Marinas

Deb and I don't have a lot of experience with marinas. There are 4 on our little lake. We are a part of one. We took our initial sailing courses at a different one. We have had brief visits at the other two. The trip around Long Island was our first time of sailing into various marinas as transients, and I have to admit to being underwhelmed by the service.

Perhaps I was expecting too much. In my work-a-day world of corporate jet flying the "marinas" are known as FBOs, (Fixed Base Operations). Very expensive pieces of equipment drop in for a few hours or a few days, services like fuel and pump-outs and parking space are required, expected and provided, and then the equipment moves on to the next place. (Moving to the next place being the reason for the equipment in the first place.) In the aviation world poor service at an FBO is rare. The prices may be exorbitant, but the service is the best that can be provided. There are courtesy cars, crew lounges, access to the Internet, clean bathrooms often with showers, and the people working behind the counters and out on the ramps are the best customer service people you will ever likely encounter. If they can help with a problem or answer a question, they will. For the most part bigger FBOs are 24 hour a day operations. Pull in at 0200 after a long flight and a flagger will be waiting for you on the ramp to guide you into a parking spot.

With the one exception of Champlins Marina and the young man working the fuel dock, Kyle, good service was a rare find during our trip. At times fuel dock hands didn't appear until moments after we had secured the lines. (There was never anyone at any of the transient docks.) Docks were hard to find, poorly marked, and often difficult to enter. (One transient dock was so shallow that we dragged bottom going in, and our boat didn't draw that much.) At another place we were charged $100 for a slip that had no electric, no water, and no access to clean restrooms or showers. We discovered this after we had called the place on the phone and talked to the manager, who assured that they had a first class facility with all the amenities. I'm a pretty live-and-let-live kind of person, but that guy could have used a swimming lesson.

I know we didn't visit that many, so perhaps I shouldn't be so harsh in my assessment. On the other hand, if there are only a few bad marinas out there among the hundreds, we somehow managed to find them. Fortunately Deb and I hope to spend most of our time on the hook, living in our own home and pretty much not bothering anyone. Still, I was a bit surprised.