TravelGuy

We are just back from the High Country Club Currituck Club property in the Outer Banks, NC and we had a blast! It’s always special when you’re on a beach vacation during the Discovery Channel’s annual “Shark Week”!

Want2Travelmore (W2TM) has an outstanding review on the HCC OBX property here: High Country Club - Outer Banks, NC - Member Review.
I would add a post to his review but it somehow morphed into a Williamsburg Marriott post so I’ve started this thread.

We had beautiful weather the entire week. There was apparently some rain while we were eating one night but that was it. Plenty of heat lighting arched across the skies in the evenings. Being used to the Hilton Head Gulf Stream water temperature, I was shocked at how cold the OBX waves were (64 degrees!!).

The HCC Property is located just prior to the last cul-de-sac at the north end of the Currituck Club and is fairly secluded. We had no noise issues or interruptions all week and spent plenty of time in the pool area.

The HCC house has a nice floor plan and architectural design, not like the thousands of large “box” homes that dot the OBX coast. The house felt like a residence, not a rental like just about everything else in OBX. The layout of house is like three attached buildings. This lead to grouping our extended TravelFamily into three areas. The TravelParents and TravelNiece and TravelNephews were in the “main house”, TravelTeens in the “pool house” game room (a.k.a. “frat house”), and we were in the “in-law suite” (a.k.a. “escape area”). It’s ironic that we stayed in the “in-law suite” while the TravelIn-Laws stayed in the Master Suite. I probably would not have left the “in-law suite” all week except it was the only area of the house that the wireless internet was poor.

We enjoyed the beautiful views of the marshy buffer zone and the Currituck Sound beyond from the pool area and the multiple balconies. A true OBX experience is lounging on the balcony gliders while watching a reddish-golden sunset over the Sound and drinking the TravelDrink of the day. (“Chum-sicle”* in honor of “Shark Week” - see below)

The extremely large kitchen “butcher block” island with the four bar stools was a great area for our TravelGang to hang-out during meals or during the hour-long pre-beach staging activities. Also, the dining room table was just the right size for gaming with a large or small party.

The pool area gets direct sun all afternoon which is great for tanning! The four large lounge chairs are very comfortable and were mid-afternoon nap tested by me. The hot tub worked great and was very relaxing after a hard day of tanning.

The downstairs sofas are not “sleeper” sofas but are very deep and as comfy as any bed. The “in-law suite” sectional is extremely comfortable and “nap worthy” also.

The Currituck Club beach access is crowded and is a long walk from the beach. You can easily find your own favorite beach at the many public beach access points that have parking. We found a bigger beach area that was not crowded at all.

The streets through the gated Currituck Club community are great for biking, walking and running. It’s a feeling of seclusion within the club as it’s like a zoo once you leave the gates and venture into OBX proper.

There is a Currituck Club community pool about ½ block from the HCC property. This is a large pool that is great for swimming laps and relaxing in the shaded table area. There was no one else there the times we went there.

The Currituck Golf Club has no discount for HCC members. Greens fees were $180/person with a discount for afternoon play. The course is located so that you can stop by the HCC house in the middle of the back nine for a libation (Chum-sicle anyone?). The Pointe Golf Club is a nice alternative to Currituck.

The Club trolley will pick you up at the end of the drive-way but takes a long time to get through the entire Currituck Club and back to the beach club. You can time the trolley so that you see it go by from the front porch and then you have several minutes to get out to the street as it loops around the end of the Club and comes back.

There were tons of beach towels when we arrived, all freshly clean and sealed. There were four beach chairs in the garage, boogie boards and floats by the pool, games, etc.

We got a slew of bikes from “Just for the Beach” bike rentals and received good service.

Fresh seafood was good from Blue Water Seafood, located at the south end of Hunt Club Drive. Pizza from Pizzazz was very Chucky-Cheese like, not too good. A local told us that none of the local pizza was good and recommended Black Pelican Restaurant in Kitty Hawk for wood-fired pizza. More importantly, there is NO STARBUCKS nearby!! The closest Starbucks is in Kitty Hawk, 17 miles away by 25 mph crowed highway!!!

It’s true; the traffic into/out of OBX is Horrible! We left @ 7AM to beat the traffic and it STILL took us an hour to get off OBX and head inland. It was bumper to bumper in stop-n-go gridlock!

I’ll disagree with W2TM a little bit in that we thought the Sound view from the balconies was outstanding, especially in the morning and at sunset!! The Reid Rolls pictures of the water view do not do it justice.

Several updates to the W2TM review- Cushions are now on the family room window seats and were thoroughly tested by my TravelNiece. The peg coat hanger has been installed in the front foyer, not that we had any coats. The Tuscan-yellow Adirondack chairs must have been repaired because there were at least three on the front porch, if not more.

I’ll agree on W2TM on his rating of 9.25 to 9.4 due only to the lack of beachfront property. (This would be a 9.75 to 9.9 on the TUG rating scale).

Also – Regarding the Audio/Video “smart box” system and the members ability to use it (or ab-use it), I’d say go the other way and have a standard universal remote system for all the properties. I used to own a chain of retail stores than had a high-end home theater installation division that installed “smart boxes” among other whiz-bang stuff. The result of one of these systems in a HCC home would be constant programming issues and user education headaches for HCC.

