South Shore Harbour Marina now on Facebook

Check out their new site on Facebook: http://tiny.cc/p3cf1*They're also on Twitter. The marina is in League City, TX right off Clear Lake and Galveston Bay.

Worst marina we have ever been in. Moved in at the beginning of May and moved out at the end of the month. Dock party on Memorial Day weekend from early evening till 5:00 AM the next morning. Drunks all over the place. Some guy boarded our boat at 2:30 AM and told us to go ahead and call the police. Dock full of people and when the police arrived nobody saw anything or knew anything. Same for the marina security.

We've spent six years living aboard, cruising from Galveston down to St.Martin and up to Maine and have never been concerned about our safety untill South Shore Harbor Marina. Marine management is either unwilling or unable to enforce any kind of rules.

Bob

Wow! What pier / slip were you in?

Pier 3, slip 5. I guess we were lucky, we only had to call the police once. Pier 12 had the police out there twice that night. The marina manager told us that pier 12 has been a problem for a long time but they never had a problem on pier 3. If 12 has been a problem all along, how come they haven't done anything about it?

Bob

Thanks BobH for the info...we're moving to the area in the fall & your insight will affect our decision where to put our vessel.

When you get ready to move shoot me an email, bob@svescapades.net. We've had a boat in this area on and off for many years. There are quite a few marinas and we've been in several of them.

Bob

What marina did you move to Bob?

We are back in Waterford Harbor. Where are you?

Bob

I am across from South Shore Harbor, in Harbor Island (small 4 pier private marina)

BobH said:

We are back in Waterford Harbor. Where are you?

Bob

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Hi Bob

We are on 6-12. We love it here at Waterford Harbor Marina.
It is like living in a country club.

BobH said:

Worst marina we have ever been in. Moved in at the beginning of May and moved out at the end of the month. Dock party on Memorial Day weekend from early evening till 5:00 AM the next morning. Drunks all over the place. Some guy boarded our boat at 2:30 AM and told us to go ahead and call the police. Dock full of people and when the police arrived nobody saw anything or knew anything. Same for the marina security.

We've spent six years living aboard, cruising from Galveston down to St.Martin and up to Maine and have never been concerned about our safety untill South Shore Harbor Marina. Marine management is either unwilling or unable to enforce any kind of rules.

Bob

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pretty sad day when that happens and the guy ain't swimmin' in 10 seconds....or has a faceful of cold galvanizing spray...

Tony B, I thought you were in the process of buying a trawler? We are amongst all these sailboats and wondering if we didn't make a big mistake.

Bob

Sorry to hear about the boarding. I've been at South Shore Harbour Marina for over 20 years and love the place. I did have a partygoer from one of my parties sleep on my aft deck overnight once. I didn't know he was there and scared the hell out of me when he stood up! I wouldn't keep my boat any place else.

Is this a paid advertisement? Only kidding. Glad to hear you like it there. What dock are you on? We really liked the facilities but were right down from the pool and the noise got pretty bad and I understand that on summere weekends it's really bad.

The thing that really concerned us about the boarding was that the people in the slip directly across the dock from us, we were in 5 they were in 6, stood out there and did nothing. Then when they heard us call the police they disappeared. We thought they had gone home but instead they had gone below and turned off the lights so when the police showed up they appeared to have gone home. That's when we decided we really didn't want to be around dock neighbors like that.

We realize that the marina security can't be everywhere at once so you rely on your neighbors to look out for each other. Not with these folks.

Bob

I'm on 15 now. Great neighbors and we all look out for each other. I was on 4 and 12 in years past, same story. I was on 1 temporarily during a boat show and definitely a "clique" going on there. I guess even in a marina the piers have different personalities.

BobH said:

Tony B, I thought you were in the process of buying a trawler? We are amongst all these sailboats and wondering if we didn't make a big mistake.

Bob

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We just closed on a 1986 36 Mainship Aft Cabin.
The Allied ketch is still for sale.
I had to run back offshore to work so the Mainship is still in place in Bal Harbor. When I get back in, the Mainship will move to Blue Dolphin in a covered slip and the Allied will stay in Waterford Harbor.
Hopefully, it will sell soon.

Tony B

I have stayed at many of the marinas in the area. I am at SSH now on Pier 10. I will also say that SSH is probably the hardest partying marina in the area. Is that a bad thing? I guess it depends....it surely can be if you are looking for peace and quiet. The Memorial Day weekend in question for me started at Keith's dock and his boat for his annual Hurricane Stay Away party. He had live music and it was a great time as always and definitely in control and not too loud. A Band "erupted" from that crowd and set up on Pier 12. It was all acoustic and no electric amplification. We were visited by the security guard but only because he was doing his rounds...not because we were too loud. The cops never came so it may have been a different night you speak of. I am of the belief that sitting on the dock playing guitar and singing along is a pretty damn good time....even if it goes past midnight..

