Reviews from James McLelland (10)

Marina Review for St. Marys Intracoastal Gateway Marina

Reviewed by: James McLelland on Aug 27, 2024
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 48'
Draft: 5.2'

Rating: 5

Hidden gem! Quiet and serene. Deep water. No bridges. We thoroughly enjoyed our 3 night stay at St. Mary's Intracoastal Gateway Marina. It's a small city-run marina with brand new floating concrete dock, well lighted, with security gate. They have loaner bikes that look new and are garage kept (not the usual rust buckets with torn seats). You can rent a golf cart on premises. Since we always use our on-board facilities, didn't check the baths, but heard they're nice. Free washers/dryers! They also have a comfy captains lounge. Unfortunately, the weather was off/on rain for days so we didn't take advantage of the nice bikes. Very pet friendly with over 2 acres of mowed lawn and disposal bags adjacent to the bulkhead, so only a short walk.

Bob and Collin went above and beyond to get us docked, set up and feel welcome. I even got a text message saying "Hey, i have a golf cart available today if you want to borrow it." In fact, we used it twice at no charge! They were always checking in to be sure our power was on and everything was OK as they'd had some lightening strike damage. We had no issues with our 50amp pedestal.

We took the cart into the city for dinner on a Monday and The Firefly, a taco restaurant was open. Food was way better than i expected. Very creative and you could order mix/match tacos to try out the different options. Full menu and bar. Drinks were excellent, too. It exceeded expectations, for sure, and our waitress was wonderful. Even though it was mid 80's, we were comfortable on the large covered patio with it's overhead fans. I think this restaurant is fairly new, as it looks it.

St. Mary's is a lovely historic town and worth a visit. The marina is small, pretty much a long double-sided T-head, but there were only two of us tied up there during our stay. Be sure to make reservations as space is limited. In the past we've stayed at Oasis Marina when in Fernandina, area but decided to venture out and try St. Mary's. You won't be disappointed. TOP NOTCH service and facility. Highly recommend. OH, and the slip fee INCLUDED the power and a free pump-out. You can't ask for more, folks.

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Marina Review for Jekyll Harbor Marina

Reviewed by: James McLelland on May 17, 2024
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 48'
Draft: 5.2'

Rating: 5

Very nice marina. Super helpful and friendly staff. Loved the free golfcarts to tour the island. Facility in great condition. Unfortunately restaurant was closed the nights we were there. We use our on-board shower/laundry so can't report on their facility, but looks to be in great shape.

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Marina Review for Delegal Creek Marina

Reviewed by: James McLelland on May 17, 2024
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 48'
Draft: 5.2'

Rating: 5

We've stayed here before. Nice marina. Well maintained. We always use our on-board shower and laundry so no report on those facilities, but the building looks great. Quiet with competent staff. Dog friendly. Dakota was very nice and emailed docking information since we were coming in after hours. He let us use the gas pier for easy in/out. Would stay here again and recommend.

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Marina Review for Safe Harbor Skull Creek

Reviewed by: James McLelland on May 17, 2024
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 48'
Draft: 5.2'

Rating: 4

Very competent and friendly staff. Michael helped with a nice soft docking into a slip. Floating concrete piers are in excellent shape and boats docked here are well-maintained (no floating junk.) Piers have locked gates for security. Lovely marina overall. Well maintained. Dog friendly with plenty of places to walk. Loaner bikes including e-bikes available but weather didn't permit touring the island. Only downside is no on-premises restaurant and it's a hike to the few that are nearby. We ended up eating aboard. Hence 4 stars instead of 5.

