River Dunes is one of the nicest marinas along the ICW, just north of Oriental and slightly off the ICW to the west up Broad Creek. Its a great place to stop during a winter transit to plug in and enjoy the comforts of luxury settings.
The gourmet restaurant is only open Fri and Sat nights during the winter and we unfortunately missed those days.
We grabbed the courtesy van and headed to Oriental for lunch. Its not often you see the Oriental public dock empty, but early January is a good time. We thought of heading down here but its still a little chilly at night to have no heat although the days are comfortable with the bright sun out.
We had lunch in Oriental at M&Ms, just up the street from the town docks. The seafood was fresh and terrific.
After lunch, time for a latte at The Bean, just across the street from the town docks.
Oriental is a great town to spend some time in. There is room for several boats to anchor inside the breakwater and a couple marinas downtown. Boatyards are just up the river a little bit for any repair one might need. And a West Marine in town we have spent some dollars in previously.
Fuel and water tanks topped off, we are ready to continue southbound tomorrow morning. The weather looks good to head out to sea at Beaufort and on down the coast. Our plan is to pull back in at Little River, SC, before the winds shift to the south on Friday, and cruise down the pretty Waccamaw River towards Georgetown and Charleston. We could probably stay offshore till Charleston, but we don't want to miss the beautiful Waccamaw River section and the weather is supposed to be near 70 for several days, so we'll stop and anchor along the ICW for a couple nights.
No internet until we get back into the ICW so next update will be this weekend once we get down to Georgetown or Charleston. I will be able to update our position reports so you can follow our passage along the coast for the next couple days.
