Marina reviews

Pirate Lady

Pirate Lady

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2020
7,538
Chesapeake Bay, Middle River
Boat Info
Sundancer 250 ‘91
Engines
7.4 Bravo 1
This morning, i was reading marina reviews on Dockwa. Normally I don’t pay attention to internet stuff cause its just a forum to vent their issues, BUT i noticed a pattern. All the marinas that have been bought by Safe Harbour have a lot of bad reviews lately. Falling apart, bad customer experience. Especially Great Oak and the old Mears at Kent Narrows. We aint been either of these in a while. Any boaters been recently can comment?
 
I believe SH has bit off more than they can chew.

Their business model is to buy up all these smaller marinas and sink money into them to turn a better profit. However, they over promise and under deliver. When you call them out on it, they basically blow smoke and give you lip service.

Case in point my marina which is a SHM provides trash collection service every Sunday and Monday. For weeks now our trash on our dock hasn't been collected. I along with my dock neighbors have called several times and they state they'll send someone over right away. Well 2 weeks later and the trash still hasn't been removed. I finally sent pictures to their email address and I got a response almost immediately. They stated they picked up the trash a week ago (lie). This is just one example but goes to illustrate similar problems across the SHM family. I'm a little surprised these buy outs have been approved because pretty soon they will have a monopoly on every body of water (if they don't already). That's not good for the market.
 
I don’t think you can just say Safe Harbor is the problem. My current marina has flipped two investment corps in a year. Any corporate owned marina is going to have its issues…. In the future I am sticking with privately owned marinas… not that they are guaranteed to be better but at least you can put a face to the issue.
 
Thats what i read on Dockwa reviews. Kent Narrows- bathrooms locked, customers told deal with it. Pier nails popping out, cleats ondock ready to pull out. Same Great Oak, restaurant takes an hour to get food from time of order. I not bad mouthing them cause been out of boating a while, but now back in and ready to travel i am surprise how some of our favorite places seem to have gone to hell.
 
Was considering a SH marina for next year, now I may have to think twice about that :eek:
 
Blue, i got ya. I expect loose wood on my pier, and dog shit on pier behind boat from the live a boards. Its a floating trailer park, and for $1600 a year i ok with it. Safe harbour wants $75 a night for no baths, one i read advertise 30amp service but all slips have 50amp. After they tag your bill, they will rent you an adapter to go go from 30 to 50. Thats just wrong.
 
There was a discussion on here not long ago about Great Oak. It included some comments about the Narrows, too:

http://clubsearay.com/index.php?threads/great-oak.104275/

I've never stayed at Great Oak. When I'm over there I am on the hook in Fairlee. The only experience I have of that marina is from a couple dinghy rides to shore to eat in the restaurant and buying fuel. Both were pre-SH-buyout. I never found the marina inviting or particularly well-cared for. Again, pre-Safe Harbor. The restaurant was adequate but certainly not a place you go for a meal. It was a place you go only because you were already there, if you know what I mean. The docks were old. But they had plenty of water. And fuel. And JJ's. Again, if I'm going to Fairlee, I'm anchoring. So the marina is an afterthought to me. If I lived in PA or DE or on the Eastern Shore and needed a place for my boat, I'm sure I'd look at it differently.

SH Narrows is another story. First off, I really like the place. I love that every pier has a grassy area and pavilion for grilling and hanging out with slip neighbors. Love the proximity to about 5 different style restaurants and bars, too. Too bad it's across the bridge (from me) so I could never keep my boat there as I could never get to it on a Friday in the summer! But I like the place. It's a fun place to hang out, they have a really nice pool and just an overall relaxing feel to the place.

Now for the negative: they don't have enough water. Not their problem, I know (unless they were to dredge - they should), but with my < 4' draft I still kick up mud if I don't come in at high tide. Earlier this year, I had to dock bow first because of low water. A fellow traveler in our group (in a 340DA) bottomed out as he backed in to his slip. He ended up turning around and also going in bow first.

The other negative is one SH CAN fix but hasn't. Poor dockhand service. In multiple visits, I have never been able to hail the marina on the VHF on my way in to get my slip assignment or ask for assistance docking. They simply don't answer the VHF. I've always had to call the office on the cell phone - not the ideal approach when piloting through the Narrows. The dockmaster (who seems to be the only dockhand on duty) always seems to be busy elsewhere, so we dock ourselves. We are capable, so it's not a huge deal, but assistance is always appreciated. And it does show the marina's commitment to service (or not).

One other thing: few trash cans. You have to walk trash to the pool where the dumpsters are located. Trash cans that had previously been by the storage building (across from the playground) were not there this spring. I can see them having a problem with dog waste at some point if they don't sprinkle a few trash cans or dumpsters around the marina.
 
