Grocery stores on Active Captain?

Is Active Captain the best way to find and plan for grocery stops while cruising? If not, what is?

Some grocery stores (Walmart) appear on active captain. If you read the marina information, it's often listed under services. Also read the user reviews as it's often covered there. Information in smaller towns can be dated as businesses come and go (Oriental, NC is a good example). If you're staying at a marina, ask when you make a reservation.

Ted

It is easy. Use Google Maps and zoom in to about a 5 mile radius. Then enter grocery stores. Then click on the ones of interest. Will also I've you walking distance and time to your selection.

David

I've done the Google Maps thing and it is easy, but less so than a list of preferred stores based on their accessibility to free docks or marinas by folks like us. Seems like the sort of thing a lot of cruisers need. Maybe there's an opportunity here...

djmarchand said:

It is easy. Use Google Maps and zoom in to about a 5 mile radius. Then enter grocery stores. Then click on the ones of interest. Will also I've you walking distance and time to your selection.

David

Click to expand...

Great point! A smart phone makes it all available at your fingertips.

In Marina listings under Services, there is a Grocery section. That's usually filled in to contain grocery stores that are walking distance. Anchorages / Other Services often has the same type of thing.

For the most part, I use Google Maps - just search on "grocery stores" and it'll provide everything in the area being viewed.

Google maps is the best way I've found to locate grocery stores as you can then pull them up to see what they're like. The grocery section on AC is used too inconsistently plus it typically lists only the closest and there may be better options. Just as I want a complete marina list and so use AC, I want a complete grocery list and that's on Google maps.

This is the case where I use Active Captain in reverse.

I find what I want on Google maps, then look for marinas, free docks or anchorages nearby.

I do a quick check of comments as sometimes posters have mentioned free rides available.

Sure not as handy, however, reading up on an area often leads to other interesting or valuable info a list doesn't provide.

HeadedToTexas said:

Is Active Captain the best way to find and plan for grocery stops while cruising? If not, what is?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the idea of adding grocery stores to the new booklet we are making for the Houma Marina

kartracer said:

Thanks for the idea of adding grocery stores to the new booklet we are making for the Houma Marina

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My wife has produced a weekly blog/newsletter for marinas about marketing for the last 4 years at:
http://www.themarinaminute.com/

One of the small series she wrote was about Welcome Packets. It was a five part series and included a treasure chest of information about the types of things marinas should provide to boaters when they arrive.

The Welcome Packet:
http://www.themarinaminute.com/2013/03/the-welcome-packet.html

The Welcome Packet - Start at Home:
http://www.themarinaminute.com/2013/04/the-welcome-packet-start-at-home.html

The Welcome Packet - Check Out the Neighborhood
http://www.themarinaminute.com/2013/04/the-welcome-packet-check-out.html

The Welcome Packet - What's Happ'n:
http://www.themarinaminute.com/2013/04/the-welcome-packet-whats-happn.html

The Welcome Packet - Extras:
http://www.themarinaminute.com/2013/04/the-welcome-packet-extras.html


Grocery store listings are just a start. There are a bunch of things that should be provided by all marinas especially when boaters arrive to their facility for the first time.

psneeld said:

This is the case where I use Active Captain in reverse.

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I do that with some things too.

The only danger is that a grocery store that might be 5 miles away from a marina might be ruled out without finding that they have a courtesy car. Courtesy cars are becoming more common and they change the "what can I walk to" decision. Marinas with grocery stores, restaurants, shopping, movie theaters that are outside walking distance know this quite well.

Uber changes things a bit too. We've walked further to a grocery store than normal but then used Uber to bring us (and all the bags) back to our slip. Uber is one of those apps and capabilities that every cruising boater should have. Makes me think I should write about it in our newsletter this week.

FlyWright said:

Great point! A smart phone makes it all available at your fingertips.

Click to expand...

We used to take our car GPS with us when cruising because we could push a button and find grocery stores or other things. Smart phones have made that obsolete so we use our smart phones.

This only works once you're at or near a marina so it doesn't let you select a marina based on proximity to grocery stores or other places.

For that, Google Earth may be best.

We usually choose marinas for other reasons, Grocery stores are down the list a bit.

We use all available tools.

Pick the topic and apply that. Navigating, we do that. Planning, we do that. Selecting ports or marinas, we do that. We use Active Captain to see marinas available. We click on the links and go to their websites for additional information. We go to google and pull up restaurants, grocery stores, look at land distances. We go to local web sites to learn more of what we might want to see, trip advisor to see what people like and don't like. We use guidebooks. We use it all. We don't expect nor do we want one resource to do it all as that would so clutter that resource as to make it far less useful for it's basic function. It's really so easy to find information. Then we also resort to the tried and true of asking people.

Funny to see Uber mentioned as we've found it to be of very little use in our travels. Simply most places we go, most small towns especially, don't have it. Most of those areas without taxis definitely don't have Uber. In some areas the only transportation we found was Enterprise as anywhere that has auto repair seems to have them. Or, a couple of times, the more primitive version of Uber, simply finding someone there. We've paid dock hands to run us somewhere we wanted to go after they got off. We've done the same with the older local man who just likes to hang around the marina. Many liveaboards volunteer. We've never yet not been able to get where we needed to go. Once we spent the day out and about and were shocked at all the grocery shopping two of the girls with us had done that day. They had called and the manager of the grocery store came and picked them up then drove them back. Makes you wonder when all the grocery delivery services will hit the small towns. We have gotten Safeway deliveries when cruising.

I've used MapQuest to find a grocery store and its location relative to the river where I can land with the center console.