Vineyard Open House Blog

ICW Cruise: An Extended Stop at Oriental, Home to Thousands of Boats & River Dunes

Editor's Note: The ICW series of blog entries details the April 2010 cruise down the ICW made by WaterViewHome Network Publisher David Lott. The purpose of the trip is twofold: to accompany Captain Steve Weisbrod who is delivering a Lagoon PowerCat 43 from Lewis, DE, to Key West, FL, where it will become part of a charter fleet, and to visit golf and waterview communities and report on them. You can read all other posts by clicking on the headlines on the list of entries at the end of this installment.

DAY 2: A Visit to River Dunes Marina Community

On Sunday morning we take a quick two-hour run from Belhaven at Mile 135 to Oriental, Mile 182, where I visit our first marina community, River Dunes. Oriental is a tiny coastal community that is all about boats. Residents I met boasted that the village had 850 residents and 3,200 boats!

Oriental Marina, NC

What impressed me about River Dunes was the coastal architecture that resonated with quality. The clubhouse and homes are tucked around the marina so that the water and beautiful boats are almost always in view.

The Harbor Club overlooks the River Dunes Marina.

I was met at the Oriental Marina by JC Capplemann who has built an impressive resume base upon a lifetime on the water. JC had traveled the world in vessels great and small and is now using his experience to help create a truly memorable marina community at River Dunes.

You can now view River Dunes on the WaterViewHome Network and see more photos and learn more details about the real estate offered here.

View of the marina from the River Dunes pool.

JC described how he wanted boaters coming to the community by water from the ICW to turn the corner towards the community and be hit by a wow factor. The house below is the first home one sees and it is a 'wow."

Making a statement: the first RD home the boater sees.

Outdoor living: the outdoor kitchen gives residents the first glimpse of new arrivals.

The home comes complete with boardwalk and dock.

The Low country style at River Dunes.

Homes are priced from $489,000 at River Dunes and waterfront homesites for custom homes start at $175,000. Styles range from low-country waterfront cottages to stately Charleston-style homes.

Rental cottages: come for a visit.

You can come to visit up to a week at River Dunes, and the rental cottages are just as smart and photogenic as the larger homes. Picket fences, gas light posts, fireplaces, metal roofs, porches, clapboard siding and 6/6 windows project a warm comfortable feeling.

Rental cottages: That old maritime village feeling with 1-3 bedrooms.

River Dunes homes enjoying a harbor view.

The Harbor Club pool.

Stately Charleston-style home at River Dunes.

The RD marina had some impressive boats, both power and sail.

The sailboat pictured above was just one of several good-looking vessels at River Dunes. As JC drove me back to the Oriental Marina, he told me about the boat show going on this weekend. In a town of 850, it would be a great opportunity to learn more about this picturesque spot.

 Next entry: A town just for sailors.

Follow the ICW Cruise by clicking the headlines below:

DAY 1 - Havre de Grace, MD - Engine Trouble 

DAY 2 - Alligator River Marina, NC - River Forest, NC  

DAY 3 - Oriental Boat Show Is a Town-wide Celebration - A Visit to River Dunes

DAY 4 - Tiptoeing Past Firing Lines to North River Club & Brunswick Forest

DAY 5 - St. James Plantation Marina - New Home Construction

DAY 6: Charleston's Mega Dock Is a Showcase for the World's Most Beautiful Yachts

Day 6: Daniel Island's Mitchell Wharf Offers Deepwater Docks, River Views

Day 6: Harbour Town Yacht Club with All the Trimmings on Hilton Head Island

Day 7: discovering Windmill Harbour's Elegance and Privacy on HHI, SC

ICW Cruise: Despite Fuel Problems, On to Locks, Swing Bridges & Finally, Georgie's

Editor's Note: The ICW series of blog entries details the April 2010 cruise down the ICW made by WaterViewHome Network Publisher David Lott. The purpose of the trip is twofold: to accompany Captain Steve Weisbrod who is delivering a Lagoon PowerCat 43 from Lewis, DE, to Key West, FL, where it will become part of a charter fleet, and to visit golf and waterview communities and report on them. You can read other entries by clicking on the list of headlines at the end of this post.

