We have hauled our boat for huricane season in Puerto Del Rey marina in PR. I thought I would give some feed back on our observation.
It is a HUGE marina, 1,100 wet slips with ZERO availability, all taken. There is also a huge dry stack operation. Biggest fork lift I have ever seen was stacking a 40’ power boat. They have 3 travel lift bays, at lest 2 lifts, one BIG, all in good condition. The docks are so long they shuttle you back and forth on golf carts. In fact the whole operation felt more like a Country Club than a Marina. On-site hotel, 2 restaurants, one deli/store (with wide selection of wines, etc.) that was reasonable. A concierge area where you dropped off baggage and guests to be moved by golf cart attendants to boat, nice small laundry and large bath/shower facility. The staff was helpful and responsive.
While lifting they asked me where to put the straps, I told them and said you needed to tie the straps together so they don’t slip. They didn’t and they slipped a few feet dropping the bow. Heart thud, but no damage to our steel tank. They still did not tie the straps but moved the straps back to the mast. Once out of the water they tied the straps for movement.
Setting the boat they asked me which way I wanter her tilted and then if it was OK. But they had no way of measuring tilt. They scrounged up a ladder and I measured tilt of cockpit floor to assure drainage. They asked how many blocks I wanted, 2 or 3. I said 4, at 40,000 pounds I have seen her sink when inadequately blocked. They gave me 3 blocks. They showed me where the hurricane tie downs were. But the Owner must buy the straps and place the straps, the marina will not do that but will fine you if you don’t do it right away.
The marina does not provide ladders nor are you allowed to do work kn the boat, ANY work, and you can not spend any nights aboard. Upon arrival at the marina. Were were advised are required to hire a “Care taker” if you are not resident to PR. He provides the ladder, and straps for a fee, you buy not rent. He manages your contract labor and will put stuff on and off the boat. Not sure how well that is working, struggling through this. The Care taker fee is $300/month.
It seems PDR is in a transition phase as they were bought out by Safe Harbor. We had been sent a contract and a number of separate agreements (yard rules) we signed previously. Upon arrival we were given new contracts and agreements to be signed. These were electronic forms with “sign here boxes”. The main contract alone had 14 such signature boxes.
There is no ships store on the marina grounds we could find. It seems EVERYTHING is done by Contractor. There is a small grocery store near the gate, everything else is distant. Not very convenient
Someone (not staff) thankfully gave us a heads up on scheduling our splash date. This was the end of June, ALL splash appointments near the end of October and well into November we fully booked. We got a Oct 30 - 5pm - splash appointment but we had to agree to a $275/hour surcharge for overtime work. 2 man lift crew.