Privacy Policy

Oak Islander ("we," "us," or "our") is a curated discovery platform for Oak Island, Southport, and the surrounding Brunswick County area in North Carolina. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect information when you visit and use our website at oakislander.com.

Information We Collect

Information Stored on Your Device

Oak Islander Compass uses your browser's local storage (localStorage) to save your preferences and activity directly on your device. This data never leaves your device or is transmitted to our servers unless you explicitly choose to share it. This includes:

• Favorites and Trip Planning. When you save places using the heart/bookmark feature, your selections are stored locally in your browser. This allows your saved places to persist between visits without creating an account.
• Recent Searches. Your recent search queries are stored locally to provide quick access to previous searches. You can clear these at any time through the search interface.

We do not require you to create an account, and we do not collect usernames, passwords, email addresses, or other personal registration information from visitors.

Information Collected Automatically

When you visit Oak Islander, certain technical information is collected automatically as part of standard web operations:

• Cloudflare Edge Analytics. Our site is served through Cloudflare's network, which collects aggregated, anonymized performance and security metrics. This includes general traffic volume, page load performance, and threat mitigation data. Cloudflare's privacy practices are governed by their own Privacy Policy.

We do not use Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, or any third-party advertising or behavioral tracking tools on the public-facing site.

Information You Provide Voluntarily

If you contact us via email at contact@oakislander.com (for example, to report a security issue or suggest a venue), we will receive and retain the information you include in that communication.

How We Use Information

• Delivering the Service. Displaying places, events, search results, weather conditions, and tide information relevant to the Oak Island area.
• Personalizing Your Experience. Your locally stored favorites and recent searches allow Compass to remember your preferences on your device.
• Improving the Site. Aggregated, anonymized Cloudflare analytics help us understand general traffic patterns and site performance.
• Maintaining Security. Cloudflare's network-level protections help us defend against malicious traffic and abuse.

Third-Party Services

Oak Islander integrates with the following third-party services to provide its features. Each service has its own privacy practices:

• Cloudflare. Web hosting, edge delivery, DNS, and security. Privacy Policy
• Google Places API. We retrieve publicly available business information from Google to populate venue listings. This data is fetched by our servers, not by your browser directly. Privacy Policy
• Mapbox. Interactive maps are rendered using Mapbox GL JS. When you view a map, your browser connects to Mapbox's servers to load map tiles. Privacy Policy
• Open-Meteo. Weather forecast data fetched by our servers. Your browser does not connect to Open-Meteo directly. Terms
• NOAA CO-OPS. Tide data fetched from NOAA's public API by our servers. Your browser does not connect to NOAA directly.
• Google Fonts. Typography is loaded from Google's font CDN. Privacy Policy

We do not sell, rent, or share personal information with third parties for advertising or marketing purposes.

Cookies

Oak Islander does not set first-party cookies for tracking or analytics. Cloudflare may set strictly necessary cookies for security and performance purposes, such as distinguishing individual visitors from bots. These are functional cookies required for the site to operate properly and are not used for tracking or advertising.

Data Retention

• Local Storage Data. Favorites, trip plans, and recent searches remain on your device until you clear them manually or clear your browser data. We have no access to this data.
• Server Logs. Standard Cloudflare request logs are retained according to Cloudflare's data retention policies and are not individually identifiable.
• Venue and Event Data. Business information displayed on the site is curated editorial content and publicly available data, not user-generated content.

Children's Privacy

Oak Islander does not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13. The site does not require account creation or collect personal data from any visitors. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information through a direct communication, please contact us at contact@oakislander.com.

Your Choices

• Clear Favorites. You can remove saved places from your favorites at any time through the My Trip page or by clearing your browser's local storage.
• Clear Recent Searches. Use the "Clear" button in the search interface to remove your search history.
• Block Cookies. You can configure your browser to block cookies, though this may affect Cloudflare's security features.
• Do Not Track. We do not currently use tracking technologies that respond to Do Not Track browser signals, as we do not engage in cross-site tracking.

Security

We take reasonable measures to protect the integrity of our site and the data it handles. Our security practices include Cloudflare Zero Trust access controls for administrative systems, parameterized database queries, input validation, and encrypted storage of API credentials. To report a security vulnerability, contact us at contact@oakislander.com.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make changes, we will update the "Effective" date at the top of this page.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, you can reach us at:

Oak Islander
Email: contact@oakislander.com
Website: oakislander.com