With all of that said, the general personality of the marina is people that own 30 something foot gas powered boats. This is the most active group. That demographic is usually younger and louder and partier. Take that for what it is worth. If you go to a "sailboat marina"(Waterford, Watergate, KBM,etc.) the mentality of the marina is sailors(older, anal, people that don't use their boats but like to talk about it, sweaters with sparkly anchors on them,etc.).

One of the things I do like about SSH is that it is less "regulated". If you want to erect a canopy on the dock, have at it. If your slip is significantly bigger than you boat, you can build it out and make your own little personal deck/boarding platform. There are people on the other side of the marina that rented an entire slip and built it in(ie all wood decking and no water) and now have a tiki bar on their dock!!!! If you want another dockbox, you screw the bitch down and there you have it. Nowhere in the area will you have that kind of freedom. In fact, at Waterford, if you leave your flip flops on the dock you will likely receive a letter of reprimand stating their displeasure with your footwear on the dock...I AM NOT KIDDING! Waterford is an excellent marina. But I do get irritated when people are watching me that closely. Also it would be nearly double the money for me to move my boat there so I can't really justify that expense.

I enjoyed Portofino as well. But again, the dock nazi there irritated the hell out of me. And the lady in the office was consistently rude and pissed off at the world. I kinda got the impression that most people there kinda had that same mentality. I never really felt welcomed there because I was a "Stinkpotter"...one of very few there. But the marina itself is fairly nice and the pool is second to none. It was their management that drove me off.

Strangely, Kemah Boardwalk Marina ranks highly in my book. It is a good mix of regulation and freedom. There is noise from the boardwalk and traffic but not as much as you think. You would think traffic getting in is an issue but it isn't. Just stay to the right and go past the 6th street stop light...hang a rleft into the neighborhood....and loop around back to the marina. Might add 90 seconds??? and the touristas aren't wise enough to figure that out. Even when there is a line over the bridge, the right lane is open because everyone is trying to turn left at the first stop light(6th).

Watergate is nice but is mostly fixed piers and the new floating ones are nice but expensive. If I were to pay that much, I would go to Waterford.

In summary, I do occasionally get tired of the "activity" at SSH. The pool can get kinda crazy and sometimes that craziness spills out into the marina. We do watch out for one another. The guy across your fairway probably had no clue what was going on and to judge based on that alone I think is unfair. Keith is somewhat insulated over in his little corner of the world. He has a buffer zone(brokerage dock) between him and the parking lot and also has a gate with a menacing sign on it.... I see the full brunt of the "activity"....and it can go on into the night on the weekends. I have tolerated it thus far. Will I be able to continue to...who knows. The money has me kinda stuck because my boat is small and the dock fees are cheap....and free electricity on my dock!!! But I have NEVER felt unsafe there!!!!!!

PS....Keith probably wheres sweaters with sparkly anchors on them!!!...

>>>"sailboat marina"(Waterford, Watergate, KBM,etc.) the mentality of the marina is sailors(older, anal, people that don't use their boats but like to talk about it, sweaters with sparkly anchors on them,etc.).<<<
We spent a couple of years at Waterford getting our boat ready to go cruising and also when we returned, so I guess we are part of the "older, anal" crowd although neither one of us owns a sweater with sparkly anchors. We did talk about boats with others getting ready to go cruising or who had been cruising. Getting south to St.Martin and north to Canada means that we did use our boat.

I wasn’t going to continue this discussion, BUT, in talking with the marina manager on Tuesday after Memorial Day she told us that we were lucky that the police only came out to dock 3 once, they were called out to dock 12 twice. The only time security came down the dock was after we called the police. I guess the rest of the night they patrolled the parking lot. We have also heard from a friend of a friend that he has beem called out to boats in SSH because the engines wouldn’t start or run only to find that the fuel tanks had somehow run dry while nobody was looking.

Anyway, I’m glad you like SSH, they do have inviting rates, but even though we now own a stinkpot, we would rather hang with the “older, anal” group than the 30 something go fast crowd. I think security at SSH is seriously lacking and we would rather pay a little more for feeling more secure for us and the boat.

Bob ( definitely older but hopefully not anal)

Bob....I meant no disrespect and had tongue in cheek when I wrote that....along with the Sparkly anchor sweaters.... Waterford is a very nice marina. And I have a tendency to get along with sailboat people more than the go fast crowd...that is for sure. Anyway, that is why we have choices. And we are certainly fortunate down here to have so many good choices that are relatively affordable!!!

Maybe we will see ya around,
John

Sweater? I don't like wearing shirts!