Liveaboard Marinas - SE Coast Florida

[rcale]

Hello everyone I;am looking for a new home for my 38.5 Chris Craft Catalina.Anywhere from west Palm Beach To Key West with FLL to Mia being the best for wifes work,she is an ER . RN. so proxmity to a hospital a big plus.also a big plus would be less than a 1000 month with a washer dryer available Thank You very much for any suggestions

[ShipShape]

I found the east coast to be very expensive and not particularly live-aboard friendly. I tried two private residences with disastrous results - you might get lucky, but it is safer and more convenient to pay the extra $ for a marina. Check out www.miamibeachmarina.com.

Also, get the Florida Cruising Directory - it has almost all the marinas in Florida. Blue Water Books in Ft. Liquordale has them for $16, or you can order one, www.floridacruising.com. I think Blue Water does mail order too.

[s/vfootloose]

Try Cooleys landing in Ft.Lauderdale It's at 7th ave on the New river It is a city owned marina with Broward General(the main trauma center in the county) A couple of miles away. It has everything you want

[s/vfootloose]

Thinking about it within 5 miles of Cooleys Landing there are 4 hospitals Broward General,Plantation General, Westside,Holy Cross, and a little further west Cleveland Clinic

[rcale]

Thanks footloose great info we are going to visit next week.

[Cloud 9]

Last Fall I checked out liveaboard facilities all through the Keys and found this. Unless you have shallow draft of five feet or less you will want to stay on the Atlantic side of the Keys. The Gulf side is very shallow and we tend to get a lot of northerly's which is usually cold air and it blows the seagrass in to the harbors which really stinks. From Key Largo to Key West marinas are fairly sparse. Key West Marinas were very expensive so I ruled them out. I ended up staying at Burdines Marina in Marathon for the Winter. $700.00 per month with great laundry and shower facilities. Very well protected and a great staff. Downsides? Burdines consists of one long row of slips. On the opposite side is Panchos. I'm not a snob but their customers were typically trailer trash. Sitting in my cockpit every morning for coffee the guy across the slips at Panchos would dump his bucket of urine in the harbor. Then there were the half brain dead fisherman who get in to very loud verbal arguments every other day and there is the fish processing which didn't bother me.

Other options in Marathon are the City Marina which has limited docking facilities. If I remember correctly they were about $900.00 per month. Most of the staff was great but a few who were jerks. You also have to contend with five hundred dinghys going by your boat a day.

Next there is Docksides at Sombrero. Nice slips but very close to the road. They have terrible laundry & shower facilities. The bar "Dockside" is fun and most of Marathon's crusty sailors hang there. Live music on the weekends. Walking distance to shopping which is a real plus. Very well protected.

Then there is Sombrero Resort which is next door. They usually sell out quickly for the season. This is kind of like a big three story resort and you will have guests looking down at you all the time. Personally I like privacy and you won't get a whole lot there.

This year I'll be staying at Marathon Marina and Boatyard. Most slips offer a fantastic view of the Atlantic and Seven mile bridge. With this comes the drawback of the occasional west winds which can make it bumpy and I would not want to leave my boat unattended for long periods. It's quiet, reasonable $800.00 per month, excellent restaurant (Lazydays), decent shower and laundry facilities, best access to go for a sail or fishing. This year there will be a new swimming pool too!

Most of the marinas offer two parking spaces for autos, utilities are usually included (dockside requires you have the electric meter in your name), water, cable tv, wifi and a weekly pumpout.

I found Marathon to be the furthest south in the Keys with reasonable prices. Lot's of good restaurants and decent shopping. There is also the Fishermans Hospital.

Good Luck and happy marina hunting. I hope this helps!

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by s/vfootloose

Try Cooleys landing in Ft.Lauderdale It's at 7th ave on the New river It is a city owned marina with Broward General(the main trauma center in the county) A couple of miles away. It has everything you want

Cooleys Landing is a very nice place for a short stay, but there is no reduced rate for weekly or monthly stays. Your cost there will be about fifty dollars per day. If your vertical clearance allows you to pass under the 55' fixed I-95 bridge, you will find a much better rate at Marina Bay Resort.

[LauderBoy]

A problem with SE Florida is that all the snowbirds come down for the winter, so finding a slip from October through spring isn't the easiest. Plus the marinas there weren't exactly large to begin with when I visited a couple(Lighthouse Point and Hollywood Municipal). Miami on down may be different.

Stuart on up has a lot of nice marinas. Harborage in Stuart, Harbortown and Ft Pierce Municipal. Vero Beach municipal. Harbortown in Merritt Island, Cocoa Village Marina, Titusville, Halifax Harbor in Daytona. All those areas have hospitals with ER rooms and slips run about $10-12 a foot with $100 liveaboard fee. Very reasonable.

There's also Jacksonville, even Tampa has slips in Twin Dolphin and Regatta Point. Marina Town in North Ft Myers looked nice and had slips a couple weeks back. Very inexpensive too.

[LostAtSea2011]

Anything south of Stuart will be expensive.

[sailalibi]

we like Marathon City Marina (on a mooring ball) 295/month nice showers and laundry room, weekly pumpouts included. Fishermans Hospital right next door...

[Olorin]

I'd recommend the Cocoa Village Marina. Great location, great staff reasonable rates. I think there are five hospitals in the local area.

[wolly]

Marathon is one of my favorites, too. I love the give-take library!