like underwater Lincoln Logs. In 2022 they finished it off with 532 Supra/Goliath reef balls.

Today AR-165 is one of the most productive reefs on the East Coast. Gag grouper, amberjack, black sea bass, Spanish mackerel—you name it. The vertical relief from the tugs plus the complex pipe field is pure magic.

The Bonner Bridge material also went to AR-160, AR-130, AR-140, AR-145, AR-230, AR-250, and others you’ll see marked on the map. It was the largest single artificial reef project in North Carolina history—and it saved taxpayers millions.

The Full Lineup You’ll Find on Our Interactive Map

Here’s what the map shows today (2026):

• AR-130, AR-140, AR-145 – The northern Oregon Inlet cluster (boxcars, pipe, pilings, early Bonner material)

• AR-160 Oregon Inlet Reef – Liberty Ships + newer pipe and reef balls

• AR-165 Oregon Inlet Reef – The superstar: tugs American + Valley Forge + massive Bonner Bridge culverts + reef balls

• AR-220, AR-225, AR-230 Mr. J.C. Reef – Hatteras Inlet classics, now supercharged with Bonner pipe

• AR-296 – Inshore of Cape Hatteras (granite and recent enhancements)

• And a handful of smaller or newer sites still being built out

(Zoom in on the map for exact GPS, depths, and material lists.)

Why These Reefs Matter (and Why the Fish Are Laughing at Us)

There’s something inherently funny about the whole thing. Grown adults in planning meetings arguing over whether a culvert is “high-profile enough.” Divers finding a child’s plastic shovel wedged in a reef ball on AR-165—now a permanent home for blennies. Old-timers insisting the best structure is still the one made from Uncle Larry’s broken refrigerator.

But the results aren’t funny—they’re spectacular. Gag grouper that were once rare this far north now school in the dozens. Oysters are colonizing some of the estuarine sites we track. The Outer Banks, famous for shipwrecks and storms, is now deliberately creating the very obstacles that once sank ships—but this time as a gift.

Planning Your Trip from Home

Everything you need is right here on obxmaps.com:

• Study Where is Outer Banks located if you’re coming from out of state (spoiler: it’s that skinny strip of sand where the Gulf Stream meets the Labrador Current)

• Check Outer Banks Tide Charts and Ocracoke Ferry schedule

• Get your Beach driving permits and print the 4x4 Beach Access Map

• If you’re into surf fishing while waiting for the tide to turn, our Surf Fishing Guide has the hot spots near the inlets

Then come back here, click the reef markers on the interactive map, drop the numbers into your GPS, and go make some memories.

The Future: Still Growing

The program keeps rolling. More pipe, more reef balls, more granite. AR-230 and AR-250 are scheduled for additional Bonner material in the coming years. New 3D-printed structures are being tested. The state still runs one of the most thoroughly monitored artificial reef programs on the East Coast.

So next time you’re eight miles off Oregon Inlet, watching your sonar light up like a Christmas tree, remember: that reef started with a tire and a dream in the 1960s, got a concrete makeover courtesy of a retired bridge, and now hosts more marine life than most natural bottom for a hundred miles.

The fish probably don’t send thank-you cards. But every limit of grouper, every bent rod, every happy diver is their way of saying “thanks for the house.”

See you on the water. And safe travels—don’t forget to check the tide chart before you leave the dock.