ICW Trip Announcement
DAY 1 - Havre de Grace, MD - Engine Trouble
DAY 2 - Alligator River Marina, NC - River Forest, NC
DAY 3 - Oriental, NC - An Introduction to River Dunes
DAY 3 - The Oriental Boat Show Is a Town-wide Celebration
DAY 4 - Tip-Toeing Past Firing Lines

DAY 6 - Charleston's Mega Dock Showcases the World's Most Beautiful Boats

Captain Steve fills up and talks with Brooke the dock girl.

Despite the previous day's efforts to rid the diesel tanks of foul fuel, the inside portside fuel tank still refuses to last more than 30 seconds before it cuts off from the engine, forcing Captain Steve to switch back to one of the three remaining tanks. Since there are two engines, the bad tank effectively cuts our available fuel in half, thus forcing us to fill up more frequently.

Steve has to get the boat to Key West by May 1st where it is to join a charter fleet. More time spent refueling is not only inefficient, but it wastes time. We shove off from Liberty Marina, but we know that an extended stop awaits us in the future in which the fuel must be fixed.  

A quick fuel stop at Norview Marina give us a look at a vanishing method of boat storage--boat sheds. There were several at this stop, plus several rows of house boats which could easily be mistaken for trailers in an RV dealer.

House boat, anyone?

A disappearing method of storage--boat sheds. Note the metal corrugated roof. The thought occurs, when one boat catches fire, so do they all.

Part of the continuing parade of snowbirds heading back north. This one an Island Packet.

Stretches of the ICW are uninterrupted lengths of lazy river, thick trees and scrubs along the shore and a simple quiet of birds and wildlife with no signs of people.

Our first lock, at Great Bridge, NC. The lock doors close behind us and then water starts to drain out into the water beyond the lock in front of us until the water inside the lock is at the same height. Then the doors open and out we go.

Doors opening.

Still 734 miles to go to Jacksonville and just before it, Amelia Island, my destination.

US Boat to the rescue of a grounded snowbird.

A pretty pair of trawlers, going north in tandem.

One of the many heavy-metal ICW swing bridges that pirouette seemingly on a dime, dancing like hippos in 'Fantasia.'

This marina at Coinjock was one to skip.

When dinosaurs ruled the earth. The approach to Norfolk, Va, highlighted by a herd of "brontosauruses."

Getting closer to Norfolk: Four ostriches resemble giant cranes.

One of many big boats. We are unable to shoot pictures of military vessels, but they are there.

Another bridge and the continuing parade.

Arriving at River Forest for the night.

Captain Steve strides back to the boat after checking in and looking fit as a fiddle after a long day.

We walk into town and eat dinner at Georgie's Oyster Bar at the suggestion of the dockmaster. Shortly after we sit down, the dockmaster himself comes in for dinner.  The Hatteras clam chowder is so good Captain Steve has two large bowls.

Now I discover there are three types of clam chowder--Manhattan (water base), New England (milk/cream base) and Hatteras (clam broth base). Georgie and his wife were so friendly, we had to take a picture of them standing on duty behind the counter (below).

Georgie's storefront, below.

Georgie's is open on Sundays, lucky for us.

Next, on to Oriental and our first waterfront community, River Dunes.

Follow the Complete Trip Down the ICW by clicking on the headlines below.

