[WanderingStar]

I plan to bring my boat back to Florida this fall. When it was there before, I docked it at private houses and stayed at motels while visiting. This time I plan to stay aboard occasionally with my wife. Many ads state: No Live-Aboards. I would only be there perhaps a week per month, and some of that would be off sailing, even cruising. Has anyone had experience finding a spot like this? I will float the idea with prospective landlords (docklords?). I've also looked at some marinas. Retail dock space is expensive, and even they have restrictions on living aboard. I am considering a mooring too, but it would be nice to walk ashore for lunch or groceries. The boat is 39' long, 48' sparred length. What has worked for you?

 

[travlin-easy]

Marathon City Marina - they welcome live aboards with open arms. Same with Sombrero Resort and other marinas in Marathon.

Gary

 

[WanderingStar]

Thanks Gary. I've visited Marathon by car, we liked it. My only concern with the city marina there is that the rules state: "Full time liveaboards only". Which I am not. Do you know how flexible that is?

 

[travlin-easy]

You are correct. Some of the other marinas will allow you to keep the boat there and be a part-time live aboard, but the city dock restricts this to leaving the boat for no more than 7 days at a time. I know one guy that keeps his boat on the hard when he's up north during the summer, then has it put overboard when he returns to spend the winter.

Gary

 

[keepintune]

Wanderingstar: I have the same issue. I'm contemplating my 40' boat purchase, live out of state, would visit FL and use similarly to how you described your use. It is very difficult to research and find an alternative for someone like us. A mooring ball which allows for semi-infrequent access seems the best, but it is very difficult to find. Let me know what you come up with.
Anyone on the forum have advice?

 

[bigdogandy]

Have you tried Crandon Park Marina or Dinner Key Marina in Miami? Both have mooring fields.....not sure if there's a waiting list but both are in a sweet spot at the north end of Biscayne Bay.

You may also want to try marinas in Key Largo - Mangrove Marina and Bluewaters both have pretty reasonable dockage rates last I checked.

And there's always Active Captain.....great resource for checking out marinas on the interweb:

https://activecaptain.com/index.php

 

[miatapaul]

I don't think I would like to leave a boat unattended for months at a time. Just the marine growth, let alone the storms. I would find someplace to keep the boat on the hard and have launched before arriving. Every time there was a storm I would be worried about the boat and morning pennants chafing.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk