Marinas still recovering six months after Sally's landfall
A majority of facilities received major damage
(OBA®) – When Craig Reaves returned to Bear Point Harbor marina after Hurricane Sally’s harsh visit, he saw lots of surprises left behind by the category 2 storm whose eye passed right over Orange Beach.
But at least one of those was a pleasant surprise.
“We are well on our way to making a full recovery but it would not have been nearly as fast without the help from our friends and neighbors,” Reaves said. “Within 24 hours after the water receded, we had about 30 people show up from as far away as Michigan to assist with the cleanup. They shoveled debris, washed mud, cleaned furniture, and put things back where they should be. We are so thankful to be a part of this great community.”
The OBA Community Website reached to marina owners and general managers as Sally’s landfall is now six months behind us to gauge their readiness on the cusp of the 2021 boating season. Those include Hudson Marina, the Flora-Bama Marina, Homeport Marina, Saunders Yachtworks locations in Orange Beach Marina and in Gulf Shores, Happy Harbor Marina, Zeke’s Landing Marina, Orange Beach Marina, Caribe Marina, The Wharf Marina, Gulf Shores Marina at Fort Morgan, Romar Marina, SanRoc Cay Marina and Barber Marina.
“Sally caused quite a bit of damage to Bear Point and OSO restaurant,” Reaves said. “In addition to losing around 60 percent of our docks and associated utilities, the restaurant, bar and dock store were extensively damaged by flooding. We had approximately three feet of water in OSO and the outside bar and about two feet in the dock store.”
Reaves said the marina and Oso at Bear Point Harbor are back and only one dock is still in need of repairs.
“At this point, the restaurant, outside bar, and dock store are fully operational and better than ever,” Reaves said. “Our boat lifts and associated docks are fully operational. Our fuel pumps and ice machines are up and running. We should have the docks on the east side of the marina complete in a month or so. The only remaining project will be the west (or “B”) dock - which we hope to finish by the first part of June.”
Rodney and Laurie Jones at Hudson Marina have been just a bit busy in the six months since Sally’s landfall.
“Seven days a week since Sept. 15 is what we’ve worked,” Jones said. “We got wiped out just like everybody else pretty much. Every dock. Underneath the restaurant all the utilities got knocked out by the boats that came from other marinas. They lost everything that was under the restaurant, the warehouse and storage area. They lost food, they lost freezers, they lost a lot of stuff. And it was all because people did not take care of their boats. Not one of our boats caused any damage to our property or anybody else’s property. They came from as far away as Sportsman.”
But Jones says his dolphin cruise boat, charter fishing boats, Pirate Ship and water vessel rentals are all back up and running. Anchor Bar and Grill is also back to serving up its delicious fare.
“We’re mighty close,” he said. “We are in operation. We’re probably 60 percent finished but we’re 90 percent operational. We’re putting the masts on the Pirate Ship today (March 15). It was just like a pine tree snapped two of the three masts on the pirate ship. We hope to run a trip tomorrow.”
This Old River marina reported a lot of destruction to its infrastructure.
The marina suffered tremendous damage,” Flora-Bama Marketing/PR Director Jenifer Parnell said. “From the office building, to the docks, and even some of our pontoon boats were destroyed.”
But in the ensuing six months repairs have been made and the marina is close to fully functional.
“Everything is almost completed,” Parnell said. “They have to finish the fish cleaning station and some other small fixes, but other than that it's complete. It will be complete within a week. We are excited for the 2021 season. We have pontoon boats, jet skis, parasailing and charter fishing trips. Come see us.”
Dom Specchio was surprised to see his pontoon boat inventory so scattered about and spirited off to locations up and down Marina Road.
“The most crazy one was we had a pontoon that somehow flipped across and skidded across not only the canal, across the parking lot of Tacky Jacks and ended up in somebody’s driveway on Safe Harbor upside down,” Specchio said. “We had a jet ski that ended up about a mile down Marina Road at somebody’s driveway. We had stuff scattered all over the place. We tied stuff down, moved it all to the front of the parking lot, we prepped. But it’s not like anything I’ve ever seen.”
Even the store, which is elevated, lost all of its inventory when the winds whipped away doors and windows and let the blowing rain inside.
“One of the doors and the windows on the store got beat in so everything in the store got wet and ruined,” Specchio said. “We got lucky on that front though. The store could have been a lot worse. We redid the entire store, repainted, my wife did a good job with the restocking and remodeling the store.”
He had to add to the inventory of his vessel rental fleet as well.
“We sold off all the scrap pontoons and jet skis that were beyond repair and we’ve got a ton of new inventory, new motors and things we had to end up getting new because the other stuff was just destroyed,” Specchio said.
The big item still missing are his fuel pumps and fuel tanks. Once those are in place, he said they’d be close to fully recovered.
“Whole new dock system, we’ve got new fuel pumps coming in the first of April,” Specchio said. “About the only thing we lack is our fuel pumps. Once these fuel pumps get in and we’re able to pump fuel again we’ll be back at 100 percent capacity. It was hard to get a deal for pumps because everybody needed them and with COVID everything was back ordered. It’s taking a long time to get in and it’s a waiting game for all our materials and machines to get here.”
