This week’s lowest current marina fuel prices as of Jan 12 Diesel Range: $2.76 to $3.99 Lowest @ Dudley’s Marina in (North Carolina) Gas Range: $3.40 to $4.73 Lowest @ Mandarin Holiday Marina in (St Johns River) Remember to always call the marina to verify the current price since prices may change at any time. Also please let us know if you find a marina’s fuel price has changed via the Submit News link.
TopSide Marinas is a family owned marina company that is looking to buy and operate marinas – they are not a broker – and they would love to meet marina owners who are ready to sell. TopSide Marinas is A CRUISERS NET SPONSOR!
Remember when you used to pull into a marina and the person helping you dock was probably the owner. Marinas operated by families with family values, family hospitality and friendliness became “old friends” and we looked forward to seeing these friends again with each cruise. It was as if we were living the lyrics from the theme song for the TV program, “Cheers” … remember ?… “Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got, taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot. Wouldn’t you like to get away? Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name and they’re always glad you came….”
The environment in which marinas operate today is rapidly becoming more complex. There are an increasing number of regulations that must be followed to keep our waters clean and our stays safer. Providing potable water, electrical power, fuel, Wi-Fi, safe docks, carts, and professional staff to assist, while earning enough money to continually invest in the infrastructure and operations is and has been essential to a marina’s survival.
To say life was simpler in the past is an understatement. The marina where we keep our is our on-the-water neighborhood, and we don’t want that comfortable, friendly, and enjoyable ambiance to disappear. Keeping that warm hospitality and “Cheers ambiance” around our homeport marina is becoming a challenge.
Meeting that challenge is the passion of Stephen Lehn and Jacob Boan, co-founders of TopSide Marinas. Ever heard the expression, “mid-western values”, used to describe someone’s solid work ethic and high standards? Well, that describes Stephen and Jacob. They also grew up in families that loved family time on the water! This team knows the value of having safe, enjoyable and fun times on the water. Doesn’t matter if it is located on the coast, near coastal, on rivers, bays or lakes, the common denominator is precious water! Marinas often become the second or even primary homes for many boaters.
TopSide Marinas was formed just last year, 2020. Their mission is simple: To foster a high-quality environment where our customers can create lifelong memories, relax, enjoy life and be healthy. Their research has shown that time spent in and around oceans, rivers and lakes promotes health and wellness. Time on the water can be very good for us.
With a strong family orientation, the team at TopSide Marinas is looking to work with marinas who are now ready to move on to something else, but don’t want their marinas and longtime customers to lose the specialness that has taken years to development. As owners/sellers they want the new owner to be ready to invest in the enterprise to bring it up to date, improve the quality of service, enhance their customers’ quality time at the marina, making it a second home. These are the core values of TopSide Marinas. Both Stephen and Jacob have worked in executive capacities with a large corporate owner of marinas and their operational business experiences, educations, personal family boating experiences, are guiding them in their devotion to their customers’ marina and boating enjoyment.
Stephen and Jacob are always on the lookout to bring high quality marinas into the family. In their own words,
We understand that for many marina owners, selling their marina is much more than a transaction, it is like selling your longtime family home, where your children were raised and years of memories have occurred. Yes, as current owners, you want a fair price and may want to sell to someone with similar values. TopSide can offer both. We are family owned and we consider our marina customers to be part of our family. So if you own a marina, then we would love to initiate a conversation with you. Whether you are curious about the value of your marina, thinking about transitioning ownership, looking for strategic partners or any other reason, please click here to provide us with your preferred contact information. We are looking forward to talking with you.
As the new year begins and with a look toward improving our service, Cruisers Net would really like to get some feedback from you our readers. Rather than a formal survey, we ask that you send us comments on the main items on our website, weekly newsletter and mobile app:
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Your Cruisers Net Team truly appreciates your patronage and looks forward to hearing from you!
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Michael Duvall- January 29, 2022 - 9:02 am
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An uptick in recreational boating has led the state Department of Natural Resources to make permanent its longstanding seasonal no-wake zone for part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.
