Safe Harbor Bruce & Johnsons

Excellent service, staff and all around yard!

Nice place, good facilities.

Easy, efficient docking. Clean, well kept facilities. Helpful staff. We make a couple of stops here each year on our way up and down LIS.

Communication was good and had a competent dock hand available

We had a very good stay at SH Bruce & Johnson’s. A special thank you to Al the staff, especially steve in the dock house, Allie who helped us with lines getting in and CJ who was extra helpful with our departure (much appreciated). The facilities are top notch, clean and organized. I did not want to leave and we met some very nice fellow sailors too. A great experience.

Outstanding facility and services. Beautiful harbor. Fantastic overall experience!

Great Food Need Extension Cords. Lol. Long story.

Fun marina, good food, nice staff.

Great marina to stay at. Clean showers and bathrooms. Staff very friendly and helpful. Restaurant on site is a throwback to old seafood restaurants and love that they have fried whole belly clams which are next to impossible to find on menus these days!

Great people and great service

Competant dock crew, frindly and curtious. Repair crew very knowledgeable and careful with our boat. Great restaurant on site

Great stay. Staff picked up vhf right away and gave us clear instructions to find our slip. Pool has just been renovated.

Always nice to stay here. Nice staff, nice facilities.. pool, showers, restaurant. Lenny’s seafood right down the road!

Excellent. Dock master was very quick to accommodate us. Dock hands were very helpful on a windy day! Thank you it was a great experience!

Great people, very helpful. Highly recommend anyone to stay at any of the Safe Harbor facilities

Great stay. Excellent dock hands. Nice facilities. Would definitely return and recommend it.

Everyone was incredibly helpful, professional and kind. 5 stars !

Basically very nice. Dock staff were friendly. Men's facilities could use an upgrade. It would be great if they offered a shuttle into town.

An favorite stop every year . Great staff, clean, super friendly fellow boaters

Bruce & Johnsons is our home away from home. They sent two dock hands for both our arrival and departure. :) Great facility. Clean bathrooms. VERY friendly staff. We try to stop there coming and going from our home port. Fair dockage rate as well.

When arriving for fueling until we pumped out and guided to our slip the staff was phenomenal. Professional, kind and most helpful. Dinner at restaurant was very good. Bathroom and showers exceptionally clean and well lit. Thank you for a great stay!

We love it here! Excellent restaurant as well! Definitely recommend. A Great place to go. We will be back!

great spot this time .... really one of the best weekend's of the summer

It's always a pleasure to stay there.

First rate marina, helpful staff. Pool, restaurant on site.

Great staff, facilities and restaurant.

Great service, great dockhands, extremely friendly. That is why I come back every year!

Other then being a bit buggy sitting outside at the restaurant, it was a wonderful weekend.

Excellent marina experience. Staff is always knowledgeable, accessible, and a pleasure to work with. Highly recommended.

A little chaos when we arrived as the dock staff could not find our reservations (2 boats) and were unsure where to put us. Staff had two hand held radios and both were failing. Otherwise, staff was great getting us tied up and the facility is big, clean and full of amenities. Chaos on arrival is reason for the 4 stars instead of 5.

We stayed 3 nights, very helpful deck hands for docking, pool was clean, had an emergency issue with my mid shroud being loose, they scheduled a fix the next morning and were very helpful. Overall staff was great and Branford is a great place to go for walks and runs. Only 1hr away from Thimbles too (by sail) too. Why 4 not 5 stars? They need to update their handouts, pump out isn’t 7 days a week, should not that and a few of the places on the local businesses were out of date, small stuff overall. would strongly recommend to friends.

Clean facility. Great marina. Clean, well maintained with super dock hands. Excellent Resturant on premises. Newly remodeled large pool. Close to restaurants and Thimble Island Brewing Company!

Wonderfull docks and most helpful staff. Great restaurant on premisses. Looking forward to our next visit. Alex W. / Serenity

The deckhands were super helpful and gave us ideas for restaurants. We’ll be back soon.

Nice restaurant on premises.

Helpful dock staff, great restaurant, easy fueling.

