Looking for Ft. Lauderdale Marina Recommendations

[Alex F]

I’m thinking of taking my boat to FL for the winter and my crew would love to stay in Ft. Lauderdale area for number reasons like better/warmer climate, great entertainment, close to number of cruising destinations (including Bahamas, which is on our bucket list), close to the major airports, etc.

While visiting earlier, we’ve looked at few marinas and so far our pick is Loggerhead of Hollywood.

Does anyone have experience with them?

Do you have recommendations on less expensive but still good alternative marinas?

I’ve also tried searching for some private slips, but those that I found didn’t look to be in desirable neighborhoods, although the rate was very attractive.

If anyone has good source for private classifieds for Ft. Ldrl, I would greatly appreciate. So, far I’ve looked at docksearch and craigslist.

 

[src]

Edited: No longer applicable.

 

[ocgrant]

There are some many great places in Ft Lauderdale to slip. It all depends on your budget and where you want to be. For me I chose to be inland a bit for protection and the price and fresh water. I am in a small marina (10 slips) off the new river and I pay $400 a month. Granted there are no "marina" amenities at this location just a slip, power, gated, and parking. But thats all I needed as I go to my boat and us it. Private slips are everywhere in the area but the best way to find them is by cruising around as they all have signs posted with a phone number. Only a few are ever listed on Craigslist. My wife and I cruise all the canals and the new river regularly on our tender looking at houses and marinas. Plus there is so much to do off the new river you are never board. The biggest thing for me is you are much more protected than on the ICW. When we came to Ft Lauderdale a year and a half ago we too were confused where to keep the boat. We looked at several marinas some with nice amenities and some with little. We really like one just west of I-95 on the New River I forget the name but it was a marina in a large apartment complex that you sharred all the amenities with them and it was really beautiful, but at $1300 a month we just didn't see the value for us. There were lots of mega yachts there as it is super protected and nice floating docks but we just didn't see the need for us so we settled for a place around the corner in a private house. That just worked for a month as we didn't like having to go through someones back yard eveytime we went to the boat, it just felt weird. Then we found our spot now and we love it at Davie blvd bridge and new river. It takes me 45 minutes to get to the inlet for trips to the ocean but when I am boating I am never in a hurry. If you need any more help let me know.

 

[JC3]

Alex, ocgrant has a very good post above. Also you might want to PM CSR member FootballFan as he just went through that process as well. Good luck, JC

 

[FootballFan]

Alex,

Give me a shout if I can be of any assistance. Not a complete authoritative source - but have done a fair amount of research and in person visits over the last couple of months,

Mark

 

[Alex F]

Thanks for responses, guys. I'm looking forward for responses on my PMs.

I'd love to find some more private, secured and smaller place as ocgrant had found. It's just based on my research the prices for most places are in $1K p/m range and we felt that it makes sense to add $200 for much better (resort like) marina. However, I'm not looking to spend too much time in the marina, so for this reason I'm open to more cost-efficient options.

 

[ocgrant]

Alex,

http://marinabay-fl.com/

This is the place I was going to put my boat and they wanted $1250 p/m for my 46 ft. It is beautiful and super protected. They have all the amenities you could want. It is a little trek down the river to get to the ocean but the security of knowing your boat is safe from storms is priceless, plus who is ever in a hurry when you are boating right? Not to mention you are in mostly fresh water there so maint costs are less, I scrub my bottom once every 4 months and my engines love the fresh water flush on the way to the dock. Now that my 3 kids are teenagers we don't spend as much time at the dock anymore as we used to, so thats why we went with the less $$$ and no amenities. The only one spending time at the dock is me working on the boat. Now we usually just jump on the boat and go, there are so may places on the ICW you can lodge overnight or throw the hook. We find ourselves camping a lot in Lake Sylvia using the tender to go ashore and explore.
Hope this helps....

 

[Art]

I’m thinking of taking my boat to FL for the winter and my crew would love to stay in Ft. Lauderdale area for number reasons like better/warmer climate, great entertainment, close to number of cruising destinations (including Bahamas, which is on our bucket list), close to the major airports, etc.

While visiting earlier, we’ve looked at few marinas and so far our pick is Loggerhead of Hollywood.

Does anyone have experience with them?

Do you have recommendations on less expensive but still good alternative marinas?

I’ve also tried searching for some private slips, but those that I found didn’t look to be in desirable neighborhoods, although the rate was very attractive.

If anyone has good source for private classifieds for Ft. Ldrl, I would greatly appreciate. So, far I’ve looked at docksearch and craigslist.

Alex, You probably have already checked out the Hollywood Municipal Marina http://www.hollywoodfl.org/index.aspx?NID=647, but in case you haven't thought I'd mention it since it is just about a mile north of Loggerhead on the ICW (just N. of the Hollywood Blvd. bridge). I don't low how it compares security/amenity wise to Loggerhead, but it looks like it would run ~$900/mo incl. power, water, internet. You could walk/bike to the beach and the best hamburger in the USA has a dock right across the ICW. There is also a new Margaritaville resort going in, but don't know if it will be open this season.

Good luck, Art

 

[Alex F]

Thanks Art. Yes, I have this marina on my spreadsheet and it I looked at it again. It falls under category of competitive marinas, but the price difference vs. what it has to offer doesn't make it a primary candidate, at least for us.

If you have anything else in mind, I'd love to hear it.

 

[Ididntdoit]

I would do bahia mar great place and close to everything including the inlet

 

[Alex F]

I would do bahia mar great place and close to everything including the inlet

It looks great and I'd love to stay there, but when you call for pricing, you better be sitting down. :lol:

 

[ocgrant]

It looks great and I'd love to stay there, but when you call for pricing, you better be sitting down. :lol:

LOL.... You got that right... Unless you have 100 feet you will feel like a dingy.

 

[FootballFan]

and they kick you out when the boat show comes.

 

[Dani-Lu]

I kept my boat there a few years ago and when I would fly home up north I would move it to a guys canal spot behind his house, with power, for a lot less cash than the Bahia Mar. Loved Bahia Mar, but not cheap. And my boat was a dinghy in that marina, but I never minded.