Pirate Lady said:
This morning, i was reading marina reviews on Dockwa. Normally I don’t pay attention to internet stuff cause its just a forum to vent their issues, BUT i noticed a pattern. All the marinas that have been bought by Safe Harbour have a lot of bad reviews lately. Falling apart, bad customer experience. Especially Great Oak and the old Mears at Kent Narrows. We aint been either of these in a while. Any boaters been recently can comment?
Click to expand...

Great Oak docks are a bit in need of repair.

I am at the old Mears and that isn't in disarray. They just replaced a bulkhead and are working on replacing a more docks that might need replacing. That said I have been all over the marina and there is nothing more then sun damage to the top of the piers. The rest of the marina is very well kept up and clean. The pool area is very nice and the tiki bar ( ran by Red Eye's Bar ) is also nice. Parking lots just repaved etc. Covered pavilions with gas BBQ areas and tables all in nice shape. I think it is a great marina and have zero complaints, but if I did, I know Jason and crew would fix it.
 
scooper321 said:
... The other negative is one SH CAN fix but hasn't. Poor dockhand service. In multiple visits, I have never been able to hail the marina on the VHF on my way in to get my slip assignment or ask for assistance docking. They simply don't answer the VHF. I've always had to call the office on the cell phone - not the ideal approach when piloting through the Narrows. ...

One other thing: few trash cans. You have to walk trash to the pool where the dumpsters are located. Trash cans that had previously been by the storage building (across from the playground) were not there this spring. ...
Click to expand...

Yep, dock hands are either non-existent or you wish they had been. I never need assistance when I am docking as my lines are already hooked up, but from a transient POV I can see that being an issue.

The dumpsters are and were there, but late this year, they didn't even clear the parking lot of boats until the week of Memorial Day Weekend. There was no paring for most of the spring. Crazy.

No marina is perfect, but this one isn't nearly as bad as the reviews say.
 
What scooper said above is what i read, tell you guys a lot of marinas use Dockwa to make reservations so you may want to load on your phone app. And Dockwa is great. Had reservations for mem day weekend, saw weather going to hell, cancelled, refund in my bank in an hour.
 
Guys i didnt mean to start a shit show and insult anybody marina. Like i said, mine is a floating trailer park, just posting reviews i read and asking.
 
Pirate Lady said:
Guys i didnt mean to start a shit show and insult anybody marina. Like i said, mine is a floating trailer park, just posting reviews i read and asking.
Click to expand...

No worries - I was just trying to counter point the reviews. Been boating since I was a kid in the 70's and been all over the place. I will say this about marina's now and what they use to be. What they are now is leaps and bounds over what places use to be. There was no money in marina's until wives started traveling on the boats and that made them step up there game. Most marina's back in the 70/80's were nothing more then a water parking lot. With the exception of popular fishing places like Star Island Montauk, Sail Fish marina in FL and the like. JMO.
 
Last edited:
All i know is back in the late 80’s early 90’s GOYC and Mears were amazing. We used to say GOYC marina meant Get Out Your Cash. We owned the beach to the right of the inlet every weekend from friday morn til sunday at night. The stories i can tell. Good times.
 
Had a lawyer buddy (ambulance chaser) had a 88 Amberjack, every time a boater would impact the green bouy just before the right turn into the cut. He would take his zodiac out and give his business card. Said Fairlee beach was his weekend office. You cant make this up.
 
Yeah things changed drastically in the 90's. I know a lot of marina's that either died or gave themselves a face lift.

That beach is still a great spot. My dog loves running around on the sand bars.
 
Safe Harbor bought two marinas in our county a couple of years ago plus got the management contract for the Beaufort City Marina. All three marinas are greatly improved. Noticeable wifi, aesthetic and functional improvements. Annual rates increased by $1 per foot over that time.
 
SKybolt said:
No worries - I was just trying to counter point the reviews. Been boating since I was a kid in the 70's and been all over the place. I will say this about marina's now and what they use to be. What they are now is leaps and bounds over what places use to be. There was no money in marina's until wives started traveling on the boats and that made them step up there game. Most marina's back in the 70/80's were nothing more then a water parking lot. With the exception of popular fishing places like Star Island Montauk, Sail Fish marina in FL and the like. JMO.
Click to expand...

Just to be clear (because I wrote more words on the bad than the good) I DO like the SH Narrows Marina. I’ll go back there often. The good far outweighs the bad. I have not seen a general decline in SH owned marinas. They did some nice upgrades in Oxford, I hear. And the South Annapolis place is also nice (so I hear).
 
SH has improved some areas greatly. I believe I even commented that a while ago, however, the more that I'm under their management and control, the less I'm impressed.
 
So y’all like this, had a storm roll through last week. Walking down pier i see a telephone pole tied to a cleat, get talking to pier neighbor. Its his front port piling. Marina owner asked him “what happened to your piling?”. Boat guy says “it aint my piling”. We agreed our boats will be recycled into corvettes before that piling gets replaced.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,163
Messages
1,427,601
Members
61,073
Latest member
kolak3
Back
Top