Our New Marina in Canton

--Blogpost written by Bob

We've been in our new slip in Anchorage Marina now for slightly over a week.  There are a lot of differences between our new "city" marina and our old "rural" marina.

This is the entrance to D dock looking west toward the Inner Harbor.
I applied a "painted" effect to this photograph to make it more "dreamy" on a rainy day.

Floating Docks

One of the biggest changes we've experienced is going from fixed docks to floating docks.  Previously, we would step up onto our boat during a high tide and down onto the boat during a low tide.  With floating docks, the distance between the dock and the boat's deck is always the same--in fact, it is always a pretty high step up onto the deck.

One of our first purchases was plastic steps to make
getting on and off the boat easier.

The Area is Much Busier

There are a lot more slips here and a lot more liveaboards--so, there's always boaters around.  Boston Street is right outside the marina's security gate to the north and it is always busy.  However, being in a slip 300 yards or so from the street, we seldom hear the street traffic.  Living here onboard is like living in a watery cacoon within a city.

Less Wildlife

There is certainly less wildlife around the "city" marina than in our old "rural" marina but there is a great blue heron that roams the docks in the late evening--we've seem him a couple times near our dock.

Temporary Parking Problems

We have one parking pass to park inside the marina's security fence--our second car must be parked on the street.  Finding a parking space for our second car has been a problem at times.  Of course at the end of this year when we get rid of our second car, this problem goes away.

Maggie's little red beetle convertible is kept inside the security fence.

WiFi: Better but Less Accessible

Actually at our new marina the WiFi is better (seems to be able to handle more users simultaneously) but is less accessible--its currently only available in the boater's lounge.  Our old marina didn't have a boater's lounge but had outdoor antennas for the WiFi signals.

The boater's lounge is about 30-feet by 35-feet with a big flat screen TV.
It can easily seat a couple dozen people.

More Restaurants Nearby

There are about a hundred restaurants in Canton and nearby Fells Point, all of which are within walking distance of our new marina.  It's a foodie's paradise!

This is a google map showing restaurants represented on TripAdvisor.
The marina location is the blue dot in the center of the page.

Galesville, on the other hand, had two restaurants located within a mile of our old marina: Pirates Cove and Thursdays.

Much Less Driving Means More Free Time

With a fantastic grocery store less than a block away, a Starbuck's across the street, a West Marine Store one block away, and many great restaurants within walking distance, there is really no reason to drive anywhere except for some special reason (and for work, in Maggie's case).  As a result, I seem to have a lot more free time.

Different People - Different Boats

The residents of Canton far out number boat owners and they are young professionals, mostly in their twenties and thirties.  The boat owners seem equally distributed among all age groups and boats are equally distributed between power and sail.

Galesville, where our old marina is located, is a very small village where boat owners outnumber residents--most boats are sailboats.  Most of the boat owners are professionals with long government careers (living in the D.C. Suburbs) and most are nearing retirement age.

Summary

Our new marina is quite different from our old marina.  Both have their merits.  Our new marina has exceeded my expectations and we are easily adapting to our new environment.  We expect to buy our slip at the end of this year and use it as our summer base--so far, I think it will work out fine.

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