Always a great time. Nice staff and clean marina. Always look forward to come back.

Fabulous trip ! Got slip instructions ahead of time which allowed me to prepare prior to getting up the river. The dock hands were great, restaurant excellent, clean pool, grounds and bathrooms. Going back again if they will have us .

Great service, great people and a beautiful marina.

Excellent, goody bag, well kept grounds, free Pumpout, friendly people, great restaurant, and very nice restrooms. Thanks for the hospitality!

Outstanding personnel and facilities. Been many times, will return

Very nicely maintained marina. Great floating docks, friendly and helpful dockhands - even in the pouring rain. Thank you!

Nice facilities… nice location… helpful staff!

Always a good experience - the staff is helpful, friendly and ready to help when needed. The heads are clean and the showers have plenty of hot water. Nice to have a Ship’s Store on site. We don’t hesitate to recommend a stay here.

it was pretty good. no complaint

Lovely marina with a fine restaurant and beautiful grounds Dock staff very helpful and accommodating. We’ll be back!!

DOCKS WERE CLEAN AND THE STAFF HELPED US WITH THE DOCKING; VERY PROFESSIONAL!!

Excellent marina to stay for Brandford CT. Local restaurants were close by. Marina was clean, bathrooms and showers were decent as well. Dock hands were nice guys, very helpful. Dockside bar and restaurant was pretty good and reasonable. No reservations are taken so plan accordingly.

Helpful dock staff, bathrooms are clean, great on-site restaurant!

Great stay, Great staff and Manager

I want to thank Tom for working on getting us in. Also the dock staff was quick to catch us and release us. Town is 1.4 miles away so take bikes. Take the dinghy to the Stony Creek Brewery up river

We've stayed here before this visit. We found the bathrooms have gone down hill. They were not clean and are in need of an update. Many of your other marinas(ie; Greenport ) have a boaters lounge where you can get coffee and sit and relax. This morning we were unable to get a cup of coffee because the ship store was closed. I would suggest a shuttle to town(like Greenport). Btw, Greenport Stirling is our favorite marina. We visit there every season. Regards, Scott

Bruce & Johnson's is an excellent marina! We have been staying with them 2-3 times a year since the 1980's. Good dock staff. Nice docks. I typically call ahead and they are always willing to move boats around so we have an "easy" slip.

we only spent one night because the power to run our boat correctly was severely insufficient. the dock and fuel staff were very pleasant and helpful, they just could not accommodate us because that was all the power they could supply.

Easy docking; great facilities, restrooms and shout out to the Dockside restaurant

Short & sweet. Clean and well kept marina. have been going there for years

Pleasant staff and clean facility

Enjoyed our time at the marina.

Tom, was very accommodating and found a safe dockage for since were hobbling in on one engine. TC

Very nice place to stay. Plenty of deep water, water and power at dock, and the staff was extremely friendly. Good bike access to town, and they have a good restaurant on the property too. Clean bath house, and a small ships store. I would stay there again any time! If you are not familiar with the harbor entrance be sure to check your chart carefully coming in. Read the directions on the marina website and look out for the cow and calf rocks. When I was a kid there were always some boats that hit that every summer.

We asked for a tee end, they gave us a tee end. Directions for finding the dock were excellent. Restaurant was quite good. We didn't need any additional services, so I cannot comment on their mechanics, etc. But for an overnight stop between New York and Newport, this one was excellent.

Awesome time with amazing friends

Great facilities. Clean bathrooms

Great staff! The staff was attentive to anything we needed. The marina has a nice facility to shower and do Landry in. Picnic tables and grills are plentiful at the docks. The Dockside restaurant is great but it gets packed at night. The pool is really nice to cool off in. Highly recommend this marina as a stop for any boater.

