What's up--docks--when slips show.

• Author: Murray, Arthur O.
• Position: TAR HEEL TATTLER

If you want to stash your boat at Creekside Yacht Club in Wrights-ville Beach, you'd better act fast and bring some serious green. Prices for a slip run from $90,000 to $159,000, General Manager Tommy Vann says. That's if you can find one for sale. Only nine of 371 have changed hands since January 2006. Four years ago, you would have paid $18,000 to $45,000.

Due to a double-whammy of increasing demand and shrinking supply, boat slips all along the coast are harder to find. Soaring property values and the higher taxes they bring have led owners to sell marinas for residential development.

Mike Bradley, who monitors the boating industry as director of the state's North Carolina Waterways program, says six marinas in Carteret County are closing after being bought by developers. Property values have gone up so much, he says he might even have to sell his house in Beaufort. "There are a lot of waterfront businesses in the same category. If you consider selling, you're going to sell for the highest and best use." Holdouts have to raise prices to cover costs. Though home building on the coast has slowed, the situation isn't likely to get better soon. "They're not building any marinas anywhere," Vann says. "You just can't go...