Enjoyed a nice long weekend at safe harbor marina. The people that work here are so nice and accommodating. Also the slip holders are pretty nice too. The pool is huge and there are plenty of chairs. I love that they have a tiki bar in the pool area for drinks and food service. Being it was Labor Day weekend, it was a bit crowded at the tiki bar and took awhile to get a drink, but the bartenders were working very hard. They did run out if a few things but did there best to accommodate and were super friendly. The dock master Jason is very helpful and nice. So were the dock hands. Plenty of restaurants around makes it convenient to eat/drink as well. But they do offer a complimentary breakfast under the pavilion which is really nice. The woman that works the front desk at check in (sorry, forgot her name) is super helpful and friendly.The pool house bathrooms are huge and clean. We ask for a late check out so we could get something else to eat, and they were fine with it. I really have no complaints and this was our second stay this summer. We will definitely be back again next year (maybe even this summer/fall)!
We haven’t been here in a few years for various reasons and covid. We decided to take an over night boat trip with another couple on their boat. We all had mixed reactions to Tolchester. We feel they could do much better with the place as it’s a beautiful location. We all got several different frozen and mixed drinks to all be disappointed. We all got atleast one of the rum buckets and I have to say, with as much alcohol I watched them pour into it, I felt zero, nothing, no buzz or a thing from a bucket of alcohol and I’m not a huge drinker. The others in our group said the exact same thing which, this proves they are significantly watering down the alcohol! Also, two of the guys walked away with their drinks to go close up their boats because rain was coming in. When they tried to return, with their exact same drinks, they were stopped by “security” saying they cannot bring their drinks in. Yes, they have signs ALL OVER THE PLACE about not bringing in any outside alcohol, but it was the drinks they just bought and they were gone about 10 mins to close the boats! They did let them in but this is not the first time we’ve had it happen here in years past. They stop you if you are carrying a bottle of water in! It’s ridiculous! Also, if you get a day slip, don’t let them see you eating on your boat. Apparently, you are not allowed to eat snacks on your boat or drink your own drinks on your boat if in a day slip. More bs! Along with this, the bands did all cancel for the day because of rain due to come in. It did rain, but not all day so we were disappointed by this as they could have had other music playing a bit louder. Some other things…they don’t allow you to bring snacks to the beach area. They only allow you to buy their food. I have special diet restrictions so this was very annoying to me. But I survived by going back to the boat and into the cabin to eat. Still, very annoying!! There are also no sand chairs on the beach. We did have some and I saw others that brought their own, along with beach umbrellas, but it would be nice if they offered this…even if you had to pay. The pool was fine….although, very small. The food was ok…just mostly burgers, dogs, fries, chicken strips, bbq sandwiches and such. A few with us did eat and they said it was fine. Nothing elaborate or exciting. The bathrooms at the pool area were a bit disgusting. My husband went up to use it in the morning and to shower but said he turned around and walked away because they were so filthy. And he’s not that particular. The staff at Tolchester were just ok. The security or people that stop you about drinks etc, are rediculous! The bar staff were ok…well some were slow but others ok. The ones working the food stand were fine. The dock hand was actually really good, polite, and very helpful. We did notice there were a ton of open spaces/slips under the awning part of the marina. Which has me curious as to why they were not full with full time holders. Perhaps because the place has gone down hill?? It was noisy with someone on one of the piers blaring music ALL day and night but we were not that close (thankfully) but wanted to make note of this. Actually, at a distance, it was nice to listen to but I’m sure others on that pier may not have been too happy. They also had another party going on all day Saturday so it got very crowded that evening and lots of cars/golf carts running them to/from parking lot. We ended up leaving the bar area early and sitting on our boats to get away from the huge crowd. I just think Tolchester could have called in anyone, someone to come play music as this is what we love about this place…and I’m sure, someone would have grabbed the opportunity to play, even last minute, to make some money. But it seems they didn’t even make an effort when the other bands cancelled that day. Come on…couldn’t even get someone strumming a guitar and singing?? Anyway, overall, we were disappointed in the place and that may have been our last trip there until we see some changes or improvements.