Not our first stay at SHO but like our previous ones this stay was also a pleasant one. The bathroom/showers are IMO the best on the bay. Why don’t other marinas have the same quality of showers? Don’t they know that those kinds of facilities are what keep boats coming back. The staff was friendly and helpful with our docking. The pool was very nice too but always seems to be almost too cool to cold even on the hottest days! How do they do that? But it is very refreshing.
We had a nice stay even though the marina was dated and a bit tired looking. But it was clean, well run and the staff was very friendly. A couple of nice restaurants (some in nearby marinas) but the restaurant at the marina is permanently closed. A good place to visit at the end of the beautiful Sassafras River.
To be frank, we kinda miss the old “Sailing Emporium” which is what this marina was called before it was sold because it was more of a “mom and pop” operation but……the new owners have made this marina a place you should visit. It was clean, friendly, upgraded, and a good location in Rock Hall Harbor. We will return.
My main complaint is that TM had me dock up against a bulkhead that was between two rows of slips at the end of the fairway. It was difficult the dock because the wind was blowing away from the bulkhead. I thought we'd be getting a slip, not a spot against a bulkhead. I was upset with where we were placed and told the lone dock hand that I wanted to speak with the dock master who never showed up or looked for me. TM is basically a parking lot, with slips and individual bathroom/showers in a small concrete block building in the parking lot. Everything is clean and well kept (otherwise I'd give this marina a single star) but don't expect anything fancy. The town of Havre deGrace is nice and we had dinner at a great Italian restaurant called La Cucina which I highly recommend. The only way to get to Havre deGrace is by way of a longish channel, running basically north and south and at parts it's narrow with very shallow water alone the sides. It took us about 30 minutes to reach the bay at about 5 knots fighting a current.
Basically this is a nice marina but in transition. There are three sets of docks; RED, WHITE and BLUE. Red and Blue are floating docks while White is not and shows signs of aging and is in need of repair but if they are eventually going to make white a floating dock I can see the reason not to spend too much money on it’s present condition. I’m not saying that they are unsafe. I requested a slip on the outside perimeter so that we could see the wonder views of the surrounding areas. This was a bit of a mistake on my part because the slip was for a boat much large than my 32 foot sailboat, so much so that we couldn’t rig stern lines to the pillings because they were too far behind us. If I did move the boat back towards them my 120 shore power cord couldn’t reach the outlet. But we made do with some creative dock line setups. Part of the dock rubber trim with protruding screws were sticking out and did make contact with the hull without damage. I pushed this trim back into place on the dock but this is part of what I meant by the docks needed repair. The dock boards were very wore also. It’s a long walk to the bathroom/showers so keep that in mind if you stay in a perimeter slip. The bathrooms are OK, basic and have a light switch that’s set to go off in 20 minutes. It’s really not enough time and the light went off each time I was in the showers which required me to step out and find the switch again in the almost dark room. The Passages Bar and Grille is only a bar now (closed because we were there early in the season) but there is a fantastic restaurant called the Blue Heron which is a ten minute walk away that was superb. The marina is a decent place to stay if nothing else is available IMO. Also we were at Haven Harbor North and the is also a Haven Harbor South (previously Sailing Emporium), as the locals called them, which makes things a bit confusing. Aa name change to one of them is in order IMO.
Overall a nice marina with floating docks but the finger dock we were assigned D12 was damaged and a bit of a hazard. The end of the dock was tilted towards the water and it was very easy to fall or slip in if you weren’t careful. I almost lost the battery to my electric outboard when I placed it on the dock and it almost slid into the water. They really shouldn’t rent out this slip until the dock is repaired. I did mention it to a dock and and he just said they were having troubles with it. Also the floating docks are a long walk to the shore so no matter where you are you’ll have a walk to the bathhouse, pool, office, etc.