ICW Trip Announcement 

DAY 1 - Havre de Grace, MD - Engine Trouble 

DAY 2 - Alligator River Marina, NC - River Forest, NC   

DAY 2: A Visit to River Dunes, Oriental NC

DAY 3 - The Oriental Boat Show Is a Town-Wide Celebration

DAY 4 - Tiptoeing Past Firing Lines to North River Club & Brunswick Forest

DAY 5 - St. James Plantation Marina - New Home Construction

DAY 6: Charleston's Mega Dock Is a Showcase for the World's Most Beautiful Yachts

Day 6: Daniel Island's Mitchell Wharf Offers Deepwater Docks, River Views

Day 6: Harbour Town Yacht Club with All the Trimmings on Hilton Head Island

Day 7: Discovering Windmill Harbour's Elegance and Privacy on HHI, SC

ICW Cruise: Trip from Havre de Grace, MD, Starts (& Stops) with a Familiar Face

Editor's Note:
This series of blog entries details the April 2010 cruise down the ICW made by WaterViewHome Network Publisher David Lott. The purpose of the trip is twofold: to accompany Captain Steve Weisbrod who is delivering a Lagoon PowerCat 43 from Lewis, DE, to Key West, FL, where it will become part of a charter fleet, and to visit golf and waterview communities and report on them. You can read all other posts by clicking on the headlines on the list of entries at the end of this installment.

DAY ONE, ICW CRUISE ABOARD LAGOON POWER CATAMARAN 43
Havre de Grace to Liberty Marina, MD

Lagoon PowerCat 43 loaded and ready to go.

The day has finally arrived for the start of my trip down the Intracoastal Waterway. I had been saying Intercoastal Waterway for years, but was quickly corrected by Captain Steve as we loaded on previsions.

The trip has several purposes and a special meaning. I came up with the idea of the cruise last November as a carrot to pursue prior to undergoing treatment for Lyme disease. I had been battling this persistent and increasingly debilitating infection for two years.

 

Several regimens of oral antibiotics had failed to work and a specialist in Boston recommended a month-long treatment of antibiotics (Rocephin) delivered via IV. I was to have a port in my arm for 28 days and hook up every day for 20 minutes. I promised myself once the treatment was done and I was feeling better, I would a take cruise down the ICW. Happily, the treatment worked, I immediately started to feel better and four months later, a dream come true.

The second reason is to visit golf and waterfront communities along the ICW and report my travels to you. Previous trips have been to the western North Carolina mountain communities and by sailboat to The Bay Club, Mattapoisett, MA. The trip to The Bay Club, which was a blast and just two days, was the clincher to try another trip, this time to more communities and over a longer distance.

We start to move out from Tidewater Marina into the Bay.

Now it is Thursday morning April 15 and we have fueled up and are ready to go. However, a nagging problem with the portside outer fuel tank is not allowing the engine to switch from tank to tank and we will have to either get the fuel polished or replaced before going much farther.

We say good bye to Tidewater Marina in Havre de Grace.

Once we are underway, we get a text message from the dockmaster at Liberty Marina in Edgewater on the South River just below Annapolis that we can meet Bob Allen and the boys from Petro-Scrub there. This beginning was strangely similar to the start of my cruise to Martha's Vineyard on my recently purchased Cape Dory 270 Avanti in 2008 which also began with fuel polishing and a lost day. Bob is to scrub the fuel or simply take it out of the tank and we'll refuel.
 Capt'n Steve eases the Lagoon43 into the Chesapeake.

Rumor has it that the white dome is the site for 360-degree video simulation training for the Abrams battle tank. The dome is located on the Aberdeen Proving Grounds.

Coming up the Annapolis Bay Bridge.

Thomas Point Light, one of the most photographed lighthouses in the Bay. (Here's another one.)

Arriving at Liberty Marina to meet Petro-Scrub.

Kevin of Petro-Scrub, left, with his tools of the trade.

Elise drove down from Baltimore to deliver our official WaterviewHome burgee, sent from California by BurgeeMaker.com.

Kevin tell it like it is.

A resident boat at the marina.

By now it's late in the day and we decide to stay put. We'll see how the engine performs tomorrow morning. Miles traveled: 65 miles. See next blog entry here!

