Where is your "home" port and tell us a little about it..

I see a lot of new "faces" on here and I thought how cool it would be to share why we like our home port. Include pictures if you can.
I hail from Biloxi Mississippi and we have several barrier islands, lots of rivers and marsh lands, tons of red necks and great weather 11.5 months out of the year.

This picture is one of the 1000's of oil rigs in the northern gom, gulf of mexico.

This is the Biloxi river and surrounding marshes.

We are cleaning a couple of days catch after fishing a tournament.

Gloucester, MA - Oldest fishing port in the country - 1632.

goodmorninggloucester.com

I love these threads.
We're in South Puget Sound, Washington State.
Here's a few picts:

Our boat tied up in her slip the first time:


My wife, daughter, and dog spotting porpoises:


View from the helm heading home:




Our old Bayliner anchored just a few yards offshore in south Puget Sound

Houma, Louisiana,"Tropical Harbor" which is a "Dockominium" type development. about 20 condos each with a slip, about 18'X60'. Most of the condo owners don't have boats, some lease their slips. I live in Thibodaux, about 20 miles away. The harbor is up a canal about 1/4 mile from GICW mile 59, West of Harvey Lock, New Orleans.
Steve W.

San Diego, CA

Krogen Manatee 36 "Bucky", & Larry & Eva in Key Biscayne, FL. Here is a sunrise at our last house and a sunset on the water.

[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Lake Simcoe was formed by glacial meltwater and is southern Ontario's largest interior lake.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif] It’s length is 48 klm and width is 29 klm, it's maximum depth is 136 ft.[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]It's east and west sides are eskers(coarse gravel ridges ) and shores are drumlin hills formed by a mix of granite, sand and gravel deposits left by the retreating glaciers.
[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]For more than 200 years Lake Simcoe was the most important waterway in the history of Ontario.[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Prior to 1793 they're were no roads, travel in Canada was either on the Great lakes, the St. Lawrence or the Ottawa and French rivers, but when John Graves Simcoe became Upper Canada's 1st Lieutenant Governor he wanted a shorter and safer route through to the interior.[/FONT] [/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif] [FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]By 1797 he had Yonge St. built to connect York to Holland Landing to connect to Lake Simcoe.
[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]The North West company and others set up several fur trading posts around the Lake. [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif] [FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]When the Americans invaded in 1812 this new route played a pivotal role in transporting troops and supplies to keep the country from falling into American hands.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]By 1820 land grants were given to war veterans to settle around Lake Simcoe's shores.
[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Farming, fishing, logging, quarrying and draining swamps became the livelihoods of many of the settlers.[/FONT]

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My home port is Pirates Cove in Port Salerno, FL. A nice little resort and marina just off the ICW. The people here are great, really friendly and helpful. Most here have Sport Fishers, but there are a few trawlers. I meet lots of folks that stop for a day or two, then continue on their journeys. It can get pretty busy, especially during the fishing tournaments, but the excitement on occasion keeps ya young! Between the Resort here and the Hinckley yard across the way, you get to see some pretty amazing boats come and go! ...and the gals that come back from photo shoots in the Bahamas...well ya just gotta love south Florida!!

We're in Philadelphia, on the Delaware River. fresh water, close to home and within a couple hours cruise to the Cheaspeake for great cruising, the Delaware Bay for great fishing. A few minutes for Penns Landing and South Street for any kind of restaurant you can think of; Then 5 minutes to the Back Channel, drop the hook and it feels like you're a million miles away![/ATTACH]

John
390 Mainship

MYMT, A quick (maybe) off topic question. In your avatar you describe your MT as a "sedan". I used to think that meant no flybridge, but this is not the first time I`ve seen a boat with flybridge called a sedan. I`ve even seen boats with flybridges called "convertibles",and have no idea what that means. Any thoughts? Not critical,just curious.
I`m ok with this becoming a separate thread, though not sure it`s that important.

