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I keep my boat at a row of slips that sit in front of a popular bar. There are no NON-Fisherman at the entire facility. However it's not a marina. I basically pay for slip space and nothing else.
There are about 5 marina's in my port.
Marina 1 is strictly sailboats, no thanks
Marina 2 allows no fishing boats, no exceptions
Marina 3 has a mix but a longer ride to the "chute" with 20A power and less than stellar facilities that my wife won't shower in.
Marina 4 has One (1) fishing boat and several hundred play boats. For 2 years they wanted no part of me because we do things that fisherman do, start our boats at 5 am etc, etc..
This year, they more than welcome me, ofcourse they have empty slips for the first time in 10 years. I can stay there if I don't idle my engines long and don't make any noise to piss off the play boaters sleeping in.
Marina 5: My rented slab of wood! All fisherman, good conversation at 4:30 AM, Beers after the charters are in at 3:00 PM. Bar/Food 12 steps from the boat. Bands on Saturday night (I'm too cranky to enjoy that).
I installed my own cleats last year because his sucked. Had no power for most of the year because he dragged his feet working on it. Listened to the band while trying to sleep every saturday night.
AND my biggest drawback of all: No Restrooms. I know this is not the end all for most people, but man, those rest rooms at other marina's sure save my vacuflush in the mornings!!
But, we are all fisherman, we can idle our boats for an hour if we want, we talk fishing all day when were not on the water, we share ideas, waypoints, and all other things fishing.
But man, I wish I was in a marina. I like those Corian Showers and private toilets.
I guess you can't have everything. This is the toughest decision I have to make every year. I hate it.
my marina is all fisherman, very very nice clean well built docks. a bar and restaraunt with great food and drinks, tackle shop and clothing shop, bathrooms and even a nice big pool for the slip owners. i love it.
I was at a Marina for 11 years that was pretty much a bare bones marina. Power was regular plug in at my slip, although I could have had full time 30amp shore power for a lot more $. There were no showers, the bathrooms were in a trailer and kind of dirty.
When we moved up, we had to change Marinas. The dealer that sold me the boat gave me a slip for the rest of the season last year. The marina had great ammentites, clean bathrooms/showers, nice resturant, docks with locking gates. The downfall, not well protected and hanging on the boat on a weekend was wake and/or wave city. The marina was also not in my normal fishing grounds.
So we moved to a marina not far from my 11 year marina. This marina has better docks that the 11 year marina, a bathhouse trailer which is kept very very clean, picnic tables, a grill, and about 300+ slips. The owners and folks that work there are great. It has no resturant and you have to drive to get to one. It's priced pretty well and so fare we like it. And we have lots of fisherman so starting the diesels at wee early mornings are fine!
__________________ Justin
2000 Luhrs 320 Open - CAT Power United States Power Squadron - Vessel Safety Examiner
Interesting conversation. Just took my inshore boat off the trailer and started at a marina last week for the first time. There is stuff I like and stuff I don't like.
With my boat... if I get pissed off I can just drop her back on the trailer and be done with it.
I dig our marina. It's a mix of fishing boats, cruisers and sailboats but everyone is cool. No complaints in regards to 4am mornings. We can watch the nightly fireworks from Sea World from our slip. The marina is at a resort hotel on mission bay and has 2 pools and a nice layout. We hang out there quite a bit. They just remodeled the bathrooms/showers too which was a big upgrade.
My marina is a mix of play, fisherman, and blowboaters, the people are pretty cool in general, but there are always those special few who like to piss you off... The facilities are nice, but I personally never feel as though the staff cares in any way or shape. It almost feels like the fisherman are a chore for them and they would rather pander to the first year cruiser who constantly rams the dock with his clorox bottle.
Dude, you have a marina in Pt. Judith... Its a fishing town! If you wanted a marina full of blue bloods sipping scotch, pony up and go to Newport.
__________________
Lets have a Sexy Party! 38 Henriques FB 2000 ~ 17 Montauk 1978
It is really a matter of location and funds. I can pony up the cash and spend another 2k a year and put in at a marina that has a pool, resturant, bar, etc etc. Would I like to do that, sure if they don't care about engines being fired up at 5am.
__________________ Justin
2000 Luhrs 320 Open - CAT Power United States Power Squadron - Vessel Safety Examiner
It is really a matter of location and funds. I can pony up the cash and spend another 2k a year and put in at a marina that has a pool, resturant, bar, etc etc. Would I like to do that, sure if they don't care about engines being fired up at 5am.
I hear ya, for me it's location. All the marina's are the same price basically. I pay the same for my slab of wood with MY cleats as I would at the other 4.
But, I don't like getting into fights with the old man with an ascott when I'm chillin out on my boat.
The guy that owns my slab of wood has asked me numerous times "why in the world do you need power anyway"!! That's what I'm dealing with.
Ft Pierce city marina great staff clean facility always has something going on. mix of fish and party crowd ,you get in a fight you might get tossed out saw it happen last year, for the most part everyone gets along, I wish I could live there
My marina is a 2 minute walk from my Florida house door. Water and elec at the dock. I store my trailer (and boat when it's out) about 100 feet away in the live oak grove. We actually have bathrooms and laundry, but I prefer to walk over to the house. We just installed a nice fish cleaning station. The ramp is right next to the docks. It holds about 30 boats and is in a sheltered cove and located directly across the ICW from a pass. Costs me $30/month.