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Marina Review for Morningstar Marinas Golden Isles

Reviewed by: James McLelland on Nov 5, 2023
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 48'
Draft: 5.2'

Rating: 4

Beautiful marina on clean, wide floating piers. White tablecloth restaurant and coffee shop. Good security. Very well maintained. Would give 5 stars except my only complaint is that it is NOT dog-friendly. The hike from the transient dock to a relief area is a very very long walk, thru a security gate, then thru the main building, then down a flight of 10 stairs, then across a large parking lot, to a narrow sketchy high grass area. Given the layout of the property, i don't know what they can do to fix this, but it was a big barrier for us. The one and only (tiny) grass plot was just before the parking lot with a sign "NO DOGS". This is a big hassle if you have pets. One dog just couldn't hold it that long after being on the boat all day.

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Free Dock Review for South Fenwick State Park

Reviewed by: James McLelland on Oct 29, 2023
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 48'
Draft: 5.2'

Rating: 4

Nice little free dock with grassy area for pet relief. Dingy or small boats only. Cleats for tying up. Watch the strong current. Be sure to look for the State Park sign at the end of the pier. We ended up at the wrong dock, which was private and not in good repair, before realizing the error. The state dock is the 3rd dock as you make the turn, and is well-maintained with safety railings. Easy to tie up our dingy for a quick doggy potty break.

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Marina Review for Dowry Creek Marina

Reviewed by: James McLelland on Oct 22, 2023
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 48'
Draft: 5.2'

Rating: 4

Love this marina. Well-maintained fixed piers. Stayed on both north and southbound trips. Extremely friendly and helpful team. Owner lent me her personal car when another boater left her courtesy car with zero gas and a dead battery (left lights on). New restaurant is open and is sparkling clean and well staffed. Food is quite good, too. Full dinner menu on Fri/Sat/Sun with was good and a big plus. Deducted one star because not much lighting on the piers, just blue marker lights. I was nervous navigating in the dark and grabbed a flashlight. Pet friendly. Pool took a bad hit after a storm with surge, but it's off season so we didn't use it.

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Marina Review for Town Creek Marina

Reviewed by: James McLelland on Oct 22, 2023
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 48'
Draft: 5.2'

Rating: 5

Beautiful marina. Setting at night was lovely, with the harbor lights and view of the causeway. Reasonable price for such a class A marina.

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Anchorage Review for Johns Island

Reviewed by: James McLelland on Sep 20, 2023
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 48'
Draft: 5.2'

48 trawler in for overnight. Very scenic spot. Chose to anchor outside the cove so we could have quick access to the boat ramp near the bridge. That meant more wind coming at us from the channel, but it was an acceptable trade-off. Drove the tender with our dogs to the boat ramp for a relief run on dry land. Wind protection would have been better further into the cove. Nice spot for an overnight if you have pets and a tender.

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Marina Review for Exuma Yacht Club

Reviewed by: James McLelland on Apr 29, 2023
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 48'
Draft: 5.2'

Rating: 2

Visited 4/28/23. stayed 2 nights. $2/ft. includes electric. Water is .40/gal. Looks like it took a beating from last hurricane and has not recovered. One long pier demolished. The operational slips can accommodate larger boats (we have 48 trawler) and water depth is good, but facility but in disrepair with no help. Some electrical boxes trashed. Not enough water to the pier for all the boats. Dock master actually put us in a slip with NO power. We didn't discover this until all tied up. Then he admitted he knew it didn't work so we had to untie and relocate, which was a total shit show as he abandoned us and we had zero help navigating between the two outer pilings, against wind and current. Two boaters on the pier came to our rescue or we would have suffered damage. Water bib didn't work until they finally fixed the next day after complaints there was only one working spigot on the entire pier.

The "dock master" also operates a party boat so he's MIA most of the time. We had to reach him on his personal cell. There is no other help. Zero staff. A real shame because it has such potential and is the only marina in George Town that can handle 44+ footers.

Restaurant was pretty good, with limited menu of sushi and some entrees. Drinks were good and reasonably priced (for the Bahamas). Nicely stocked grocery at Exuma Market (I was impressed by the selection and overall quality) and well stocked liquor store, both practically across the street.

I write this as I try to check out. It's 9:50 on Sat. am and no one in office and phone goes unanswered. We're just going to leave and settle up later.

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