TL; DR: Quiet rooms, friendly but not intrusive people, affordable, very pet-friendly, would be great for fishermen and women. Will be back!
The Swell is a classic motor lodge with friendly staff and helpful amenities for folks planning to stay for a while. There are fish cleaning stations, a grassy and shaded picnic area, two (!!) big gas grills, cornhole boards and bikes to borrow. The room was surprisingly quiet at night given how many people were around! Only drawback (to me) is that the bathroom could have used a bit of a refresh as the tub was dingy, but it seemed clean enough.
We were just there for a couple of days so didn’t use all of the amenities, but we appreciated the central location for using the Ocracoke ferry and visiting my favorite beach ramps. I also liked talking with the friendly staff and people who come every year — I didn’t grow up going to the Outer Banks so it’s fun to be able to learn about the place from people who did!