Reviews from William Cooper (6)
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Marina Review for Silver Lake Marina (Ocracoke NPS Docks)
Reviewed by:
William Cooper
, Sara Sea,
on Oct 23, 2025
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 36'
Draft: 4.0'Rating: 4
The only real downside that I could see is that the bolts that have been exposed in the pilings. There are two fingers and two parallel to shore areas that have the same arrangement with pilings on the outside and water underneath. The top of each docking space is about 4 1/2 feet off the water at low tide and the pilings have bolts that have been exposed about 3 1/2 feet off the surface with another bolt 8" below the top one. Remove about of foot of lunar tide for high tide to all of these measurements. Unless your rub rails are higher than the top bolt then you will need to be prepared when you dock, and fender boards are highly recommended. A sideways fender would be unreliable when your boat moves fore and aft with the wind and tide, and you won't know where to place them until you know where you sit in relation to the pilings. Our rub rail was exactly the same height at the top bolt and we rubbed it up and down while docking and put a small dent in our rail. That said, I'd stay here again now that I know the arrangement. Ocracoke was a really, really wonderful place when we were there in late October, but the weather was in the low 70s and sunny. Be sure to go to Macsmally's which is an outdoor only restaurant and bar. They had the freshest and best seafood I've had in a long time. We ate there twice and I loved everything we had. Tuna, bluefish, fried shrimp that was as good as I've ever had, and I live in on the coast in SC. The bluefish was brought in daily and judging by the 30 or so shrimp trawlers we saw on the way down from Manteo, the shrimp was super fresh as well. Be sure to walk to Springer's Point preserve where you can see Portsmouth Island and the sound, and there's a sandy beach there too. Also note the many tiny graveyards scattered throughout town in very random places, some with three or four graves only. They are still in use and are private property so be respectful. Also, head out to the sunset viewing area for a fantastic sunset over the sound. We stayed for three days and I'm about as relaxed as I've been in years. Showers were closed due to government shutdown so I cannot speak to that, but everything was well maintained, except for the bolts in the pilings. Others have complained about power pedestals but nobody we spoke to or ourselves had any issues with shore power. I'd give 5 stars but for the bolts but our fenderboards once set did the trick.
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Marina Review for Carolina Beach State Park
Reviewed by:
William Cooper
, Sara Sea,
on Oct 26, 2024
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 36'
Draft: 4.0'Rating: 4
I'd give it 5 stars except it is getting too shallow to enter for my 4' draft. Had to leave at the very least mid tide rising to avoid getting stuck. It looked to me like they took some slips out of availability since they weren't deep enough. Ours was deep enough barely but we did stir up some mud on the way out.
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Marina Review for Church St. Town Dock
Reviewed by:
William Cooper
, Sara Sea,
on Jun 3, 2023
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 36'
Draft: 4.0'Rating: 2
Lowering my rating to two stars. Twice I have arrived at my pre-assigned slip only to find someone parked there. Calling does no good we had to wait the first time for the owner to come out and move. In the meantime we went into a slip that wasn't wide enough when they said "park anywhere". Finally ended up moving to the correct spot only to find that we needed to share two working power pylons among three boats. Left a bad taste in my mouth. Second time through, tried them again. Same exact result. I stopped payment on my card payment and went to Caspers. While we were waiting and trying to indentify the guy in our spot another boat called and said he was there, but in the wrong spot because of the same problem. Then a sailboat came and we yelled at another boat that was getting ready to take their reserved space. They didn't end up parking in their assigned space either. If they want to take money for a service, like providing a place to park your boat, then people are going to expect that service to be done. If the local government can't handle it then they should get out of the marina business.
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Free Dock Review for Mid-Atlantic Christian University
Reviewed by: William Cooper, Sara Sea, on May 30, 2023
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 36'
Draft: 4.0'Rating: 4
I give 4 stars because of the helpfulness of the people in general in Elizabeth City. There is room for maybe 3 boats on the face dock. We used one of the slips. Short fingers so we backed in fine but needed to remove our dinghy and place in the yard to get on and off the boat. Plenty of help tying up and I think the bridge tender was actually pointing out the free docks as we went through the bridge. I'd go here first, then Jeanette's, and as a last resort the city docks which are a bit rough and exposed to SW wind.
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Marina Review for Atlantic Yacht Basin, Inc.
Reviewed by:
William Cooper
, Sara Sea,
on May 30, 2023
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 36'
Draft: 4.0'Rating: 5
We came here expecting to stay for one or two days. On the second day my wife suffered a serious injury (not the marina's fault, long story). Within two minutes of the accident there was a staff member there with a first aid kit and called 911. They understood we were in a bad situation and we ended up staying 5 days before weather and her injury would allow us to continue. Not only did the marina work with me but they also checked in with us each day. They did everything they could to help us out and I thank them for it. Hospital ER was nearby as was supermarket and everything we needed.
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Marina Review for Church St. Town Dock
Reviewed by:
William Cooper
, Sara Sea,
on May 18, 2023
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 36'
Draft: 4.0'Rating: 2
First off there was much confusion about the docking instructions, perhaps the way I was asking but my slip was not where it was described and part of the problem was that there was a runabout parked in our reserved spot. Since my spot was taken I went into an adjacent spot which wasn't wide enough. After several phone calls we got it all settled out. Also as others mentioned we had three boats sharing two working pylons. Also it seems that Casper's can't or won't do pump outs any more so the Church St. Dock has raised their prices in response to increased demand to $35. Wait a day if you can, get a slip at Homer Smith's and get free pumpout and ice with your slip. Swansboro is a nice town but this stop needs just slight improvement to become a real top notch place. Until then 2 stars is the best I can do based upon our latest experience.
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