Follow the Complete Trip Down the ICW by clicking on the headlines below.

 

ICW Trip Announcement 

DAY 1 - Havre de Grace, MD - Engine Trouble 

DAY 2 - Alligator River Marina, NC - River Forest, NC   

DAY 2: A Visit to River Dunes, Oriental NC

DAY 3 - The Oriental Boat Show Is a Town-Wide Celebration

DAY 4 - Tiptoeing Past Firing Lines to North River Club & Brunswick Forest

DAY 5 - St. James Plantation Marina - New Home Construction

DAY 6: Charleston's Mega Dock Is a Showcase for the World's Most Beautiful Yachts

Day 6: Daniel Island's Mitchell Wharf Offers Deepwater Docks, River Views

Day 6: Harbour Town Yacht Club with All the Trimmings on Hilton Head Island

Day 7: Discovering Windmill Harbour's Elegance and Privacy on HHI, SC

 

Network Publisher to Embark on Sales Cruise Down the Intracoastal Waterway

Official flag, or burgee, of the WaterViewHome Network.

Editor's Note: The ICW series of blog entries details the April 2010 cruise down the ICW made by WaterViewHome Network Publisher David Lott. The purpose of the trip is twofold: to accompany Captain Steve Weisbrod who is delivering a Lagoon PowerCat 43 from Lewis, DE, to Key West, FL, where it will become part of a charter fleet, and to visit golf and waterview communities and report on them. You can see other posts by clicking on the list of headlines at the end of this entry.

DAY ONE, ICW CRUISE ABOARD LAGOON POWER CATAMARAN 43
Havre de Grace to Liberty Marina, MD. GolfCourseHome and WaterViewHome Network Publisher David Lott will embark on a two-cruise week down the Intracoastal Waterway next week that puts a twist on the usual sales call.

Building upon the success of his sailing visit to The Bay Club, Mattapoisett, MA, last summer, Lott's trip is an extended sales trip to get an up-close and personal look at some of the coastal golf and waterview communities featured on the Network.

A traditional part of maritime visits is the exchange of burgees, or flags, of the respective organizations. Lott will exchange a custom-designed burgee, shown above.

Scotch Hall Preserve Marina, SC, an early stop.

Lott will be traveling on a Lagoon PowerCat Power 43 with Captain Steve Weisbrod who is delivering the luxury catamaran from the Chesapeake Bay, where its owner Benton Leinbach runs the Inn at Swan Haven in Rock Hall on the Eastern Shore, to a charter company in Key West, FL.

 

 

 

A Lagoon Power43 catamaran is the mode of transportation.

The itinerary includes stops at  Bay Creek, VA; Scotch Hall Preserve, SC, just launched on the GolfCourseHome Network; Brunswick Forest, NC; St. James Plantation, NC; Daniel Island, SC; Hilton Head Island, SC; The Landings, GA; Amelia Island Plantation, FL and Oyster Bay Harbour, FL. 

Here's the first day's entry!

Follow the Complete Trip Down the ICW by clicking on the headlines below.

 

ICW Trip Announcement 

DAY 1 - Havre de Grace, MD - Engine Trouble 

DAY 2 - Alligator River Marina, NC - River Forest, NC   

DAY 2: A Visit to River Dunes, Oriental NC

DAY 3 - The Oriental Boat Show Is a Town-Wide Celebration

DAY 4 - Tiptoeing Past Firing Lines to North River Club & Brunswick Forest

DAY 5 - St. James Plantation Marina - New Home Construction

DAY 6: Charleston's Mega Dock Is a Showcase for the World's Most Beautiful Yachts

Day 6: Daniel Island's Mitchell Wharf Offers Deepwater Docks, River Views

Day 6: Harbour Town Yacht Club with All the Trimmings on Hilton Head Island

Day 7: Discovering Windmill Harbour's Elegance and Privacy on HHI, SC