Marinas in northern chesapeake bay

[oharamike]

Hello,

I am working through a relocation to the Newark, DE area. I plan on bringing my 36' sailboat with me. Given how shallow the far north end of the bay is would some of you on the forum be able to recomend a few good places to moor my boat a bit farther south where I can get out in deep(er) open water quickly when I want to daysail and that has a nice marina and adjacent town where my wife would enjoy spending the weekend when we aren't taking the boat on outings. My boat has a 6'3" draft. I can be on either the east or west side of the bay and a shorter drive time is always better. Thanks for your assistance.

Mike

[sck5]

I am coming from farther away than you, but a couple of factors I considered were

- traffic is way less on the Eastern shore. More scenic driving too

- cars go 60 mph. boats go 6. I would rather drive a little longer and be closer to the good sailing areas than spend an hour or two trying to get to decent sailing places every time I get to the boat.


Given all that I have my boat in Rock Hall. Nice little town too and not far from Baltimore, Annapolis, St. Michaels and about a thousand decent anchorages.

[sidecar7]

We keep our boat at Green Point Landing Marina on Worton Creek. It's agreat place. Friendly family atmosphere. Full service facilities. In less than 5 mins you're out into the bay! 2302 Green Point Road Worton, MD 410-778-1615. Green Point Landing Marina.

[chef2sail]

Rock Hall.... Worton Creek on the Eastern Shore

Rock Creek (end of the Patapsco) Western Shore allows sailing of the river when it is blowing to hard on the bay plus you can avail yourself of restaurants and the ballpark in Baltimore Inner Harbor which is a 6 mile sail up the river.

Dave

[jaschrumpf]

According to Google Earth, it's right around 12 miles from Rock Creek (White Rocks Marina) to the Inner Harbor.

Going by the Ruler tool it's about 2 miles just from the marina out to the rocks, and then another 3.5 or so to the Key Bridge. Four more miles to Fort McHenry, and then a quick 2.8 mile or so jaunt through the harbor to the landings in town.

Of course, YMMV depending on the course you follow. But six miles will just get you inside Key Bridge no matter how you go.

[T37Chef]

Chef2sail was off his meds today

[RichH]

Rpck Hall is probably the most central location with approx 1+hr drive from the Newark area. Many marinas in Rock Hall keeping the prices 'competitive'.
Haven Harbor Marina is nice but dont expect to do any DIY work, yard work seems to be extravagantly overpriced. Sailing Emporium is our 'favorite' in RH.

Others:
Worton Creek - 3 marinas (Worton Creek Marina will 'chintz' & nickel and dime you to death - unexplained/unforseen labor rates can be more than 'extraordinary'), Handy's Point is probably one of the 'best values' on the northern bay;
Tolchester Beach - expect pricing conflicts for work done - lots of '$ padded-on stuff', and has the history of the 'epitome of a totally dishonest marina';
Sassafras River - 4 mile 'slog' back and forth to the bay .... lots of 'rude' powerboat wakes on the Sass.

[chef2sail]

Shaun is right,,,thats what happens when you taken acid instead of asprin. You forget to take your google earth map out and plot your EXACT milages.

My apology for erring on the exact milage. I should have put it in different terms I guess. It takes us approximently 11/2 hours on most points of sail to achieve the Inner Harbor from our club. If you dont make it in that time...get a faster boat.

White Rocks is exactly 1.48 miles ( according to our C-80 chartplotter waypoints) from MYC. The Key Bridge Left pylon of the center span is 3.56 miles from White Rocks (again by the waympoints I sail). Lighthhouse on the right fork across from Ft McHenry is 3.43 miles and the Inner Harbor Aquarium is 1.82 miles further. Total distance is 10.29 miles. Not exactly 6 miles ( That was Dr Leary speaking through the Purple Haze").

The point was that Rock Creek is a nice central place to sail from. easily accessable to the Bay and other towns, rivers and anchorages on the bay, a little further drive that Eastern Shore but not much. I was trying to give an alternative to the western shore. If I was to stay on the eastern Shore I would pick Rock Hall and Harbor Haven for two reasons. Nice professional marina...nice amenities.Also I take our boat there for repairs especially on our Yanmar. They are the one of the top places on the Bay. Lower labor rates. Certified new Yanmar dealers and have alwayss been more than fair on work done price wise and have always delivered on time ( hard to find). I take by boat there even though we have to do a two car dance every time I do as we libe near Towson/ Whitemarsh and the boat is in Rock Creek).

Dave

[T37Chef]

Originally Posted by chef2sail

(That was Dr Leary speaking through the Purple Haze")

[sck5]

ditto what chef2sail said about haven harbour. excellent mechanics there. They also stand behind their work. I had my refrigeration installed there and it kept losing coolant - after a couple of tries fixing it they took it out and put in an entirely new unit. I think they probably charged the factory for it but all I cared was that they didn't charge me a dime. I didnt have to argue or even ask. They told me that it shouldn't be like that and they were going to replace it.

They may not be the cheapest but they are good. And there are no surprises and no nickel and diming. Even if you dont keep your boat there (which I do) it is a very good place to get work done.