Best chill yacht clubs (or marinas)

[LittleHarbor51]

My husband and I just joined a laid back yacht club with a clubhouse right on the water in New Orleans. It feels like a living room with potential friends (& crew!), a bar and a view.
I rarely call anyone to make plans in advance to sail or just to have a drink, so before joining the club we often wound up chilling just the two of us. I *love* the idea of a place where people go if they want to hang out. Now I can go too and maybe recruit somebody to walk from the bar to our boat for a sunset sail. Or even just sit on the club’s back deck overlooking the water and telling sailing stories. It’s not expensive and no need to reserve a table. The only food is burgers on racing night and events (though more food would be great). Unless it’s an event or Wednesday race night, there may only be a half a dozen or at most a dozen people there, but I think that’s about to increase because the marina has just been rebuilt.

To those of you who have been around: what are your nominations for most fun yacht clubs? In the US, Caribbean, Baja Cali, or farther afield. By most fun, I don’t necessarily mean most amenities, I mean people who go there regularly, and ideally with a clubhouse on the water. We’d like to use your suggestions to help guide our decisions about where to cruise in a couple yrs when we retire, and possibly even where to live. It seems like joining a nice yacht club would be a great way to integrate into a new community. Now, most days after work I head to the club & sit on the back deck with a beer and talk to other sailors. How great is that! TY!

[hscrugby]

from my very short experience, the marinas with the fancy "real" restaurants weren't as laid back. They also tend to have "existing" friends sitting together at tables etc. (Granted my experience was also skewed weird with covid junk)
The smaller places with a grill off to the side and a marina store, sometimes a part time grill were more likely to have everyone standing around/sitting around swapping stories and knowledge. One of my favorites was Georgetown Landing in Georgetown, SC. More fishing boats than cruisers/sailboats, but buy a 6 pack at the marina store and talk/get advice every evening.

[Tomodore]

The Town we sailed out of for 20 years had 4 Yacht Clubs. Each had a different personality and I am sure the members of each club could say why theirs was the best. Great thing choice, we belong to the cruising club that did not race and was a mix of sail and power. Bellingham Wa