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Two Harbors New Moorings Reservation System

Jeff Asbury

Principal Partner
Two Harbors Gets New Moorings Reservation System


“One of the biggest issues we find is that boaters are tentative about coming over to Two Harbors if they don’t know whether they are going to have a mooring,” said Two Harbors’ harbormaster Phillip Winter. “We now can offer the security to boaters of knowing they will have a mooring when they come over.”

http://www.thelog.com/news/logNewsArticle.aspx?x=12046
 

Sven

Seglare
Phil also told us that they will be changing the accounting system. Right now there is no way to correlate receipts with what is in the bookkeeping system, which could explain why you are sometimes asked if you have paid.

They will also get card processing equipment on the patrol boats so you don't have to PIO if you want to use a card.

Next year they will also have WiFi in the coves, not sure if that is a good idea :)



-Sven
 

Jeff Asbury

Principal Partner
Sven, I am not sure I understand this part:

“From our side, we believe that the sublessees being able to reserve moorings on-line will make guaranteeing spots so much easier,” Winter said. “They will have an immediate e-mail confirmation instead of our staff having to answer and respond to hundreds of phone calls that come in during the busy season.”

Will making a on line reservation be only for the "the sublessees" and not the rest of us without a sublease?
 

Sven

Seglare
I don't understand that either but when we talked to him he told us that we would be able to make reservations and we don't have a mooring. Those with moorings have always been able to reserve for themselves and guests was my understanding. I suspect this might just be talking about the on-line aspect vs. the phone calls that seem to often cause confusion ?

Of course, they had better start getting some visitors soon or the negative cash flow will really start hurting. Looks like they once again only have a couple of paying guests today.



-Sven
 

Jeff Asbury

Principal Partner
Thanks Sven, glad I'm not the only one that doesn't get it.

As far as the recent lack of business, as you know this is the slow and cold season. I have never been to Two Harbors in the winter, sailed by, yes, stay for the night, no. I like to go to Avalon in the Winter because there are no crowds. I usually don't start planing Isthmus trips until late April, and I think that is true for most.

Eddie was there earlier this month, and found that a 30' mooring had jumped from $26. a night to $28. I am sure the sliding scale for the longer moorings is a lot steeper increase. That may also have something to do with it.

Just watch, by Memorial Day weekend all hell will break loose with Isthmus Crowds.
 

Sven

Seglare
this weekend the weather will keep us from going but winter is otherwise the best time. Two day's fee plus $2 gets you a week's stay. You are also charged by boat length and not mooring size in the winter so you can pick anything big enough or bigger and have a cove to yourself, or almost.

But ... without a heater it gets cold :egrin:



-Sven
 

Jeff Asbury

Principal Partner
Well, Eddie has a 22' boat and he got charged for a 30' mooring. I thought you had to buy two nights and get 5 nights free.

When are you going to get yourself one of these? They really work well. I have my Father's old one he used in Alaska and the PNW. I used it when I was at Avalon over Thanksgiving. Just crack a hatch a little. 46 outside and 75 inside. Shut it down when I went to sleep.

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Sven

Seglare
Well, Eddie has a 22' boat and he got charged for a 30' mooring. I thought you had to buy two nights and get 5 nights free.

Two night +$2.oo gets you a week. He should not have been charged that unless they have a minimum of a 30' rule ? We specifically asked because we had our pick of moorings and didn't want to pick one we'd have to pay a fortune for and that's when they told us that since only half the moorings were being used (either odd or even numbers depending on cove) they just charge by boat length.

When are you going to get yourself one of these? They really work well. I have my Father's old one he used in Alaska and the PNW. I used it when I was at Avalon over Thanksgiving. Just crack a hatch a little. 46 outside and 75 inside. Shut it down when I went to sleep.

We're designing the heater system right now otherwise that might be the ticket. With our CO detectors we feel pretty sure that we'd know if there was a problem but we always crack the hatch when using the stove.



-Sven
 

Glyn Judson

Moderator
Moderator
Mooring reservations soon to be available.

