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Location is 5 star, but it stops there.
- Entrance to marina is 4- 5' max, we ran aground both ways, in the channel (Which is not marked even though they say it is, it is marked like in the keys, a stick sticks out and you have to find your way around it). All excuses on why, fact is it has never been fixed in years. A new powerboat came in this week, hard aground in the channel, had to be pulled off.
-Zero protection, the wall bordering the Marina to the harbor is only to the waterline, it is wood planks, surge goes right in, east winds, you are sacrificed, a light wind almost blows it down.
- Ran aground in the marina, 3 times. Silt is everywhere, slips were less than 5', cannot run the A/C, baskets clog quickly. One tenant figured it out, start the engines weekly, full throttle in fwd and then rev, clears his slip, bury's in the fairway and others run aground there
- Electric is questionable, damage to other boats around us, we have isolators... thankfully
- Docks are falling apart, some folks had the poles strapped together with tie downs. Newer dock from the Hurricane, thanks to insurance at the time, but the poles must just be sitting in the silt. Two boats sank this week due to some east winds and zero protection
- Bruce (Manager) never seems to be around, nobody helped us come in after multiple calls, other boaters did help. Lots of complaints from other tenants but they let them live at the dock so they support Bruce and the Marina publicly, finding a live aboard facility in this area if you are not going to be a boater is difficult. Some of the boats are borderline derelict
- Building was condemned many years ago during a hurricane we understand but still left open for laundry, laundry is disgusting, so are the dead roaches inside the building
- Pump out barely works, very low suction, watched a live aboard dump it all over the dock and into the water, a little hose off from the hose is all that happened.
- Drugs on the dock and parking lot, the smell of marijuana was all day everyday, who knows what they are doing in the parking lot, felt unsafe, have brought it forward multiple times, it gets ignored.
- Liveaboards if you can call it that, they are definitely not boaters, it is a floating trailer park for many. The good part is the gates to each dock are locked mostly so the public cannot just walk one but once you leave the dock, it is not a good area
- Parking lot is a dirt lot, if you bring a car, it is filthy day 1
- The pool is disguising, nasty, needs chlorine and cleaning badly
- Other boaters on the dock have said they ware stuck until the spring water rise, they cannot get out.
- Bruce's claim on safety is a police chief lives in the marina on his boat, he must turn a blind eye to the drug usage and vagrancy that is there.
-BBQ grill area is falling apart, almost to the point of being unsafe, same with the docks/Walkways by the BBQ/Manatee area
- Wifi - what wifi ? It is there but not reaching to the further docks at all and if you can see it, it is useless.
- Manager not on site 24/7 as advertised and how it can be a clean marina is beyond me, it is far from it. It should be re-evaluated by the EPA
The website is pretty, you are being duped, the location is good in calm weather and if you draw 3-4' you may be OK going in and out but your sucking up silt. If your a outboard, great, you can trim up, if you are small and need a night to get through, settled weather you are fine.
Bruce is probably a great guy. He brags up what they are going to do for years but in the last 3 years of hearing this, nothing has happened. Tells everyone the new hotel is 18 months away, two years ago I was told that, it was repeated again this week. It must be the owners who I think are Michael McPhillips and owns other hotels/properties in the area, possibly https://docksideinn.com/ as well.
Bruce gets super defensive when any of this is brought up. It would be a nice place if someone cared, was a boater and the corporation freed up some capital to do it correctly, they could be top shelf. If you just want to watch the launches, anchor out.
The location is awesome to watch the launches, you can feel the engines accelerate but the damage to our boat is not worth it.