At the home of LuLu’s in Gulf Shores, Craig Kayda said his marina was one of the lucky ones after Sally.
“I only had about six cleats pulled and three or four dock boxes lowered in the water,” Kayda said. “A lot of the boats had damage as far as their canvas and things like that. We stayed out here wrestled ‘em all night. Every time one would break free, we’d get it tied back up before it could hit another one. It was a long night. All in all, I got not complaints. It could have been much worse.”
His location is also an advantage surrounded on three sides by high concrete walls.
“We’re down in the hole pretty much,” he said. “When it was coming straight up out of the south there for a while it was a little hairy. I could have been way worse. We came out really, really well.”
SAUNDERS YACHTWORKS GULF SHORES
Saunders has locations on the Intracoastal Waterway in Gulf Shores and also at Orange Beach Marina and both suffered some ill effects from Sally.
“Orange Beach was flooded by the storm surge,” General Manager John Fitzgerald said. “We lost equipment and inventory and had structural damage. In Gulf Shores we just had structural damage. We were below the surge. Our high-water mark was probably three or four feet below the ground. We had some wind damage that blew part of our roof off and it ended up dumping a bunch of water inside. But that water’s nicer than the flood water for sure.”
His main problem at Gulf Shores was that water coming through the roof and repairs continue but are expected to be completed in the coming weeks.
“We never stopped operating in Gulf Shores,” Fitzgerald said. “We’re just doing construction repairs right now. The roofs are under way. The damaged roof was replaced but even the roofs that stayed intact we’re doing new fasteners. The duration of that wind really exercised the roofs and put strain on all the fasteners so we’re going through and replacing all of that.”
The Saunders Orange Beach location wasn’t as lucky.
“Orange Beach structural repairs are complete,” Fitzgeral said. “We’re receiving all our new inventory and interior furnishings. We’re probably two or three weeks from being fully operational there.”
All boats at both locations were out of the water and none suffered significant damage.
“All the boats that were on dry dock with us at both locations were in good shape after the storm,” Fitzgerald said. “There was very little damage, maybe an antenna or an outrigger here or there. The boats stayed in place. It’s still the safest way to store a boat when there’s a hurricane coming. Get it up and out of the water. We were fortunate nothing floated off. We put them on blocks and stands and chain the stands together. Even in Orange Beach the water flowed underneath them but the boats stayed in place. Very fortunate.”
Because of the materials used in building the docks at Caribe finding someone skilled in repairs has been a problem for General Manager Chris Logel.
“Concrete floating docks require a very specialized expertise,” Logel said. “This has led to a limited number of contractors available. The work has begun behind the Marina, and we are making progress. We hope to have a limited number of spaces opened for Cobalt by the end of this week, with functioning docks behind the Marina by the end of next week. Our fuel dock is open and we do have fuel for boaters as we continue our commitment to be the best-priced fuel on the water.”
His charter fishing boat and rentals were all damage during Sally’s onslaught.
“Our headboat, Outcast, sustained damage to the top cap, gunnels, electronics, generator, fiberglass, and numerous other areas,” Logel said. “The Outcast is in the shipyard undergoing around the clock repairs. We hope to have that back by the end of the month. On the rental side, we have ordered new boats and are currently waiting for their arrival. We anticipate the new boats will be here in May. We had a couple of boats that escaped the storm unscathed and we are currently renting those out. We have a few jet skis that are finishing up repairs and will be back in the water sometime next week.”
Logel said repairs are continuing and to check with Caribe Marina’s social media outlets for future progress.
“With a job this big, completion dates will vary depending on the task,” Logel said. “We have been opening in stages, starting with the fuel dock.”
There's still a lot of construction going on at Zeke's but the fishing charter fleet is fully operational, according to the marina's social media pages. Click the link above to check them out.
According to Harbor Master Jimmy Deason at Orange Beach Marina the main damage was flooding in the dock store and three wet slips were serverly damaged. The main dock damage was along the canal leading out to Terry Cove.
Some metal from the roof was peeled back and work continues on that.
“We’re still full of boats,” Deason said. “We’ll be fully back operation in about a month if they ever finish working. We’re lucky. We’re protected here. Every other marina in town got blown away.”
THE WHARF MARINA
General Manager Scott Burt said while The Wharf Marina took a glancing blow from Sally, he and others at The Wharf saw something they thought they’d never see.
“The only thing that caught us off guard though was the surge was so high none of us ever, ever thought that it would top that seawall at The Wharf and it did,” Burt said. “It’s topped it and it got into our retail space. Fortunately, not by much but enough to cause a little damage but shockingly high.”
But all in all, the rest of marina survived the storm nearly unscathed.
