Dock and Dash

[Nahbrown]

We are at small marina off the ICW in Marineland Fl on the T dock for transient boats. Last night a beautiful 56ft trawler came in just before sunset and docked behind us so we went out to help catch their lines. They seemed nice enough and remarked how affordable the marina is at only 1.25 a foot for transient boats. (Theres a sign with that rate at the channel to enter the marina.)

The staff here leaves at 5 and returns in the morning and wouldn’t ya know it... the trawler was gone before they arrived. They got free dockage, water and 50 amp service for the night , then dashed. I guess 1.25 a foot wasn’t cheap enough.

[Matt Johnson]

Unfortunately it happens all the time. And worst of all, you'll often hear them brag later about getting one over on the marina.

I don't get it. These are people that typical wouldn't steal something physical, but they are perfectly fine- usually giddy- not paying for a service provided. This type of fluid ethics is hard for me to understand.


Matt

[Mike OReilly]

Name the boat, the make, and the people. It's a small world. If they did that to you they'll do it again. Maybe others can be forewarned.

[Nahbrown]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Name the boat, the make, and the people. It's a small world. If they did that to you they'll do it again. Maybe others can be forewarned.

I would have no problem doing that if I had bothered to get their info. Its not our marina, just a place we decided to grab for a month to see what happened with the virus. Of course I will from now on because this marina has taken very good care of us and I feel a some loyalty to them. Nice people, beautiful location and great rates!

[alansmith]

A fella i know personally told me a story of pulling into San Carlos late in the evening after a Baja crossing. Too late to check in so he tied up at the gas wharf overnight. The marina and the boatyard are owned by the same people.

Skip forward a week or two and he gets ready to leave his boat on the trailer in the storage yard. He goes to settle up his bill. Low and behold he sees he is tagged X amount of money for being tied up at the gas wharf overnight. He loses his temper and becomes indignant about the charge.

A couple years later I'm sitting with two skippers eating dinner at the Captain's club in San Carlos. Somehow this incident surfaces in our conversations about this individual who thought he was 'getting away' with something. It left a very negative impression on these two skippers. I know the guy and yes, he can be very frugal, but I have also seen him go way out of his way to help other skippers with rigging when they were way over their head. The balance of life...as it were...

Moral to this story...my reputation is important to me. Give more than you take...things that go around ...come around to visit you. It was wrong what he did. He shouldn't have lost his cool because he was found out. But I have seen him help others for many hours sort out their rigging problems and even providing hardware to solve their dilemmas .

[CFS Klopas]

I've done this before. Doing a short passage overnight and solo, I saw there was a tstorm bearing down on me. Pulled into the Marina around 1 am, tied up, slept a couple hours and left around 6.

[Rucksta]

Originally Posted by Nahbrown

We are at small marina off the ICW in Marineland Fl on the T dock for transient boats. Last night a beautiful 56ft trawler came in just before sunset and docked behind us so we went out to help catch their lines. They seemed nice enough and remarked how affordable the marina is at only 1.25 a foot for transient boats. (Theres a sign with that rate at the channel to enter the marina.)

The staff here leaves at 5 and returns in the morning and wouldn’t ya know it... the trawler was gone before they arrived. They got free dockage, water and 50 amp service for the night , then dashed. I guess 1.25 a foot wasn’t cheap enough.

Do you know if a call was made to arrange the berth and a credit card quoted to complete the transaction?

[rbk]

Or a drop box for payment.

[gonesail]

maybe they paid in advance?

[wsmurdoch]

I have done exactly the same thing myself. Marineland is in a marina/anchorage scarce part of the ICW. Late in the afternoon unable to have gone into Matanzas Inlet due to the tide and not wanting to proceed on to the Cement Plant, I called Marineland. I spoke to the dockmaster in his car on his way home. I gave him my Visa number, and he gave me docking instructions. We left in the morning without seeing him. It was shallow coming in and we plowed our way to the dock.

The full story is in my wife's blog. The date was February 10, 2016.
https://irish-eyes-to-the-bahamas.blogspot.com/2016/02/

Bill

[Nahbrown]

No payment was made, I asked. The manager was disgusted but said it happens from time to time.

[Chotu]

I’ve done this a few times with moorings. Because people never came out to collect. I think it’s a little different with a mooring. You have to rely on someone coming to get the money.

And I’ve done it one time with a dock. But it was much worse than this story.
I was transiting the great lakes going through Detroit. Detroit was awful. Not even a good place to tie up. About 1000 little jet ski type boats flying around everywhere with people screaming on them. Sketchy too.

Well, there were these great looking dock on the other side of the water. Nice neighborhood, calm. Not even too crowded.

I grabbed one of those because the sun was going down and we were getting pretty tired. Going to bed, I realized I was in Canada. LOL whoops. So the next morning we left just before dawn to be sure we didn’t have any trouble with Canadian authorities. We were on our way and did not pay for that slip. Because we did not want to stay anywhere near there.

[Pete7]

We have done it once, when we turned back from a channel crossing to France at night. Horrible swell with wind over tide and waves left over from a gale in a different cross direction.

We normally plan to sail out through the Needles with the last of the ebb tide so if it goes pear shaped we can come back in with the new flood an hour later, which is exactly what we did. Made Lymington about 1am. Stopped on the local council run pontoon for the night and departed at 7am to catch the next tide as conditions had moderated. We used no facilities and didn't go ashore, so a bit cheeky but we have paid them enough over the years on that pontoon, so didn't feel guilty.

However, the French seem to have this dock and dash down to a fine art. In to the marinas just as they close, fill with water, plug in the electric and off ashore. They seem to like rafting several yachts up along side us, so not exactly inconspicuous. Anyway come breakfast time the whole raft has gone silently as a mouse, before dawn.

Pete

[Group9]

We pulled in to a marina on the ICW one night about midnight in Alabama and tied up at the transient pier, and I went and found the night staff and told him we wanted to just stay until daylight. He asked if we needed power and I said no, and he said just be gone by seven and don’t worry about it.

We accepted those terms.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Group9

We pulled in to a marina on the ICW one night about midnight in Alabama and tied up at the transient pier, and I went and found the night staff and told him we wanted to just stay until daylight. He asked if we needed power and I said no, and he said just be gone by seven and don’t worry about it.

We accepted those terms.

There is a school of thought that if you don't use any services and come and go without bothering staff who are not there, then it's OK not to pay. I don't agree with it, but plenty of cruisers consider this fair



I always at least TRY to pay, but upon fairly rare occasion when I couldn't find anyone or any way to do it, I have left without paying. I would never leave early just to avoid paying, which is really scummy behavior.


TRYING to pay sometimes goes as far, in my case, as calling the marina afterwards, informing them that I had been there, asking if I can give my credit card. Invariably when I do so they say not to worry about it, but I'm always glad that I called.


If you're just stopping to sleep, so arriving after hours and leaving early, query why you need the marina at all. In such cases I generally prefer to anchor.



More and more in Northern Europe because of the high cost of labor, all payments are done in machines, or with an honor box of some kind or another. The marinas are sometimes entirely unmanned. It would be pretty easy to not pay in such places, but who would refuse to pay when there is an honor box involved! Only real scumbags.



Of course berthing fees are much less here -- not infrequently €10 a night regardless of length; often €20 or €25 and rarely more than €35 except in big cities. $1.25 a foot mentioned in the OP is just about the most expensive berthing you will find in Northern Europe -- nearly €3.50 a meter. Why is berthing so expensive in the U.S.?