North Carolina beach recommendations?

Dewees Isand, or Fripp Island.
Dewees is just amazing, however it is not cheap.

I love the Beaufort/Atlantic Beach area, because I love the barrier islands right there. You have to get to those by boat, but that's part of the appeal for me.

Beaufort doesn't really have a beach; it's a harbor. You can see Blackbeard's house and museums and things. Lovely stuff!

If you like to wake up and walk out on the beach, stay on the Atlantic Beach side of the bridge.

The best beach areas, though, are on the islands. The water and how the ocean does there is almost tropical. It only takes about 2 minutes by boat to get to them. Cost is no more than 10 bucks or so. There are wild ponies and mustangs on the islands from the old shipwrecks!

You can also take boat tours. You'll see dolphins, and whales in season, I think. You'll definitely see the horses. It's all very slow and pretty

eta: I believe the whole area there is called the Crystal Coast.

Ya, here ya go:

http://www.crystalcoastnc.org/things-do/beaches-and-vacations/

Harker's Island is more remote, a longer drive, and only good for fishing, really, imho. The Bushes do stay there to fish, but it was a little remote and boring for me.

The fishing is great all over the place.

I can put in a plug for my home turf, if you want easy auto access. Wrightsville Beach is the "upper crust" beach, and it's mostly residential, so there aren't stands of hotels everywhere. A little to the south is Pleasure Island with Carolina Beach and Kure Beach, both more blue collar but again with limited stands of hotels. The north end of Pleasure Island is four-wheel only access for anyone interested in beach camping. For both islands, there are plenty of eating, drinking, and shopping opportunities. And being near a college town, the scenery is really nice as is the night life. Also, life guards are on duty throughout the Summer. Both together represent one of the more popular surfing areas in the Carolinas.

Corolla, NC is one of my favorite places ever. I even got married there. I don't have kids, but I know there are things to do there for them that are fun. You can see the wild horses, go 4x4-ing, take a trip to the lighthouse, picnic at the Whalehead Club, and do the evening Currituck Museum "Ghost Tour" .... There are quaint little shopping centers scattered along the beach, but nothing obtrusive, and a supermarket close by so everything is at your fingertips. Plenty of rental houses to choose from, but there are only 2 hotels ... so you also get that feeling of solitude.

I'm a big fan.

Atlantic Beach is very quiet. I'm a big fan of Wrightsville and Carolina, but that's 'cause I have friends in the area. Then of course you have the outer banks! That would be my pick if I were to book a trip I'd do the outer banks.