Four quiet anchorages within an hour of Pier 6
Where to drop the hook for lunch and a swim on a day boat, and which one to choose for
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Renting a boat for the first time feels like a lot to take in, and most people arrive a little nervous. By the time you leave the pier, the only thing left to think about is where to go.
This is every step of your first day boat rental, from the moment you walk into the dock office to the moment you tie up again.
Come fifteen minutes early. At the desk we check your boater card or the temporary certificate, take the $250 deposit, and hand you the keys, a chart of the creek and a laminated card with the dock office number on it.
If you booked online, the paperwork is already done and this takes five minutes. If you did not, it takes ten.
Heron at Pier 6, fuelled and rigged, ready for the walk-through.
Every renter gets a briefing, every time, even members who have rented fifty times. It covers the channel out of Spa Creek, the no-wake zone, where the shallows are, what to do if the engine stops and how to call us. It takes about fifteen minutes and nobody has ever said it was too long.
“Nobody gets the docking perfect on the first day. That is why there is always a dock hand waiting.”
Call the dock office on the way back and a dock hand will be on the pier to take your lines. Come in slowly, against the wind if you can, and let them do the rest.
Then a dock hand walks the boat with you: the kill cord, the fuel, the anchor, the fenders and the lines, the life jackets under the bench. Fuel for two hours is included. Most half days use less.
The dock hand casts you off and you idle out through the no-wake zone at walking pace. This is the best time to get a feel for the helm. By the time you reach the mouth of the creek, ten minutes later, the boat will feel like yours.
If the weather turns before your booking, we move it to another day for free. Just call the dock office.
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