On the off chance you are planning to travel Norfolk to Ocracoke on a Saturday, I would avoid coming in via 158. Super bad stop and go traffic for miles coming onto the banks, as it is the typical weekly rental turnover day (Sunday gets the bulk of the rest and can be bad as well). Also be aware that the lines waiting for a ferry from Hatteras to Ocracoke can get pretty crowded at some times. My own experience with that is just from when we would stay on Hatteras and day trip over midweek. It seems to be a popular thing to do midweek, so from say 10-2, the ferry queue gets long. Not unusual to wait 2+ hours for a ferry (and then the crossing is 1.5hrs or so. Dredging can affect things, too). We quit staying on Hatteras a few years back and now just ferry from mainland to Ocracoke and stay a week. A lot of work to get there, but with a week, we can decompress fully once there.
A few suggestions in the area:
1) we love the 4wd beaches. In addition to needing a 4wd, you'll need a permit. Otherwise, most popular beach is to park at large lot near the Natl Park campground. One plus to that is they have lifeguards, iirc. Rip currents at Ocracoke are no joke.
2) Zillie's, a bottle shop on the Back Road, is a great little spot to unwind at the end of the day
3) The Flying Melon is worth a splurge for dinner.
4) En route to Ocracoke, Hatteras Lighthouse is so iconic and worth the slight detour off Highway 12.
5) Springer's Point on Ocracoke has a cool trail through some maritime forest, then pops out along a protected sound-side beach area. You'll need to walk or bike to it, though. Absolutely no parking in that area.
6) Exploring around the sound side on a kayak is fun. There's some canals with homes and such, plus some small sandbar islands. We have our own sit-on-tops that we've brought before, but there's several places that rent kayaks (and stand up paddleboards, which are all the rage now).