Great professionally run facility including 50T travel lift & large maintenance facility. Dock staff quickly relayed dock slip location and then assisted in docking. Very helpful information bag/packet. Great restaurant w/plenty of outside dining seating. (Great pool& kiddy play area). A bit of flood/ebb current to take into account when docking- as noted in Dockwa write up. Pay close attention to staying in charted channel, especially at low tide. Last 1/2 mile before transient slip has a series of piles that marks limits of right side of channel when approaching slip area. Will definitely say at B&H when going past this area of Connecticut shore ( only 2 miles off LIS when on E/W transit of Connecticut shoreline)

I am a new boater, this was my first time bringing a boat into a marina setting. We had a really hard time getting into the slip, almost collided with another boat, gave the boat too much throttle, and almost ended up on the dock.... I had anticipated having help, was told all along I would have help, but no-one showed up when I said I was coming from the launch at 11:30 on Saturday, a known arrival time for us. When I called back after we tied into the slip, I was told that "you are short-handed, sorry about that, too many other boats coming in needed their attention..." It was almost very costly. I was very shook up, it was a terrible beginning.

Please read the review. The dockmaster and hands were great, the docks were fantastic. Everything except for one thing was exceptional. The one complaint was a big one. The filth of the bathrooms was beyond comprehension. Both bathrooms were practically unusable due to feces all over the toilet seats but it didn’t matter because most of them were clogged and overflowing. I was lucky enough to get to the bathroom early while the cleaning crew, one guy was cleaning them so I did get a clean stall but later on they were all disgusting again. Too bad too because the weekend would have been a solid 5 stars and even 3 was a stretch considering the mess.

First time here and we booked to come back next week!! Beautiful marina!! Staff amazing! Restaurant good! Marina docks and facilities are very clean and well maintained. Boat owners are friendly and welcoming. Our only recommendation would be cushions on pools lounge chairs or sling back type..the current hard plastic ones are quite uncomfortable. Restaurant chairs could also use cushions.

Our location was a bit tight, but nice that we were on the main path to the pool & restaurant. Staffing shortages occur at the marina- kids back to school, etc. Nice neighbors helped us in. We'll return!

Very nice place. Excellent dock hands, the heads were clean, the grounds beautiful.

Dan was courteous and helpful on arrival. Facility is clean and spacious. Would like to return.

Great marina with awesome facilities. Loved the service! We will be back!

Nice facilities. Great and helpful staff. Enjoyed going into the town.

Very courteous staff. Friendly people and restaurant onsite was very good. My only complaint is that place marina is not dog friendly. Signs everywhere telling you to keep digs out. Most pet owners know the drill and don’t need signage.

Stayed just one night. Great guy at the fuel dock. Arrived late and great instructions for tying up.

Another great stay at Bruce & Johnson's! Clean marina, great dockhands. Great restaurant. Beautiful pool. And Stony Creek Brewery is a short dink ride up the river! This has become one of our favorite transient stops!

Wonderful, Relaxing spot. Restaurant was very good too. Enjoyed the pool. We'll be back again. Thanks

Staff is very helpful and pleasant. Facilities are clean and well maintained. Dinner at Dockside was great.. Have been here several times in the past and it never disappoints. The bar is high and many other marinas could benefit from how Bruce & Johnson operates and treats its transients....

wonderful marina. stayed there both on our way up and our way back. great service at the dock, nice facilities--love the pool and restaurant. one tip: when telling people where there slip is would be useful to explain that there are a whole set of lettered docks to ignore before you get back to area where the slips are--and then dont just say A 21, indicate if it is the north or south side.

Excellent facilities, friendly staff, nice wide slips, and a VG restaurant !

Friendly, clean and very accommodating!!

Beautiful facility, great help getting docked. No breakfast restaurant, and the marina store is very limited on supplies—no food or drinks

Once again a great stay! Very nice Marina. Highly recommend.

Great - the staff was wonderful on a very busy weekend. Love staying there.

Our 5th time there. Wonderful staff. Tom is great along with the rest of the dock staff. None better any where we have been!! Great Restaurant. Bath rooms and showers and pool are always clean and checked. Many grills located around the property with plenty of seating!! A Perfect destination We always come back!!!

