With only one of three floating docks installed down at Market Slip this season, reducing the capacity by 66%, a Saint John man feels he and his fellow recreational boaters have been left high and dry when it comes to docking access in the Saint John Harbour.
Peter McKelvey tells CHSJ News there really isn’t a good place for small crafts to tie up in the harbour, and it’s a common feeling among these boaters that the harbour is a place that you want to avoid.
“There is a floating dock at Market Square, but that has two problems: it’s silted in, there isn’t much water there and it needs to be dredged out,” says McKelvey.
“The other area is beside Long Wharf and several fishing boats do tie up there at a time but only a few, and both of those places are rather exposed and particularly for small boats they can rock and roll and be a very uncomfortable place to tie up.”
“Last year I came in and we went to the west side where there is a sheltered place…but there’s things like the pilot boat and another rescue vessel I think and we just didn’t feel right tying up there,” says McKelvey.
“Then we tried the old pilot wharf and my boat banged up against the wharf. We finally went in to Market Square and spent five hours just rocking and rolling incessantly by Market Slip.”
He was also told of an American who was told there was no place to tie up and had to motor around the Harbour for a few hours until he could drive through Reversing Falls.
Heads up visitors to #SJTallShips this weekend by keelboat. Only 1 dock at Market Slip, dangerous at low tide. pic.twitter.com/SNJaJdDOQ5
— Gary Sullivan (@GarySullivanSJ) August 17, 2017
(Peter McKelvey)
Saint John Development Corporation general manager Kent McIntyre tells CHSJ News in an email that the Market Slip docking facility is limited due to shallow water depth.
“I do agree that small pleasure crafts need sufficient opportunity to dock in the Saint John Harbour,” writes McIntyre. “Dredging the slip will provide the remaining floating docks, however, budget restrictions have not allowed the dredging to occur.”
“We are aware of the ‘boating community’s concerns’ and will continue to work towards a remedy at Market Slip.”
There is a highlighted advisory on the Saint John Waterfront Development website that advises boaters that there will only be one section of floating dock available, which is 120 feet long, in 2017 and that all boaters should use caution and check tide tables, acoustic depth sounding, echo sounders, line of sight, etc. for docking here.
When it comes to what should be done about the situation, McKelvey tells us that the ideal solution is to have a small craft harbour.
“Quebec City, Halifax, Charlottetown. They all have a place where small boats can go and tie up, and we’ve got a marvelous resource in the Bay of Fundy. I can’t describe what it’s like to be out there on a nice day. And we don’t have a safe place for boaters coming to Saint John so we’ll chase them off to St. Andrews or some place,” says McKelvey.
