Giant hole appears on NC beach — and enthusiastic tourists are to blame, town says

A dangerously large hole was discovered in the beach at Surf City, North Carolina, and town officials are blaming overly enthusiastic tourists.

Surf City’s fire department shared a photo July 1 on Facebook, showing the massive excavation was deep enough to hold one of its firefighters and too wide for him to touch the sides.

“Our ocean rescue crew came across this hole while checking the flags this morning,” the fire department wrote. “The picture does not do it justice. It was a very large hole.”

It was also illegal.

Digging holes in the sand is a tradition at beaches. But Surf City is among many coastal communities with laws requiring holes more than 12 inches deep to be filled in by tourists. The goal is to keep people and wildlife from tumbling into them in the dark.

Hundreds of people have posted comments and reactions, including some who insist it had to be a sinkhole vs. something tourists did for fun.

“Not a sinkhole,” the fire department said. “The tide came in and that’s why it doesn’t look like a lot of sand around it.”

Still other commenters questioned how the hole was created, given little plastic shovels are the norm when digging in the sand.

“I have a lot of ditches at my farm ... that these tourists can dig for me since they’re so happy to use shovels and sweat on their vacation,” one person posted.

The fire department concluded its post by asking tourists to fill holes “for your safety, other people’s safety, and the sea turtles that visit our beach at night.”

Surf City is about 130 miles southeast of Raleigh.

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