“We got lucky,” Burt said. “A good location. The storm came from a direction that was good for us so. We had damage, yes, but nothing compared to anybody else. Nothing. We had some dock-pier damage. We’re a floating marina which is an enormous advantage and we’re in a protected section right there on the Intracoastal. All things considered we were very, very, very lucky.”
Because of that luck The Wharf has been a popular spot for displaced from other marinas that sustained significant damage from Sally.
“The marina is 100 percent full and probably will stay that way for a while,” Burt said. “We took everybody and squeezed in every soul that we could. We canceled some special events because I can’t kick the renters out because they have no place to go. The boat show was canceled this year unfortunately because we don’t have slips. You can’t have a boat show if there’s no slips and you can’t ask people to leave temporarily if they’ve got nowhere to go.”
Burt said the docks have been leveled and repairs are nearly complete. His marina was operating the day after Sally’s landfall.
“I’m real close to being 100 percent,” he said. “Here’s to hoping for a quiet 2021 season.”
GULF SHORES MARINA AT FORT MORGAN
Tom Steber of Gulf Shores Marina at Fort Morgan said his docks fared better than most in the storm but his inside boat facility was blown away.
“We lost 100 percent of the dry storage,” Steber said. “It destroyed the dry storage building. The docks we lost probably 50 percent but we’ve got most of that build back so most of its in good shape. In all honestly when we put the group together to buy the place the docks were in pretty bad shape and needed a lot of attention already. We’ve basically fixed that between now and then.”
A bit of relief is coming by the then end of March when some outside storage areas will be completed.
“I’ll have my outside racks back up by the first of April but we won’t have the dry storage back until about the middle of July,” Steber said. “We’re fully operational but I just won’t have that building back until then. The building will be built and finished in July and then we put the racks inside. Outside-inside storage will be about 200. Inside by itself will be about 96.”
SANROC CAY MARINA
General Manager Randy Boggs says the debris left by Sally was “unbelievable but the biggest problem they had to overcome was getting the infrastructure up and running to give boats shore power.
“The power port pedestals that the boats hook into those are manufactured in Oklahoma and so with the snow storms and the weather and the COVID virus those guys are really taking a hard turn,” Boggs said. “We ordered windows in November and got ‘em in February. The power port pedestals have been on order since November and they’re looking at March 26 before they deliver those. That’s been the slowest part of the deal. Getting that done.”
But the debris cleanup was a close second.
“The first five days post-storm was figuratively putting out fires,” Boggs said. “Stopping water leaks, restoring electricity, to the boats that we had. That was about five days and it took almost 30 days to get all the debris cleaned up. It took 12 days of a diver working just in our small channel to clean up all the debris to where it was safe to navigate. Crossties, outboard motor cowlings, garbage cans, pilings, wood. We had a seawall under the dock and everything that came from the east washed in here and lodged and that really made it tough.”
The docks, he said, are 60 percent repaired including restoring electricity and he has the equipment necessary to restore power to every slip once the pedestals arrive.
“Our dock store is rebuilt and open,” Boggs said. “We’re not completely finished. We’re a work in progress. We’re still working on the interior and getting the last of that done but we’re open for business and up and running. We’ve got a big backlog of boats that are wanting to come in but everybody’s kind of waiting on the electricity to get here to run their shore power and power port pedestal for air conditioners and stuff. By April we’ll be 90 percent.”
SPORTSMAN MARINA
Sportsman on Terry Cove was one of the hardest hit of the island marinas and General Manager Brian Walden said he hopes to have about half the slips repaired an operating for the first big boating weekend of the summer.
“All of wet slips were lost,” Walden said. “We hope to have phase one which would be about half of the slips and fuel dock completed by Memorial Day.”
Pleasure Island Tiki Bar at Sportsman announced recently it hopes to open on April 1.
ROMAR MARINA
Tanner White says his marina on Cotton Bayou lost everything in the way of docks with 15 to 20 wet slips and his fueling station.
“We’ve got floating docks being built and they are on the way,” White said. “They’ll be nice floating aluminum docks. We have a little temporary wooden dock out there right now to tie a few boats up on. The dry storage is fine and we’ve got it about back together. We go one more building to lay tin on. We’ve got work to do on the docks and getting new fuel tanks, new pumps.”
The storm surge wreaked havoc on the boats it was able to lift off of racks both inside and outside at Romar Marina.
“We had boats floating off everywhere,” White said. “All the ones on racks in the yard floated off to neighbor’s houses. All the ones in the hangar on the bottom rack floated out of their slips and just landed on the concrete.”
White said repairs to the office at Romar Marina are complete and the dry storage building is close to being 100 percent operational again.
PIRATES COVE MARINA
The home of the iconic cheeseburger and dog hang out has a small marina but co-owner Paul Mueller dock damage was minimal. The restaurant, however, didn’t fare as well.
“Nearly all decks around the restaurant were destroyed,” Mueller said. “The awnings were torn up. We had uplift on the main building roof. The bar on the beach was heavily damaged, its roof is intact. We hope to have the area around the main building completed within the next 2-3 weeks. The Sandbar should be done by mid-May.”
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