Is that perfect?
Yes, you can have it all, but it will not always be perfect. A marina is only as good as the dockmaster, and your nearest neighbors. Find a marina that has mostly what you want, and then walk around on a busy afternoon and see if you can locate a vacant slip within proximity of some like minded/civilized folks.
Here's my take on the situation. Although the facilities may suck, there is nothing better than being with "like minded" people. You apparently also enjoy the bar. LOL
The other marina's except #4 are out of the question. Now #4. They didn't need or even want you before. They are only considering you now because of the economy and their empty slips. They will tolerate any complaints about you by the other boaters, and their will be complaints since your "different".
Last year was bad for boating along with everything else with the fuel prices. This year with fuel down, at least for now, boating I feel has leveled off. Baring anything unforeseen, next year and following years should see a small but increased boating activity. Once #4 is full and has to turn people away I will guarantee the marina will find a reason NOT to renew your slip. They no longer will need to field any complaints about you. You will find yourself slip less in the bay and your present marina may not have a slip for you to return. Think about it. The grass always looks greener over the cesspool!
It is really a matter of location and funds. I can pony up the cash and spend another 2k a year and put in at a marina that has a pool, resturant, bar, etc etc. Would I like to do that, sure if they don't care about engines being fired up at 5am.
Yes. Its a mix of all type of boaters, but mainly fishermen. Very clean with cement floating docks. The people are all great and they all keep an eye out for one another.
I dont even lock my cabin door. There is a party on the docks every weekend.
We used to have a christmas party until the boat owners association broke up, so last year I threw a party at my house for everybody on my dock. So I would say it does fit my lifestyle.
I really like our marina. It's also a mix of fishing, cruising and sailing. The marina is broken 4 different sections that are bannered under 3 different names. Our section is the second smallest with about 50 boats. We can park behind our boats and have our own bathhouse and picnic/sheltered common area.
A core group of about 10 boats are there on a regular basis. We have parties throughout the season, which of coarse everyone is invited to attend. We usually hang out at the picninc area, cooking, drinking, playing games every weekend. On any given weekend I could have my pick of several boats to go out on if I choose.
We all watch out for each other and lend a hand when needed. A few years ago I was coming in on 1 engine and I called a buddy to ask him to be at the dock when I pulled in just incase. When I got to my slip there were 8 guys there with lines and boat hooks to help. I did manage to get into the slip without any assistance. I then had 6 of the 8 hang around to help me diagnose my problem, which was fixed in a few hours. Each year we have our own year-end fishing funament.
During the season, we usually have a group of at least 5 boats run to AC for the weekend, and can usually find 1 or 2 to buddy up with to make longer runs to other ports for vacation. During the off-season, we usually get together as a group at least 2 times.
We have several bars and restaurants within walking distance. The pool is only a short walk. Bait, tackle, beer, food is all minutes away.
We average about 60+ nights a year on the boat, usually every weekend from Mid-April to Mid-October with MANY long weekends and a few weeks thrown in. The boat is 120 miles from home and it takes anywhere for 2-3.5 hours to get there dependant upon the traffic.
No bathrooms, no showers, no gas pumps. No fish cleaning allowed. Not even a trash can.
Non-potable water and electric (regular GFI outlet).
Drunks peeing in public (it's behind a liquor store).
No parking available on weekends (sports restaurant next door).
Less than 2' of water at low tide.
Food and beer onsite. Bait/tackle store is 2 minutes away.
Slip is 9 wide by 15 long. Any boat you can stuff in it is allowed. Including 25 foot
pontoon boats.
Five minutes from the house, 5 minutes to the coastal bay, 20 minutes to the Ocean.
Security is a drive by from the trash/maintenance guys from the owner's other business.
Price went from $800 seven years ago to $2600.
Only other available game in town is a boatel that can be an hour away on a summer weekend. Even trailering is tough. The only ramp with parking is next to the boatel and it can have an hour wait to launch on busy days.
A few up in our area have a resturant, such as Wagners, and now you have new docks. The other side of the bridge get's access to the bath-house which I heard is ok...
There are a lot of nicer marina's along the navasink and shrewsberry than in the back bay area, that do have pools and resturants and other ammenities - however, they are 50-60 dollars per foot more for a summer slip.
Maybe it's time to open redesgn the Keyport Yacht Club into a 500 slip marina with olympic size swimming pool, amusment park with 5 coasters and half a dozen water rides. Don't forget 5 resturants from pizza to gourmet seafood and dockside bar service!
Actually this is a fantastic marina http://mearspoint.com/amenities - Everything from Wireless internet, cable TV, pool, Security Gates, Carts, a Gym, etc. And a 35 foot slip for 1 year (12 months - no winter storage needed unless you want to) is between $2,833 - $3,658 depending on the dock you pick.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mboy
Ain't none of those close to us.
You def have to go south for that.
Closest one like that Irwin's maybe?
Slow hike to the bay as well.
__________________ Justin
2000 Luhrs 320 Open - CAT Power United States Power Squadron - Vessel Safety Examiner
Does your marina suit your lifestyle? 
great staff clean facility always has something going on. mix of fish and party crowd ,you get in a fight you might get tossed out saw it happen last year, for the most part everyone gets along, I wish I could live there 