Nice large marina….the dock staff was great ….beautiful pool…restaurant on the premises….large floating cement docks…..and with boats We had a small problem but Chris sent some one down to get me fixed….a true reason to be a Safe Harbour member….special thank you Chris

Great staff; extremely responsive and great facilities

Great service and friendly folks, marina services above par

Great place to stay. Nice docks, big pool, clean bathrooms and friendly, helpful dock staff. Special thanks to Chris for helping us out! When you are away from your home port and you need assistance it means a lot when someone helps you.

We have stayed here before and keep coming back. The dock hands were as helpful as always and we found the shower facilities to be clean and accommodating. We most like the restaurant right there. A very good option in this part of the Sound. Update: stayed again and enjoyed it. A few notes: 1. The bottom of the keel rested on the bottom at low tide. So, we could not have left then if we had wanted to. 2. Went to Lenny’s for dinner — really terrific. Dockside at the Marina was good, too, but Lenny’s was better. It is only a short walk away.

Good dock staff. Nice marina. Good restaurant on property.

Great marina, helpful staff.

Always nice. Lovely and quiet

enjoyed the visit this weekend

Pros: Adequate restroom and showers. Well kept facilities and dock. Staff in the store were friendly when leaving (which is only time we saw anyone). Cons: No one answered phone/radio on a Sunday when we needed a place to stay. Channel is advertised as 8' but we touched bottom with 6' draft. We were leaving early but waited for them to open so we could pay. Never saw a dock attendant or anyone else to help. Still charged us $170 for a 36' boat, early May for just a few hours. That didn't feel right.

Nice people, great facilities, always a pleasure to visit!

Great place, great service, look forward to another visit.

Great except for humidity & heat. Dock staff very friendly and helpful. Nice slip on AA dock north plenty of room. starboard side tie as requested. Definitely plan on returning.

Staff and Facilities are Amazing ! 5 STAR place !

Helpful and knowledgeable staff.

Lovely place to stay. Clean and well maintained. Staff friendly and professional. Only negative was virtuall no one wore masks, except staff. Hard for marina to enforce.

Nice docks in good condition and large safe facility. However, signage is confusing, very easy to dock in wrong area. Nobody met us at our dock upon arrival, had to call to confirm our arrival. This was after communicating via radio. Real negative is lack of store if you need any provisions. Can’t even buy a bottle of water on premises.

Wonderful place! Will definitely return!

Nice stay and we were put on the T head which makes it easy to get on and off the dock. The crew on the dock helped us tie up but you wonder why they don't realize if you tie up the bow line aft and tight while still coming in the bow is going to slam into the dock. It's one way to get there.

It was a night mare waiting for a slip assignment. We were told 3 different slips and constantly being told never mind as they found us a new slip. The put us in a very small slip for our boat. About a foot of clearance in the slip. We had to take our dingy completely off our boat and carry it across the dock to drop in the water. We told the dock hand that we were not happy to where they put us for the slip. And he made no effort to move us. And there were other slips available in the bigger slips. We have friends traveling with us and there boat was only 2 feet larger and they were given a larger slip with plenty of room to drop the dingy right off there boat.

Staff extremely helpful and friendly.

Always a great stop. Dockhands are great and more than willing to help. Dockside restaurant is always good. Bathrooms clean.

Great staff. Enjoyable restaurant. Still can't pump diesel fuel from last year... Need to fix. Also need to dredge.

Always a great time!! Thank you for the clean and updated bathrooms and showers. Very much appreciated!!! And thank you for Having the pool opened!!!

Great Marina! Beautiful pool, friendly people and just a great stay!

Fantastic!! Such a nice place!! The staff and the faculty are top notch!!!!

Our sailing association comes here every year (weather permitting) as part of our multi-location 10 cruise program. We have had over 20 boats. Tom has been AWESOME here at Bruce & Johnson's at Branford CT. Grouping us together as much as possible. This is one of the most fantastic facilities and a BLAST to sail to across the Long island Sound from Mt. Sinai/Port Jefferson NY Pavilions to hold our Cruisers Party, a restaurant on premise. A few suggestions might be better store and ice hours or maybe an ice vending machine or vending gallery since there is no 7-11 or stores easily reached on foot. Coffee I think (am heading out now at 8:30) is in the "office" or store and limited by those hours. Just trying to bring it up to optimum!!!! Prices have gotton very competative in the last years. Concrete docks and the entire property are magnificently clean, ship shape, and well done.

