Picture number 16 reveals the height of the waves in relation to the beach. Speaking from experience, when one walks to the beach from that location, normally, all that is seen is blue sky and a much lower water horizon until one crosses the dunes. These waves literally occurred in 'the wake' of Noel. It was a Cat 1 storm that was organized very differently in the troposhere.
The waves on the Outer Banks occurred after the storm had passed and was on it's way to the Arctic Circle. In this instance and it is why it appeared to be anti-cyclonic to me on radar, initially, the 'storm surge' was far larger behind the 'eye' than in front of it. I believe Noel wanted to be anticyclonic and instead took on an 'upside-down' appearance in it's 'orientation' over the ocean. As a result this Cat 1 storm was pushing a huge storm surge behind it rather than in front of it.
