Boating

Shipwatch has a private boat launch on the Ol’ River and two boatyards. The owners’ boatyard has a chain with a combination lock on it, but the visitor yard is not secured. There is a hose for washing your boat at the guest boatyard and another one at the boat launch.

There are quite a few guest slips that can hold up to about a 24′ boat, but some are more narrow than others. Tying up is difficult as there are no hooks for your lines. Slips are not reserved in any way, so you may go out for the day and come back to find no slips available. That’s only likely if you are there on a major holiday. When that happened to me, I called the numbers on the reserved slips (available to owners in a lottery) until I found an owner who was not coming down before I left.

Be aware that the area is NOT a no-wake zone, so you need to tie your boat securely so that your boat can’t touch the pilings on either side. This is much more effective than trying to position a fender or boat cushion between your boat and the piling.

All of the above sounds really negative, but having your boat already launched with no waiting and available for your whole visit is a huge plus! We launch as soon as we get there and enjoy the freedom to take the boat out at a moment’s notice. Having the boatyard storage available means we don’t need bottom paint and we don’t worry about having the boat in the water during storms.

Heading west from Shipwatch, the river becomes shallow on the north side and you have to hug the south bank. Before the bridge to Ono Island, you will hit a no-wake zone. Following the channel takes you past Caribe and the islands in the middle of Perdido Pass (Robertson Island and Bird Island). These are great places for a quick get-away and are dawg-friendly. Cobalt is a new restaurant accessible by boat from the Pass that is owned by the same folks who run Cosmo’s. We’ve only had appetizers there, but I can say that the views from the outside deck or the tables by the window are spectacular. They have several boat slips available. The current is fairly strong as you are close to the pass, but the slips are protected.

bc – add the places reachable from here – zeke’s landing, san roc (croc?) marina restaurants, etc…

Heading east, you will end up at marker 43 on the Intracoastal. The river is deeper in that direction, with only one little sandbar to avoid. The sandbar sticks out from the south side, directly opposite the boat launch on Ono Island that is very close to the water tower. Other than that, the shallow water is marked by sticks on the east end of Ono Island. Once in the Intracoastal, go west to Pirate’s Cove, Shucker’s and Lulu’s, or east to the Big Lagoon, Pensacola, Navarre, and Destin.