Here's some GREAT cruising advice about visiting two of North Carolina's most popular ports of call!

If you can, stay at the Beaufort Muni Docks, as recommended above. Across the street from the marina is Clausen's  Have a derigible.  You can also anchor in Taylor Creek, but it can be crowded and tight.
If not in Beaufort town, there are two other choices locally.  The Morehead City Yacht Basis is a good stop.  It's right off the main ICW channel, to your left going north, after you pass under the high rise
bridge at Radio Island.  On the corner of 6th St. and Arundel St., visit ACE Marine and Rigging.  No place like it anywhere, and excellent prices.
And in Beaufort but on the Newport River side, there's Town Creek Marina.  It's out of town, but bikes would be adequate.  Be careful getting in there; make sure your charts of that harbor are up to
date.  Use the Gallant Channel, but confirm with the marina.  There is a lot of shoal water in that area, and at least on older charts, a channel shows that has actually been closed to navigation for years. The marina itself is a good stop, with a restaurant and a large service/parts operation onsite.
Someone else mentioned the Cape Lookout National Seashore bight.  It's a very cool spot, and I recommend it highly.  Be aware of the weather when you go, as the trip from the Beaufort Inlet to the Bight is 8 miles or so, and offshore.  Beam seas can be quite bouncy in the shallow waters of the NC coast when the winds are up in the Atlantic.
Peg and Jim Healy aboard Sanctuary,
currently at New Plymouth, Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas