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A Trailer Boat Cruising Guide to Put-in-Bay

Posted by Dan on December 17, 2009


 
 

Facilities for Boaters

Little Wanderlust, tied to her buoy at “Charlie-Two” in the mooring field.

Little Wanderlust, tied to her buoy at “Charlie-Two” in the mooring field.

Put-in-Bay is a major destination for recreational boats of all sizes and the bay itself offers many amenities. No notable facilities exist on the island outside the harbor.

While you have many options for transient dockage along the village waterfront, I’ve always felt that the most stylish way to go is to pick up a mooring ball on the west end of the harbor and ride ashore on the boat taxi. The mooring field consists of 81 mooring balls and is open to the public on a first-come-first-served basis. The first row of moorings are designated for boats over 52-feet in length, and a few balls are marked exclusively for official use by harbor authorities, but the rest of the field may be used by any vessel. I would personally recommend tying up at least three or four rows back and close in to shore to escape the brunt of the wake created by the Jet Express ferry during its frequent runs. Expect to be jostled a bit during the evening by boat wakes (hopefully you’ll be ashore yourself having a good time), but the harbor quiets considerably by midnight and a peaceful night’s sleep aboard can usually be expected.

Once you’ve secured your mooring, hail the harbor taxi on VHF channel 10 or call 419-285-6183 on your cell phone, tell them your mooring number, and within 5 or 10 minutes, the taxi boat will pull up alongside to take you ashore. The mooring fee is currently $30 per day and includes unlimited use of the taxi, which operates until midnight during the week and 1:00 am on Friday and Saturday. The skipper of the taxi boat will collect your fee and provide a receipt during your initial trip ashore. A few years ago, the mooring field was free until 6:00 pm with a $1 per-trip taxi fee but this policy has been discontinued. If you wish to use the mooring for a day trip, the fee is now $25 plus a $5 taxi charge so, as far as I’m concerned, you might as well stay overnight and take your time enjoying the sights.

The eastern section of the bay under the Perry Memorial is a free anchorage but, as mentioned above, the bottom is primarily smooth rock and holding is iffy at best. Worse still, the harbor taxi service will not pick you up from the anchorage unless the mooring field is full (which, they tell me, only happens two or three times a year), so you’ll be on your own when it comes to getting ashore.

The boat taxi will drop you off at the Boardwalk complex, where you will get your first taste of the island experience. Here you have a choice of several eating options, from a quick burger or a bowl of really good lobster bisque to full-service dining in the Upper Deck restaurant. The Boardwalk operates the harbor’s only fuel dock and offers several transient slips at their marina. In fact, if you have dinner at the Upper Deck on a weeknight, you can get a night’s dockage for free (check in advance for availability and details, but it could be a good deal if you were planning on an extravagant dinner ashore anyway).

If swinging off a mooring ball isn’t your style, there are plenty of shoreside docks available. The biggest are the three municipal docks just to the east of the Boardwalk complex designated as A, B, and C docks. A and C docks are operated by the Village of Put-in-Bay and B dock is run by DeRivera Park. Docking is on a first-come-first-served basis and each dock has its own booth set up at the base of the pier for on-site registration upon arrival. Rafting is mandatory when the dock fills up, so be prepared to have people walking across your deck. The only sanitary facilities at the docks are the public rest rooms and showers in nearby DeRivera Park. In 2009, the rate was $1.40 per foot for overnight dockage, which was about the going rate for the private marinas with superior facilities. The municipal docks will probably be your last-choice option but, if the marinas are full, they offer a decent alternative to the mooring field or (worse yet) the anchorage.

Just east of the three municipal docks are the twin marinas of Put-in-Bay Marina and Fox’s Dock, with transient dockage available by reservation. The marinas also operate a restaurant and bar on-site which, like the Boardwalk, offer a dockage/dining discount.

To the west of the Boardwalk is the members-only Crew’s Nest marina, followed by the Put-in-Bay Yacht Club, which offers transient docks by reservation only. Next you will find the Miller Marina, which also provides transient slips for either day use or overnight.

On the extreme western edge of the harbor is the scenic Oak Point State Park and the public docks there. Again, dockage is available on a first-come-first-served basis and the slips are open for either day visits or overnight. You can call them at 419-285-2112 for rates and information.

If you’re tied up in the mooring field or staying at one of the public docks, a welcome amenity provided by the village is the public rest rooms in DeRivera Park downtown. The building is open 24-hours and offers token-operated showers.

Little Wanderlust, tied to her buoy at “Charlie-Two” in the mooring field. The mooring field and docks of Put-in-Bay as seen from the observation deck of the Perry Memorial. The large boat coming into the harbor at the far right is the Jet Express ferry on one of her many runs of the day. Approaching the harbor entrance. From here it’s a no-brainer, so long as you follow the “red-right-returning” rule. The Admiral seems happy to have arrived. Maybe she’s just relieved that she can take off the life jacket soon.
The area near the memorial is a free public anchorage. Unfortunately, the bottom is so poor that it is rarely used. Things are pretty self-explanatory once you get into the harbor. The village caters to visiting boaters and goes out of its way to be helpful. Any buoy not designated for a specific purpose, like this one, is free for the taking (and by free, of course, I mean for a $30 fee). The harbor taxi boat is on call to ferry you to and from your mooring. Here, the taxi is returning us to “Charlie-Two” after a long day ashore.
The taxi will drop you off at The Boardwalk (be sure to check out the lobster bisque). The fuel dock at The Boardwalk is the only one on the island. The three municipal docks across from DeRivera Park offer the least value for the dollar, but it beats using the anchorage. Registration at a municipal dock is as simple as checking in at the booth at the end of the pier. Again, the village goes out of its way to make things convenient for visiting boaters.
These boats at A-Dock are already rafted three deep on a Wednesday afternoon. The public docks at the Oak Point State Park are much more attractive, although it’s a bit of a walk to the downtown from here. If you do dock here, you can rent a golf cart at the nearby Miller Marina. At 22 feet, Wanderlust was easily the smallest boat at the anchorage that night, and I took a perverse sort of pride in that fact. I’m sure I spent less to buy my boat that the yacht to our right spends on bottom paint each year. A truly awful photo of a beautiful full moon rising beside the memorial as seen from the mooring field. It’s a free guide, so you take what you get in the way of photography :).

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