We booked a transient slip with them for 6 days/5 nights in mid-summer 2019. To start off the…read moretransaction, I noted that their website stated $1.50/linear foot and the contract they sent me stated $2.00/linear foot (which they graciously split the difference with me at $1.75). For my 25 foot vessel, that is a difference of $12.50/day or $62.50 for my entire stay, which is significant. Compared with other transient rates, this seems high given that I've slipped my boat in South Haven at the municipal marina for $30/night.
Day 1: My first impressions of the office was: "This place must be under construction" because there is one shiny new Crownline boat amidst a sea of debris. I was wrong, the back half of their office is the "Heated storage", which looks big enough to put about two 25' boats on a good day. Once we got our boat in the slip, I noticed there was a water hookup that didn't work sticking out of the concrete (shin blaster), and another one that would have gouged my boat on the side of the dock without having a bumper in place. That pipe had barely 3-4 psi and wouldn't even produce a spray stream from the nozzle further than a few feet. I could also stop the flow easily with my fingers. There were nails sticking out of the dock that I took the liberty of pounding in with my hammer. Aside from that, there was a ladder, which I thought would work well for getting in and out of our dinghy, but that thing wasn't safe enough for a spider to climb. Also, the neighboring slip had his power cord plugged in to the post for the slip that I was renting, which leads me to believe that his was inoperable.
Day 2: I wanted to go swimming with my kids, which is why we booked a marina with a swimming pool. As we walk up on the deck, one of the attendants informs us that she hadn't put the sign out yet, but that the pool was closed. Apparently one of their "systems" overflowed on to the pool deck and in to the pool, and they closed it because they weren't sure it was safe to swim. Also of note, it smelled like my holding tank over there, so I can only guess what system overflowed.
Day 3: I finally got around to asking them the wifi password that should have been provided at check-in, which they gave me at the front office. What they failed to mention was that they have 2 separate wifi networks with 2 different names and 2 different passwords. This would have been helpful given that we were in range of the network I didn't have a password for. I also asked one of the girls at the front desk if they had 2-stroke oil for sale at the ship store, and the response I got was "No, we only sell rec-90 out there". In my head I said "Ok, I'm clearly not asking the right person, or a seasoned boater." I then decided to fill the portable tank on my dinghy only to find out that someone "accidentally" hit the emergency shut-off on the fuel pumps and that gas was not available that day.
Day 4: I noticed my trailer was not where I was instructed to park it. Someone took the liberty of moving my trailer from the space they told me to park it in, without contacting me. In a panic, thinking it was stolen, I started a scavenger hunt of the marina only to find it parked behind the bath house.
Day 5: No events, although I finally tracked down the wifi password for the 2nd network
Day 6: I wanted to pump out my holding tank before getting it back on the trailer. Experience at this point told me to go and check that their pump-out was functional. I was not surprised to find out that it was not working.
Overall, this marina has a ton of potential. It is in a great location and they have a large variety of slip sizes. I can say that the bathrooms were decently cleaned, albeit old and outdated. The staff just seemed relatively uninformed, lacking direction, and there was absolutely no attention to detail. With better leadership and some investment, this place could quickly rival Pier 33 and Pier 1000. My gut says this won't be the case.