Jeff, Great, now they come up with a system. Never mind that we've been on the mooring wait list since 1991 when we were 1,100 something, and are today 16 on it. With luck either this year or the next we'll get that call offering us a mooring in Isthmus Cove. Glyn
 

Jeff Asbury

Principal Partner
LOL Glyn! :egrin: Reminds me of this Guy I met a few years back. I think he has the lease on R-1, the 1st mooring on the west side closest to the dinghy dock. Anyway, he told me it took 12 years to get his mooring. I forget the name of his boat, it had something to do with the newspaper business. Cat 27 I think. I know he was retired from the LA Times.

Side note: I met another Avalon resident who offered to take us into the interior of the Island with his 4 wheel drive truck. He said it took 12 years to get his Island truck license.
 

Sam Vickery

Member III
Avalon??

Jeff,

That is great about the Two Harbors mooring situation. Do you know if Avalon is considering making this arrangement? This would increase the chances of my wife agreeing to go to the Island. She tells me she will do six hours over........but eight is too much.

Sam
32-3
 

Jeff Asbury

Principal Partner
Hi Sam, I think the article says:

"Two Harbors Enterprises teamed up with Marina Reservation Services to offer a comprehensive online reservation system for its 700 moorings around Santa Catalina Island".

Remember that Avalon Harbor Department is a separate company from Two Harbors Enterprises, but at the bottom of the article there is this link: http://visitcatalinaisland.com that is a combined Catalina info site.
 

Glyn Judson

Moderator
Moderator
When will my mooring come?

Jeff, If patience is a virtue, I'm about as virtuous as they come, what with it being 20 years waiting this September. My friend Mark, former Harbor Patrol officer at the Isthmus tells the story of helping a fellow onto his mooring at Emerald Bay years ago. It is tucked in on the extreme NW corner of the moorings protected by the rock wall on two sides. It is Mark's opinion that it's the premiere mooring on all of the west end of the island. Anyhow, he was chatting with the owner and told him that he thought it was the best mooring, etc which spurred the owner to tell Mark how he'd come by it. Many years before back when folks owned the moorings (now one can only lease), he was browsing through the LA Times in the Classified section one morning, something he never did, when he ran across a small ad offering a "Catalina mooring for sale". He called the number guessing what he was going to hear, lousy location sky high price. To his utter amazement the owner, an older gentleman told him where it was and that he'd had it for 20 or 30 years or something like that and that nothing galled him more than thinking about trying to profit from others when it came to sell something that had given him such great joy for so many years, so we wanted to sell if for what he'd paid, $500.00. The guy almost choked on his morning coffee and almost flew over to the the guys house to buy what was and still is arguably, the best mooring on all of the west end. Glyn
 

Sven

Seglare
I wonder if Bird Rock will ever go back on the market.

Did anyone buy it ? I couldn't figure out why anyone would pay $5M (?) for a literally stinking island that you can't do anything with ? At least I think the guano covered island is protected ?



-Sven
 

Jeff Asbury

Principal Partner
Did you not see that Huell Howser PBS special on Bird Rock a few years ago? It had been in the same family for since the 1920's. 1.3-acre White Rock Island that was purchased by his partners in the 1920s for $140 - truly a song compared with the $2.75 million Michael Caffey wants to sell it for today.

This is kind of fun, it's a older artical : <a href="http://www.thefreelibrary.com/ISLAND+HEIRLOOM+FOR+SALE+WHITE+ROCK+ON+BLOCK+FOR+$2.75+MILLION.-a0104803618">ISLAND HEIRLOOM FOR SALE WHITE ROCK ON BLOCK FOR $2.75 MILLION.</a>
 

Jeff Asbury

Principal Partner
Huell Howser has done quite a few shows about Catalina and the Channel Islands as well, not to mention many other's about the California coast, such as light houses and ship wrecks. He sells them on the PBS site but they are not cheap.

I wonder if they will offer them on Netflix soon? I have been getting some good instructional sailing videos from them. Got one that William F. Buckley narrates about Celestial Navigation coming next.
 
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