Docks line the Intracoastal Waterway between the back side of the Isle of Palms (left) and Goat Island (right) on April 20, 2017. The S.C. Department of Natural Resources has established a permanent no-wake zone for the area. File
Cruisers Net is proud to be a member of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Association whose lobbying work is crucial to keeping the Waterway navigable and safe. Your membership dollars directly support their vital work. Please join and encourage your boating neighbors to do likewise, regardless of their homeport.
Happy New Year from the AIWA! We would like to highlight some of our Association high points in 2021, as we hit the ground running in 2022!
Board of Directors’ Officer Transitions
The AIWA had a successful 2021 due to the active participation and support of many individuals. Executive Director Brad Pickel reached his 10 year anniversary serving the organization since 2012, during the second year officer term of Board Chair David Kennedy of Boat Owners Association of the U.S. (BoatU.S.). The organization ends the year in a stable financial position with over 200 members.
As we begin 2022, we welcome our new Chair, David Dickerson of National Marine Manufacturers Association, Vice Chair Devon Carlock, Cottrell Contracting Corporation, Treasurer Michael Gerhardt, Cashman Dredging and Marine Contracting, and Secretary Jerry Scarborough of Taylor Engineering, Inc.
We welcome our new officers, and thank our board of directors listed below for all they do for the waterway!
Dennis Barbour, North Carolina Beach Inlet & Waterway Association Paul Barger, Colonial Group, Inc. Mark Crosley, Florida Inland Navigation District Melissa Danko, Marine Trades Association of New Jersey Mark Epley, McDonough Marine Services Vance Hull, Colonna’s Shipyard, Inc. Richard Jaques, Jr., Cross State Towing David Kennedy, BoatU.S. Bos Smith, Stevens Towing Company John Vannoy, Orion Marine Group
Administration and Congress
What an interesting year it has been in Washington, D.C. After the inauguration of President Biden and the beginning of the 117th Session of Congress in January, we began reaching out immediately to friends of the AIWA and new leadership who would be making decisions that would impact the maintenance of the AIWW.
We started off the year with good news as President Biden included funding in the President’s Budget for Operations & Maintenance Projects for every state along the AIWW. This was a first in more than a decade and we were grateful to see a positive step forward after years of advocating for the AIWW as one continuous marine highway project.
In March, we conducted virtual meetings with a number of Congressional offices including Congressman David Rouzer and Congressman Greg Murphy of North Carolina, to request their assistance in securing funding for the Operations & Maintenance funding for the AIWW. They joined with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to submit a letter to the House Appropriations Committee for Energy & Water to request Additional Funding for the waterway. That letter can be found here.
Over the Summer and Fall, both the House of Representatives and Senate Appropriations Committees continued their consideration of the FY22 Appropriations Bill and the chart below reflects the current status. The House of Representatives included $1.62 million more than the Senate Appropriations Committee for the state of Florida.
We remain committed to seeing these funds passed in a FY22 Energy & Water Appropriations Bill. However, the federal government is currently operating under a Continuing Resolution until mid-February. At some point the House and Senate will need to reconcile their differences on the state allocations and the Additional Dredging Needs funding pots before a final bill can be voted on and passed.
AIWW Dredging and Maintenance Projects
Work continued along the waterway in 2021 on a wide range of activities! Below is a brief snapshot of the different types of projects occurring in each state:
In Virginia, we saw operations and maintenance of the lock systems and waterways.
In southern North Carolina, we had dredging of shallow-draft inlet crossings.
In South Carolina, rehabilitation and maintenance projects for upland dredge material management areas was completed in preparation for upcoming dredging projects.
In Georgia, the first in-water placement project for the construction of a bird island is underway in Altamaha Sound.
In Florida, a new upland Dredge Material Management Area was constructed along with dredging in the Palm Valley area and Jupiter Crossroads section of the waterway.
We are pleased to report projects underway in every state along the waterway!
AIWA Annual Meeting
Our Annual Meeting is the preeminent gathering of experts, project managers, and users of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway and 2021 did not disappoint! Held in Atlantic Beach, Florida on November 17-18, nearly 70 participants gathered with the decision makers whose work impacts the waterway. Participants were happy to be back in person and the speaker presentations can be found on our conference webpage. November 2022 Annual Meeting will find us in Norfolk, VA.