And now for some controversy …
HCC OBX vs. HCC Hilton Head Island:
Travel time: Only 1 ½ hour more to HHI than to OBX from the Northeast (w/ traffic)
Highways: OBX – a 2 lane back road @ 25 mph; HHI – a real highway AND a bypass!
Ocean Water: - OBX – cold!; HHI – nice warm gulf stream!
Golf: OBX – nice; HHI – World Class!
Starbucks: OBX – none nearby; HHI – Three on the island
Beach access: OBX – crowded beach with long walk; HHI – vast open beach!
Biking: OBX – trail along the highway; HHI – great forest trails and on the beach!
Restaurants: OBX – Didn’t find a good one; HHI – Too many great restaurants!
HCC House: OBX – Wow!; HHI – Very nice but not as Wow.
HCC House Location: OBX – gated community; HHI – Sea Pines on the golf course!

We’ll be back to both the High Country Club properties in OBX and Hilton Head!

*Chum-sicle (for sharks):
This is used by shark scientists to attract sharks for research. They take left over fish parts, mix it together with the blood and guts, and freeze it into a shark popsicle. Then they tie a cable to it and lower the popsicle into the ocean. As the popsicle slowly melts, the fish parts and guts fall off of the popsicle and into the surrounding ocean becoming “chum” for the sharks. Voila “Chum-sicle”!

“Chum-sicle (for touristas), TravelPatent pending:
1. Mix to slushy consistency in blender – Ice, Grey Goose vodka, Breyers all natural vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips chopped into shavings (do NOT use fish parts)
2. Pour slushy mix into large cognac glass or parfait glass
3. Top with whipped cream
4. Garnish with full size Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips on top of whipped cream
5. Place glass in freezer for 15 minutes or until semi-frozen
6. Remove from freezer; stick a straw in drink, present to nearest landshark
7. Observe effect of Chum-sicle on landshark.

LTTravel

We were there over the 4th and agree with your excellent review. I am surprised the water is still cold. It was that cold when we were there and were told it was unusual. I guess that was not true. We have been in Kiawah over Memorial Day and it the water was not just warm, but nearly hot. The water on the Long Island Beaches are warmer. I don't understand

DCTraveler

Water temperatures can change by 10 degrees per day. All of the tropical storms and hurricaines the last few weeks definitely impacte the water temperature.
Here is a link to current Duck water temperature, but you have to check back during the daytime:

Marine Buoy Forecast : Weather Underground

mjs

Travelguy,
Could you describe the outdoor kitchen/bar area by the pool?
Any outdoor speakers for music?
Did you have a chance to visit any other community pools?
Thanks,
mark

Phila Family

So are you wishing the OBX house was on the HH property?

DC4MS

Great review and it sounds like an even greater drink!

I can almost hear the sound of....Jaws

LTTravel

There is a barbecue outside and a table. There is a bar area but it was not finished. I think I saw wiring for the speakers but I don't recall seeing speakers outside. The pool area by the house is so nice that we had no interest in going to the community pools.

Bourne

Great review.

Any idea who the cable provider at the home is. More so, does it have Comcast on Demand.

Kids...

LTTravel

The cable was good but I don't remember who the provider was. There was HBO but no On-Demand. There is an XBox 360 in the room with the pool table.

Phila Family

C'mon Bourne - give 'em something else to do other than watch TV - we just had ours stolen from our weekend place and it couldn't have been a better thing - no more fights over Disney v. ESPN! My 10yo can actually read now (ha ha)

Bourne

I can reason with a 10 yr old. It's the 2.75 I am scared of.

The kiddo eats, drinks, sleeps with Mickey. Try taking 6 mid sized stuffed toys(Mickey and the gang) on every vacation.

Well... I was the one who started it. Disney every year since the time she was born.

Brian222golf

Travel Guy - Can you tell me where the public beaches are that you would recommend w/ parking?

Thanks,
Brian

LTTravel

The beach appears pretty much the same up and down the coast as far as I could tell, though some of the beaches may be more convenient to a particular store or restaurant or some services. The parking lot closest to the Currituck Club is always crowded and you have to get there early to get a spot and there aren't many. The Currituck Club mans a stand by the parking lot where they will take your chairs down for you and they sell some refreshments, but it is at least a couple of hundred yard walk to the beach from there. The Club offers a shuttle service which will pick you up from near the home but it doesn't run frequently and can probably take 20 minutes to get to the beach if you use the shuttle. If you pull into any of the tourist spots you can get a map which marks some of the parking lots along the beach. They are simply undeveloped dirt properties where you can park your car. It doesn't even look like a parking lot and there are few signs, so you have to check out the map. From the lots it is about a 100 yard walk to the beach, depending on the lot that you pick. There are no services at the beach so you will need to bring your stuff with you. There is a brand new supermarket at the entrance of the Currituck Club which has everything and is open 24 hours during the summer. There are a few places to eat there also. There is a good bagel store a few miles up the road and a few places to get a decent breakfast. The area is very clean. The part of the Currituck Club where the HCC home is, is very new. I don't think there are any homes there more than 2 years old. The supermarket shopping area is also new and spotless. Very family oriented and safe place.

TravelGuy

Add 1 part vacation boredom, 1 part animal-adventure TV, 1 part creative insanity, 1 part carbo crazing and 1 great blender (with "wave action" for icy drinks) and BAM ... alcohol with panache!

And I haven't even mentioned the Code-I-Kaze! Think Kamikaze with Mountain Dew Code Red .... shaken .... not stirred ....

TravelGuy

Thanks!

I had no control over the TV in the main area due to interventions by the TravelNephews so I'm not sure who the provider was. There did not appear to be any On Demand. All I know is that I must have seen every shark kill ever filmed during the course of the week. Shark vs. seal, shark vs. fish, shark vs. diver, shark vs. seagull, shark vs. surfer, and so on.

TravelGuy