How busy is it on the water East Coast?

[Kettlewell]

I noted in this previous thread It's a Buyers Market that it had been very quiet on the water earlier in southern New England. Well, this past July 4th and weekend confirms it for me--this is a very unusual season. I spent the forth at one of our favorite spots--Cuttyhunk Island. We have spent many July 4th holidays there over several decades and usually the problem is finding a place for the boat since the harbor is packed and there is no room to anchor. Not this year. We anchored on the outside anticipating the usual jam, but nobody showed up. We were near one of the outer mooring fields where maybe two moorings were occupied, and there were around a dozen boats total. We could have anchored inside if we had wanted to. Stayed on for the weekend, but moved into the anchorage inside--plenty of room. Almost all weekend there were moorings available inside and even slips in the marina. I kept asking people what was going on and nobody knows. My guess is boating traffic was down at least 50% from previous years. What are you seeing in your area along the East Coast?

[ohdrinkboy]

Similar on the lake I live on in the south east. On the 4th we were commenting on the reduction of traffic.

[Knotical]

Same.

We spent the 4th on the water and anchored off Bayville to watch the fireworks, saw very few boats, maybe a tenth of what we usually see, and it was a perfect day!

[Shanachie]

I live on Tampa Bay and keep my sailboat at the city marina. There are perhaps 1,000 boats docked along the St. Petersburg waterfront. On the best days, there are perhaps a dozen sailboats out on the water.


About a quarter of those boats are permanent liveaboard, many of them owned by people who would have difficulty backing out of their slips, assuming the motors still run.


The rest? A mystery. These are people spending $400 to $1,000 a month to dock their vessels, plus insurance. Many of the boats are in mediocre to poor shape. If there is an answer to why they own boats, I don't know it.


I went for an afternoon sail today. Admittedly, it was cloudy and hot, threatening a shower or two. The feels-like temperature was 104. Still, it was nice once I got on the water.


Two other sailboats were out, as far as my eyes could see. I could tell there were also a couple of small powerboats because they kept pissing off the Coast Guard by asking for radio checks on 16.



Other than that, I had the bay to myself.