Ortega Landing Marina – Click for Chartview

Ortega Landing, the first facility you will encounter upon entering the Ortega River from the St. Johns, only a mile or so upstream from downtown Jacksonville, is indeed a fine facility.

I can VERY highly recommend Ortega Landing Marina off the St. John’s River in the Ortega River just past downtown Jacksonville. This recommendation is based on several factors. First, you are about 20 or so miles inland and that provides a nice
buffer for storms coming off the ocean. Second, our boat insurance (Boat/US)
considers this inland waters as long as we remain upstream of the I-95 bridge in downtown Jacksonville about three miles away. Our insurance is SUBSTANTIALLY less expensive here and was a nice surprise. Third is the marina itself. It is one of the nicest marinas we have stayed in and will rival or beat many Yacht Clubs. They have regular monthly social events – some free- some low cost, but always fun. They have free washers and dryers, deluxe showers, free ice, a nice pool and hot tub, and a terrific clubhouse for gatherings. Security is pretty good as well. The best part is a brand
new Wi-Fi system on the docks. The signals are strong, blazingly fast and good enough for streaming. I have conducted video conferences on this system and watch movies in the slip. The tide here is about a foot and a half and the water brackish, but on the floating concrete docks, tide is not an issue at all. You do get some slime on the bottom of the boat, but little to no hard growth.
Publix and West Marine are about two blocks away and there are several nice restaurants also within walking distance. There are a large number of nice restaurants in every category just a short drive away in Avondale, West End, and Riverside if you have a car.
We chose this marina because of the facilities, the people, and the area. It is about 6 hour drive from our home in Atlanta. If you need to fly somewhere, the Jacksonville airport is about 20 minutes away. The marina can arrange for an Enterprise rental car for you as they have an agreement with Enterprise, but they have no marina car to loan you. You can almost certainly find another boater with a car to take you for errands if you ask around. A very friendly and accommodating group of people here. They do not have fuel or services other than a pumpout, but there are multitudes of mechanics and craftsmen in Jacksonville. If you need a haul out or fuel close by, you can take the boat to the other side of the bridge to Lambs for a haul out.
By the way, we had no ice in the marina last winter in spite of one of the coldest winters on record there. We have an automatic bilge heater to keep things from freezing and leave the cabin heat turned on at 60 degrees. If you take the boat out
of the water, you will need to winterize it, but if you leave it in the water, just drain any water lines above the decks in areas that could freeze (hoses and sinks, etc.) and you will be fine. Be sure to close up the air vents to the bilge and the surrounding water will keep things from freezing.
Dave & Nan Ellen Fuller

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