Welcome back! Today I thought I would talk a little bit about choosing a home port, or where your boat is normally docked, and how we came to be in Port Clinton Ohio! We are native Michiganders and still live in Jackson MI. However, we decided to travel to Port Clinton Ohio for boating because of some key factors that we were failing to find in areas closer to home. So, here are some of the factors that we used when deciding on our home port.
First for us was accessibility to the areas and islands that we love to visit most often. Having been frequent visitors to Put in Bay, Ohio we knew we wanted to have that access. We also have aspirations to travel toward, Toledo, Detroit, and Lake Saint Claire areas when considering northern ports of call, and Sandusky and Cleveland in the Southeast when considering new areas to explore.
Our next consideration was the area around the marina, we wanted to be somewhere with some activity, and that was walkable from our boat. We enjoy an active lifestyle with vibrant nightlife and music scene, so we took that all into consideration. We also wanted to have nearby hotels and RV parks, in case we had friends or family visit us.
We also looked at Lake access, were there large channels with long no wake zones before hitting the open water, or was there quick access to the lake. Another factor here was other boating traffic. Would we be dealing with a lot of large freighters, fishing boats, cruise ships, or ferry boats. These are all valid considerations, and if you’re in the process of choosing a home port, you’ll have to decide for yourself what you are comfortable navigating on and off the water.
So having considered all of these things, we decided that Port Clinton Ohio checked off a lot of boxes for us. It is a very laid back, comfortable, walkable town. They offer a wide variety of live entertainment options including music, festivals, and bazaars. There are hotels, motels, and inn’s available, and tons of rental cottages, and campgrounds too. They have a robust restaurant and bar scene, and being a fishing town there is always and amazing perch or walleye recipe on the menu! Gorgeous parks, public beaches, and sand bars made this the perfect area for us.
In addition to what the town had to offer we looked at the various marina’s available and found one we love. Safe Harbor Lakefront marina is conveniently located with great lake access and gives a central starting point to travel to all of the areas we were interested in travelling to. There is little to no freighter traffic, lots of fishing charter traffic, and two ferry routes to be aware of in that area, but generally the boating traffic around us is reasonable and safe. One of the things we really appreciated about the marina was the fact that it has direct lake access, no long channels to navigate before hitting the open water! They also have a lot of amenities in the marina that we had been looking for including, on-site service department, winter storage, laundry, bathhouse, swimming pool, fire pits, pavilion with grills and picnic tables, and a yacht club (more on that soon), it’s very well cared for, clean, and well maintained, they also have their own gas dock and pump out station which is a huge benefit!
We couldn’t be happier with our choice to call Port Clinton our Home Port. We have really enjoyed the small town atmosphere and local entertainment. It has been a great choice for us. Thanks for following our journey! ~Courtney Bailey
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