Reviews from Roger Battistoni (1)

Marina Review for St. Augustine Municipal Marina

Reviewed by: Roger Battistoni on Jan 18, 2021
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 100'
Draft: 8.0'

Rating: 1

After owning and running boats for the last 10 years, including currently one of the few owner/operators of a 100 foot vessel, I can easily come to the conclusion that St Augustine Municiple Marina is the worst marina that I have ever visited ……. ever….

The word worst means so many things in this case. Having stayed at this marina for almost 6 weeks, the word worst means some of the worst dock hands I have ever experienced, in customer service, quality of work and attitude. Not a day would go by would I see or be told by another boater that they are leaving because of the poor treatment they received by the staff….

Worst also means the facility, during our stay, we never had full power (we required dual 100’s), however the two 50’s we were given were tripping at 30 amps. We were told a 100 amp would be installed for us… it never happened.

Finding a hose is always a challenge, fuel hoses are always uncoiled making a tripping hazard… fuel spills are a common hazard and are never correctly cleaned up, electric on their “mega dock” does not work properly… packages are left at a unsecured location that anyone can access.. the list goes on and on.

Worst also means their leadership, the Dock Master could care less about you, your vessel or your stay. He is a known issue and it was told to us that he has a “stack” of complaints against him. We had been communicating to him months before our arrival, and were given options for 3 slips… one of them the fuel dock. We made it very clear to him that we would not want the fuel dock. Only to find out 2 hours prior to arrival after we had been underway for 72 hours, the fuel dock, was indeed where he planned on putting us. On arrival after trying to seek explanations, we were told it was due to “other reservations”. Only to find out we were flat out lied to, as it was an existing power issue on the mega dock that dates back months … in other words the other two docks were not even a possibility.

Finally .. billing. At marinas, after you stay a month, if you leave the following month in the middle of the month, marinas always will prorate your monthly dockage rate to a daily rate and then charge you only for the additional number of days. Oh no.. not here, they will try to gouge you either for the normal daily rate or ask you to pay another full month. Only after pushback did they indicate they had done the pro-rated monthly rate in the past... just trying to get you to pay more……. Wow .. poor business....

Needless to say there are better marinas around.. Eventually the word will get out (talking to other boats.. it seems to be already happening). Do yourself a favor.. park your asset somewhere else and take a $3 dollar Uber to the city center…

View location on the Waterway Guide Explorer