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If you dive out of Portland Marina at all you should read this. The marina is introducing some substantial car parking charges ...
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50% discount on £2.00 per hour ... for a carpark that you're only using to go to their facility. Any using one of those shark parking companies ;( -
I've only dived from Portland once. It was full of gammons and pissed-up neds (or whatever the English equivalent is) and never saw the need to go back. The thought of paying a tenner a day for parking to use a facility I'm already paying for makes returning even less likely.Caliph Hamish Aw-Michty Ay-Ya-Bastard, Spiritual leader of Scottish State in EnglandComment
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Divers won't be paying that - they complain about the cost of an air fill!
Enforcement is based on cameras and there's 15 minutes 'free' from entering their space. Divers dropping off kit and parking on the roads approaching the marina will become the norm, until the roads get congested and the yellow lines appear.Comment
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Quite gutted by this. Use Portland a lot , there’s all the facilities there I need , cafe breaky, dive , back into the pub for dinner. But at those parking costs , even discounted it’s bloody expensive.
The marina could do with encouraging more general use , the boat that rocks pub felt like it was dying on its arse a couple of times this year , I can’t see this helping.Comment
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I can't remember the last time I actually managed to park in the "real" car park there - it is always rammed but there is always lots of space in the industrial estate. I imagine that the same number of people will need to park so it will just displace some of them. Can't imagine that it is going to help businesses in the Marina though.Comment
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Indeed - personally I value my time and hassle factor more than drop off and park in the road so I shall just find somewhere with a better parking solution.
Its a little bit short sighted of the marina and there will be problems with the shark operator. I have never seen the carpark full - but I guess a few missing out on the odd day for parking that they felt more entitled too (maybe justifiably so) over those in the carpark already had meant more hassle for everybody.Comment
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I was diving from Portland Marina yesterday and spoke to skippers there. There is a lot of pressure put on the Marina owners and discussion are in progress about lowering prices. Scimitar and Skin Deep are trying to get free parking extended from 15min to at least 30min so there is enough time to drop kit off and find parking outside. They are also trying to lower the price, £16 for 12 hrs is very very expensive and way above what other car parks in the area cost. Even with the discount it would be extra £16 per weekend of diving. We are already spending a fortune at the marina : boat, gas fills, beer and food, coffee etc.
Hopefully the price will go down for divers.
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I wonder if they will join forces with the day fishing boats. Was there in September as OH was doing a 2 day Rhib driving course from the marina and the day fishing boat was full on both days. The car park was not busy at all however I can see in the summer it would be. The pub was fairly busy as the weather was sunny and hot so lots of people on the terrace drinking but also a fair number eating as well.
Cove Inn was utterly rammed with sundowner drinkers when we ate there but the service was diabolical both for drinks and food. Both have to be ordered from wait staff so they were missing out on drink sales big time. We had booked a table from 7pm for drinks and to eat at 8pm. Only managed to get served for drinks twice in the time we were there. Food order not taken until 8.30 a real pity as the food is good.A fully paid up member of the CRAFT Club.gif "(giggle)")
I failed to dive in Antartica
I used to have a handle on life but it broke
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The marina is owned by Boatfolk, a company serving the boating community, and they favour their customers, the berth holders, with everyone else being an annoying inconvenience. In the last few years they have added additional capacity, in the form of more pontoons, and this means more berth holders can be accommodated.
There have been times when the car park was full and it was difficult to find a space. This can be particularly bad when a lot of boats are out of the water and the car park turns into a boat park.
The new scheme is clearly intended to support the boat owners and encourage everyone else to park elsewhere. Each berth holder gets 2 free parking spaces, and 3 half-price parking spaces. Some berth holders live on their boats so any vehicles they have are taking up long term parking spaces.
Whilst their tenants (the other businesses) may seek concessions I'm not overly optimistic much will change.
Yes, you spend a lot with businesses at the marina but Boatfolk see none of it as they see only the rent from tenants and the complaints from berth holders unable to park. I hope they do change things but I'm not optimistic.Last edited by dwhitlow; 11-10-2021, 11:18 AM.Comment
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How about we just all get plates made up with Dominic Cumming's reg number?I have nothing to do with BSAC any more apart from being a muggle member. So anything I write on here is likely to be complete bollocks. Hooray!Comment
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