Our home port for our boat in Tsehum Harbour, Sidney BC Canada. On the edge of the Canadian Gulf Islands, just north of the American San Juan Islands in the Pacific Northwest (jokingly called "Gods Country" by those who boat here). For pictures please visit our website at www.rochepoint.ca. There are also photos north to Desolation Sound, our second favorite cruising ground when time from work allows.

We dock "Adagio" in Toms River NJ, at the heart of the Jersey Shore.

Toms River is really an arm of the Barnegat Bay, which is a highly used body of water, protected by a long barrier island.

Although the ICW starts at Bay Head New Jersey and travels down the whole lenght of Barnegat Bay, most cruising boats skip this run in favor of the outside route.

During the week quiet anchorages provide peaceful water views, but there are no dramatic vistas here.

Local Yacht Clubs provide sailing experiences that give the next generation a good feel for boating, in a safe and protected environment.

JohnP

My home port is Pirates Cove in Port Salerno, FL. A nice little resort and marina just off the ICW. The people here are great, really friendly and helpful. Most here have Sport Fishers, but there are a few trawlers. I meet lots of folks that stop for a day or two, then continue on their journeys. It can get pretty busy, especially during the fishing tournaments, but the excitement on occasion keeps ya young! Between the Resort here and the Hinckley yard across the way, you get to see some pretty amazing boats come and go! ...and the gals that come back from photo shoots in the Bahamas...well ya just gotta love south Florida!!
MYMT


The Manatee Pocket is a great place for boat "eye candy". We have stopped there many times waiting for a weather window. We usually stop at the Stuart Corinthian YC and fuel at Marina Cay. We are now just up the way at Ft. Pierce.

Fort Pierce City Marina for the time being. 3rd boat on the right. Now, how did we get in there among all the sports fishermen?

My home port is Pensacola, Florida. We are on the Emerald Coast and have the most beautiful sandy white beaches.
The Blue Heron is at Bahia Mar but in two months she will dock at our condo on the ICW.

Bellingham, Washington. While we live 100 miles south we can drive to Bellingham in 90 minutes. By keeping the boat up north we can get to the places we like to go in the San Juan Islands in two to three hours. This means we can use the boat on a year round basis on weekends. As opposed to keeping the boat farther south which would restrict our cruising in the islands to vacations. Our favorite cruising season is September through May. In the summer we go primarily to our island property where the surrounding shorelines are all private so there is no public boat traffic in the small bay.

The only downside to using a boat out of Bellingham is Bellingham Bay which depending on one's route is five to seven miles wide. The bay is shallow (90 to 100 feet), is open to the southwest's prevailing winds, and has a long fetch outside it. As a result, even on nice days if there is a wind a run across the bay can be a windshield-wipers-all-the-way run, particularly in a wet boat like a GB. Coming back the steep, closely spaced wind waves are often quartering which can keep one very busy at the helm.

The current GoogleEarth image is actually quite old and shows the long, heavily damaged G-dock still in place, hence all the empty slips. It and F-dock have since been replaced. F-dock is totally full now and the new G-dock is filling up fast. There is a several-year long waiting list for all but the smallest slips in the marina.

Brucek, the MT I have is advertised as a Sedan in the original brochure which I have. It's distinguished from the Double Cabin or Sundeck model configuration as it has no Aft stateroom. I suppose it could probably be a Sedan model with or without a flybridge.
And Moonstruck, I have read your posts many times and will be going to Jensen Beach later this spring. If you are there I'll stop in and say hi, as I hope you will if you come here. I'm easy to spot. Look for the trawler with lots of teak!

Port of Everett. Not too sexy, but keeps her pretty clean and the bright work bright!

MYMT said:

And Moonstruck, I have read your posts many times and will be going to Jensen Beach later this spring. If you are there I'll stop in and say hi, as I hope you will if you come here. I'm easy to spot. Look for the trawler with lots of teak!