We stayed overnight at a slip during a sailboat delivery from western Long Island Sound to north of Boston. The entire facility is extremely clean, neat, and very well maintained. The slips are in great condition and hookups are easy and convenient. The staff was fantastic, from the dock hands, to Tom and others in the main office and ship’s store, to the gentleman at the fuel dock. Everyone was polite, courteous, and extremely helpful. Couldn’t have asked for a better experience. Thank you!

Very nice facility. Stayed on Dock A. Very friendly boaters on this dock. Staff was very attentive and helpful. Dockside Restaurant was open and the meal was good. Sat outside on a nice summer evening and watched the sunset. Worth a visit!

Great marina, great staff and we had a great time. Definitely will be back.

Although technically closed for the season they went out of their way to accommodate us after Long Island Sound got a little rough. Wonderful friendly place to visit and will make sure to stop there again. Can’t thank them enough.

We had the best experience at Branford Marina, it started with the awesome dockhands who were there to assist us with docking and welcoming us to the marina. We needed our new boat service as it was overdue and we travelled from PEI Canada down the coast and could not get service anywhere as they were all too busy, but Branford fit us in and were so professional and accommodating. Thanks to Chris and all the boys at the service center we were so appreciative of their time and professionalism. They went above and beyond for us and we will definitely be back....thanks Boys! Wayne and Michelle Gray...Spectacular!

The Marina was fine except they put us on the service dock which had only 3 feet clearance at low tide and never told us. We draw 5.5 feet and got stuck in the mud. Had to wait 3 hours past the time we wanted to leave for the tide to come in. Thus making us travel in the bad weather we had hoped to avoid by leaving earlier.

Beautiful marina with great location and very helpful people. The hands at the dock were friendly and took got care of me, directing me to my slip and helping with the docking lines. The overnight stay was quiet and very pleasant.

Great pool, docks, resturant and dock hands. Full time slip boats owners very friendly. Needed to pay close attention to outside harbor channel markes from branford reef, lots of rocks.

Quiet and secure. Only complaint was that process for signing up for WiFi dragged me thru page which tried very hard to get me to pay for it when in actuality it was free.

Outstanding marina! Excellent facility and service. Good showers and heads. Good restaurant on dock.

This place is a 10, both as marina and a boatyard. Top quality facility and staff make this place exceptional.

First rate facility. Restaurant is a destination spot on its own. No chandlery to speak of and not very close to a downtown.

Always clean and welcoming. Wish they had free transportation to town.

Always a pleasant stay! Capt Dave vessel White Knight

Great staff. Well kept dock and the restaurant was perfect. I had a huge fuel leak and their staff stayed late to help clean up. Knowledgeable yard manager and crew in the ships store. Good people here.

Great facilities, nice people.

Great marina, restaurant and pool. Dock kids were very nice.

The crew at Branford did an incredible job, we had a small issue that was taken care of quickly and professionally. I highly recommend Branford Bruce and Johnson. SV Optimistic

Great service!

Clean marina, nice pool, friendly staff. Great fish restaurant

well protected, very clean, great dockhands, restaurant on Premises, would return!

Very accommodating marina, were happy to help with anything we needed. Great restaurant right off the dock and nice clean facilities.

Very accommodating, easy to find, great location, great service, great amenities.

Very clean well maintained marina .Dock hands are very helpful . Restaurant very good comfort food .Will be back

If I could give Bruce and Johnson six stars I would. We were fogged in, the stove was acting up, and we were hungry and thirsty. Tom and his fantastic crew took us in hand with generosity, efficiency, and a welcoming spirit, turning a major annoyance into a delightful respite.

Everything about the Marina and location was perfect. Need a breakfast truck in the AM though!

Good facilities, could add some more amenities. High quality docks. Dockhand who greeted us was knowledgeable and told us everything we needed to know. Weekend shuttle service to restaurants would be nice, as the on-site restaurant does not take reservations and the line was (not surprisingly) long on the August Saturday eveing we stayed. The wait for an Uber to an off-site restaurant was a bit long given the suburban location.

