I was fortunate to get a dock at Dowry Creek Marina for a week. The wind has been unrelenting at 20 kts with gusts to 32 but at least it’s been out of the north, a good direction for Dowry. We were also fortunate in being downwind from a large powerboat that is shielding us from much of the wind.

If you have to hole up somewhere, Dowry Creek is a good place to chose with their free courtesy cars, free laundry, $5 pumpout right at your dock, WiFi that works (although it does slow down when everyone gets on for their evening streaming), free saltwater pool (too cold now, however), a captain’s lounge with a 65 inch TV (where I gave a presentation on the use of Bob423 tracks), and a well stocked convenience store – better than any I’ve seen in a marina on the ICW. As a last comment, they also have propane refill on site. How many marinas have that!

They are in the process of building a restaurant on site that will seat 180 people with more seating outside. They hope to have it done by the fall migration this year.

However, there’s one more thing to be aware of. They have a water level gauge that is correlated to the Wilkerson Bridge. A photo is shown below. The Dockmaster can view the gauge from the clubhouse and relay the height of the bridge over the phone (252-943-2728). That information can be real handy for those headed for the bridge with a high mast, especially when the winds blow.