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I would like that. If you do the Ft. Pierce Farmers Market on Saturday mornings, we are on the center dock next to the park. We plan to be down about the middle of next week for a few days. We hope to take a short cruise up to Vero Beach to hang out a few days. We had a 36 MT sedan style years ago. I think I can recognize your boat.

Max Simmons said:

Port of Everett. Not too sexy, but keeps her pretty clean and the bright work bright!

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Most visits to the Coot (two-thirds) we use as a second haunt/home without taking her out. Being in a metal shed isn't my idea of fun. Neither is plastic sheathing on a sofa.

Here in our Vallejo, CA marina berth:

We live in the Tri Cities, WA (Pasco, Kennewick and Richland). It's right where the Columbia River and Snake River join together and there's a lot of primo boating, 365 days a year. It's 155 miles up the Snake River to Lewiston, Idaho and 325 miles down the Columbia to the ocean, so there are lots of destinations to pick from.

We have a great fireworks show over the river and the Unlimited H1 Hydroplanes race here every year. Here's my wife getting a tour of the cockpit of O boy! Oberto from driver/friend Steve David.


We have the second highest lift lock (105') in the nation just 10 miles up the Snake River and it's a real treat to go through it. Here's a shot from inside the lock as we're headed upstream...



The big downside to boating here is the constant rough water we battle...


Of course, the flip side to all that rough water is the spectacular sunrises and sunsets we enjoy...


All things considered, it's not a bad place to be a boater.

Southport, NC. Beautiful little town. They filmed the movie "Safe Haven" there. Some of the best food on the planet!

A promo video and info on our "home port" put together by our marketing people and the local realtors:


Cypress Landing North Carolina

Golden, Alaska
60 58 17.69N
147 59 43.96W

Golden is an abandoned gold mining site on Port Wells in Prince William Sound. You can find brief mention of it in this http://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/0642d/report.pdf. We have hiked the area and found old cabin foundations and debris from mining and really enjoy it as the location for the last trip of the fall. We couldn't arrive at a home port we could agree on and when I found Golden on the list of places that could be declared a home port that became the unanimous choice. Since the paperwork hasn't come back from the Feds yet, we haven't put the name on the stern. When we do, we will put the home port and the Lat/Long on it since no one will be able to find Golden otherwise.

Tom

Home Port - kemah, Tx.

Kemah, Texas - just off Galveston Bay. Trying to make final preps before cruising. Currently running a little behind schedule and hope to get started by mid-April.
I sure miss Bioxi, Ms. For boating, it has so much to offer as Swampu stated.
Also looking forward to getting to see the Cajun Rose again.

My home port is Charleston, SC. More specifically, RiversEdge marina on the Ashley River in North CHarleston, SC, about nine miles from the Charleston harbor and the AICW. And about a twenty minute drive from my home.

Charleston is a very popular tourist destination and is known for its fine old buildings and great ($$$$) food.

More important to me though, is that I can be on the AICW in a little more than an hour and head North or South for some great cruising.

This is my retirement home (and boat) after spending most of my life in MD just outside of Washington, DC.

Pine Island Sound

Our little trawler "Sweet Pea" is kept on a lift behind our house on Pine Island in SW Fla. The Pine Island Sound is a fantastic cruising area. We can go upriver to the Ft.Myers area, south to Naples or north to Charlotte Harbor and on to Tampa. And our shallow draft helps out with the skinny water here.

Our home port is Anacortes WA although we have not been there for over 4 years. We moved aboard 6 years ago, traveled to Alaska twice and then down the coast to Mexico where we've been for 4 years. Next year it's off to Panama.

This picture is at Marina Vallarta in Puerto Vallarta MX

Nimble1 said:

Our little trawler "Sweet Pea" is kept on a lift behind our house on Pine Island in SW Fla.

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That is one sweet set-up you have there. Having the option of putting the boat on the lift makes it even better.