Good restaurant on site

From the time we first docked our boat at Bruce and Johnson’s Marina, to when we finally headed home, the experience was wonderful. Dock boys were very helpful in helping us dock. We always enjoy the restaurant and it continues to be a favorite eating place for us. The grounds are perfect for our needs enjoying the swimming pool and the eating areas. Everybody is very helpful and makes our stay so enjoyable. We always come with a group of us from home and make sure that we do this trip every year.

Great spot. Clean well run. Great staff. Amazing restaurant (Dockside)

We will definitely be back. Loved it!!

As always, predictably great marina with good accommodations, clean and plentiful. Service team is always on-hand to address issues. It is our regular stop over destination.

Great spot for an overnight!! Deck hands were great, met some great folks! Would highly recommend!!

Great marina offering excellent service. The channel is very well marked, and is easy to enter. Fantastic dockhands, really clean (air conditioned) showers all in a really pretty location.

Always friendly and helpful, the youthful staff are very energetic and ready to help you in or out. Floating docks makes it effortless!

Safe Harbor/Bruce & Johnson marina is a great place stay. All of the staff was exceptionally friendly and helpful. The marina management team (Tom and Bruce) went out of their way to help us and make us feel at home. The marina grounds are impeccably maintained, the slips are just right, and the facilities (bathhouse, pool, picnic areas, shop, restaurant) are all top flight. I would recommend this marina to everyone.

Great place. Very clean and lots to do in close proximity. Would go again.

Well operated, clean, and friendly marina. The on-site restaurant excellent. We had a slight problem (ours) with the reservation but Tom quickly took care of it. Will definitely revisit!

Excellent facility and restaurant. Very helpful staff. A little too expensive for me.

Great marina. Well protected, nice and quiet. Big clean bathroom and great restaurant. We chose Branford as a stop mostly due to distance between our prior and future stops, but will definitely consider cruising back this way.

Short stay, but great service as expected. Made the reservation on Dockwa and shortly after got a phone call confirming, then another asking when we would arrive as the dock hands could stay a little late if needed. Came in near high tide with a 6’-0” draft and we were fine. Channel looks narrower on the charts. Just follow the guidance and you will be fine. Would love to come back !

One of Jack Brewer's destination marinas. Huge! But also the place to go for yacht repairs. Particularly those scratches and dings that need special professional talent to restore your vessel to like new condition. Beautifully maintained grounds and great restaurant on site. GM Bruce Kuryla is tops.

I had requested an end-dock, and even though there were a few open, they gave me a slip deep in the marina. Arriving dock hand seemed very inexperienced with dock lines. No ice available. Dockhouse didn't open until 10:30am the next morning (Monday). He arrived at 10:40 and helped us reverse out. Also, the WiFi was not working anywhere in the marina. On the plus side, great restrooms and great on-site restaurant. I just wish the marina portion was better managed.

Great marina great services a bit out of town

Enjoyed our visit to Branford to renew memories of when we had a slip there in the 90's. Very attractive setting and great on-site restaurant, Dockside

Nice pool facilities and clean bathrooms. Were assigned a slip in pretty skinny water, but other than that a fine stay. Good wifi and stable AC power.

Prompt service and courteous staff. Clean facilities and available power. We wish our Brewers in Stamford could be as great as Bruce & Johnson!

Friendly, helpful staff. - great pool and good dockside grill made the short stay totally enjoyable. Slips are tight though if that's a concern. Brewer Marinas deliver!

Great stay at this marina. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming, marina was easy to locate and navigate to my assigned slip. Would stay here again in the future.

Stayed for a week over the summer of 2011. Very nice. We loved the restaurant and food was very good. The pool, picnic area, laundry and bathrooms are all top notch. We were particularly impressed with how the friendy staff maintains the grounds. Beautiful flowers everywhere and the docks are kept very tidy. We did explore outside of the marina. Town 10 mins. away. Definitely on our list of repeat marinas. One of our favorites also.