River Dunes

"The Neuse River vies with Albermarle Sound as some of the meanest water on the ICW" per Doziers Waterway Guide (our cruising "bible") and we got to experience this mean water first hand when we left our last anchorage. I tried hard to capture the biggest waves as our bow crashed through them, but it's like trying to catch dolphins jumping, even with the "burst" option.

After 10 miles of this action, Eschaton's crew informed us they were changing their plan and were going to duck into the next anchorage. We concurred. We had been taking the waves head on, but had to turn to port to head for the Broad Creek anchorage. With that turn, we took a huge wave on our beam and Shingebiss took a roll like we had never experienced before. We made it into the sheltered anchorage, set the anchor, and burst out laughing ....

... when we saw what that beam wave had done. This is not where we normally keep the loveseat. The captain's chair was down as well, but the Captain on the dashboard was still standing.

It was calm and hot in the anchorage, so we took a dinghy ride across the Creek to River Dunes Marina to check it out and see what the slips cost as the next day's winds were predicted to be worse. We were wow'd by this place and the price was only $1.50/foot/day (which we used to think was expensive, but after 4 months in Florida, we now think is a bargain). We made reservations for the next night so we could get over there early and take full advantage of the fabulous features of this marina. Note the tiki bar on the other side of the pool. It was hot and the saline pool was so delightful. There are also two hot tubs.

Three little private cabanas were available to shield us from the sun....we are soooo tan, despite all our efforts to sunscreen and shade ourselves.

This is the "clubhouse". Other buildings nearby house the showers that are super luxury with a luncheon plate sized shower head and jets that come out of the walls. Steam if you like too.

This is inside the clubhouse. The decorating is gorgeous.

We had a delicious Mothers Day Brunch in the second floor dining room.

River Dunes was designed as a "planned community" with 600+ home sites, but it seemed pretty deserted, especially for a weekend. We took a spin on the beach cruiser bikes available, and saw less than 25 houses that had been built. The sheltered man made harbor is huge and the docks are top notch. The people are friendly and the service is great, but we wonder how they are making it with so few customers and what will happen to it all in the future.

It was fun to live the high life for a couple of days, but we hope to get out and move north in the morning.

Next Day Addendum: We haven't left yet, a sailboat left the dock this am and came back, too rough .... so we're stuck right now. I spoke with a boater today today who owns both a lot and a slip here at RiverDunes and he assured me the place is solvent, although building has slowed due to the economy. He also says most weekends are very busy, but this past one was not due to Mothers Day. Just wanted to provide that update, in case I sounded too negative about it in the above writing :-)