Collaboration with Associations and Stakeholder Groups
We remain connected with other Associations and stakeholder groups advocating for investments in waterway infrastructure. We appreciated the opportunity to participate in events via virtual platforms throughout the year. It was great to be on the road in late summer and fall to attend the Florida Inland Navigation District meeting in Fernandina Beach, FL, the National Waterways Conference in Baltimore, MD, and the North Carolina Beach, Inlet and Waterway Association Annual Meeting in Wilmington. We look forward to more opportunities to share our message in 2022!
Looking forward: Waterway Funding
In the first quarter of 2022, the AIWA will be very active tracking federal funding opportunities and advocating for waterway funding. In mid-January, the U.S. Corps of Engineers will release their work plan identifying projects who will receive funding through the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Act. In early February, the President is scheduled to release his FY23 budget kicking off the appropriations process for funds that could be available in late 2022. By mid-February, Congress will need to decide how they will be addressing the FY22 Appropriations Bills before the current Continuing Resolution expires. In total, we could be looking at an influx of millions of additional dollars for AIWW Operations & Maintenance. We will be breaking down each funding allocation in detail in subsequent newsletters, so stay tuned!
At AIWA, none of this important advocacy work could be conducted without your financial support. We greatly appreciate all of our members, and we look forward to continuing as the Voice of the Waterway in 2022, and beyond!
MARAD awards $12.6 million to nine marine highway projects, including a new AIWW/M-95 project
On December 10, 2021, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) awarded $12.6 million in grants to nine marine highway projects under the America’s Marine Highway Program (AMHP). The funding will help address supply chain disruptions, enhance the movement of goods along navigable waterways, and expand existing waterborne freight services in Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
We are especially interested in two projects along the AIWW that were awarded funds in North Carolina and Virginia. The grant for North Carolina is to create a new shipping opportunity for container on barge service awarded to AIWA founding member and platinum sponsor – Stevens Towing Company. In addition, the Port of Virginia received funding to enhance the existing container on barge service on the James River. Both of these projects exemplify the opportunities the AIWW provides for freight shipment as part of the marine highway system. Summaries of the two projects are offered below and you can click here to read an in-depth article from our friends at Marine Log.
North Carolina Container on Barge Shuttle Operation (awarded $1,015,000)Sponsored by Stevens Towing Company, grant funds were awarded for an Equipment Upgrade Project which includes the purchase of a crawler crane, two spreader bars, and a forklift. Currently, containerized cargo bound for the Port of Virginia from Edenton must reach its destination via truck, causing high amounts of volume on North Carolina and Virginia roadways. This service will run between Riverbulk Terminal in Edenton, North Carolina to locations within the Port of Virginia, and operate utilizing a 200 TEU capacity deck barge for LO/LO cargo and/or RO/RO cargo.
James River Container Expansion Project (awarded $3,048,363)Sponsored by the Virginia Port Authority, the grant will be used to improve lighting within the perimeter of the Richmond Marine Terminal (RMT) through the installation of high mast light poles with Light Emitting
Diode (LED) fixtures and the retrofitting of existing light poles and LED fixtures. Expanding the operational capacity at the terminal with improved lighting within the facility will allow for barge operations beyond daylight hours.
The AIWA is a national non-profit organization with the mission of securing funding and support for the maintenance of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. We are the only organization dedicated to ensuring the future of the AIWW and proudly represent all stakeholders of the waterway.
This is the latest update from Bahamas Ministry of Tourism.
BAHAMAS MINISTRY OF TOURISM, INVESTMENTS & AVIATION STATEMENT ON UPDATED TESTING PROTOCOLS
The Bahamas has suspended the mandatory RT-PCR testing requirement for vaccinated travelers, which was expected to take effect on 7 January 2022. Vaccinated persons, as well as all children ages 2-11, may continue to present either a negative Rapid Antigen Test or negative RT-PCR Test.
In addition, effective 4 January 2022, all persons remaining in The Bahamas for longer than 48 hours will be required to undergo a Rapid Antigen Test, regardless of vaccination status.
To see more details of these protocol changes, please click the ‘Learn More’ button below.
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