Poole Dolphin Marina priceless !

superheat6k

superheat6k

Well-Known Member
Joined
10 Jan 2012
Messages
6,798
Location
South Coast
Visit site
The Dolphin Marina at Poole is supposed to be council run. In addition to the local row about long term 'visitors', they are certainly milking the short term ones. I assume Dick Turpin is head of the Council.

11m £42 & 13.5m £61 per night, including harbour dues at around £6 - 10 /day, and electric at £3.50. And then they want a further £7.50 for the Wifi.

Now I'm sitting in Cowes YH at a far more amenable £30 including free Wifi and power paid for.

Can I suggest anyone visiting Poole casually mentions they berth at Cobbs Quay or similar, at least this will save you the over priced harbour dues.

Happy to pay fair fees, but these are not fair, and perhaps that's why the place was so empty Sunday and Monday.
 
You need a Poole Harbour sticker for your boat if you want to claim harbour dues off the berthing price to show they have been paid.

The boat haven isn't cheap but then I guess my 8m boat isn't too bad to moor (£3.12 per metre as I berth in Poole anyway). I've spent a very pleasant evening moored up with friends on the Quay. Lots of pubs and restaurants and fireworks (on Thursdays I think) in the summer. Bike night on a Tuesday is great if you're into your motorbikes. As I'm on dry dock, we tend to use the Haven rather than getting a taxi home. Stay the night on the boat and put it away at Parkstone Bay dry berth in the morning.

Yarmouth isn't far off the prices you mention but Poole has lots more to do (although I must admit a soft spot for Yarmouth!)
 
Not sure if its the job of the Marina staff to check for harbour dues stickers, and I doubt they would check anyway.

You are right about Yarmouth - my 11m costs £40, but I love the place, but not so keen on their policy of no cancellation for booked moorings. At least Poole Dolphin will allow a short notice cancellation.

Anyway we did have a lovely meal at Ranchos on the quay opposite the marina entrance. Highly recommended if you like steak.
 
I'll have to remember that no cancellation policy for Yarmouth. Quite often I'll book way ahead to ensure a berth but depending on weather, might cancel the trip.

Good tip on Ranchos. If you like sea food, Storm down the High Street is one of the best around and Alcatraz, not much further down is a good Italian if there are a few of you.

I'm a Bournemouth lad so feel it's only fair and right to knock Poole whenever possible, but in truth, there are some nice places to eat/drink and the council do a pretty decent job of entertaining the grockles in the summer. The Quay is a great place to spend an evening in the summer!
 
That is a ridiculous price. I keep away from Poole for that very reason and only use it is needed. Lets face it Poole is not what it used to be 15 years ago!

Yarmouth is a lovely spot but again over pricing itself. Yep no cancellations allowed and this frustrates me too. I have asked if the bookings can be carried over if not refunded but got a short shrift reply of basically 'No we will do as we wish, take it or leave it'. Event picking up a buoy outside Yarmouth for a 12m is over £20.
 
Just spent 2 nights in the Haven,£53 for my 7.5 metres inc leccy, but I do have an annual harbour dues sticker.

Poole Quay Boat Haven is run by the harbour commissioners, not the council, and is always popular so they charge what they can get!

If you visit Poole, even if you go to Cobbs, you are supposed to pay harbour dues, just like me as a visitor to the Hamble. Ahem!
 
superheat6k said:
The Dolphin Marina at Poole is supposed to be council run. In addition to the local row about long term 'visitors', they are certainly milking the short term ones. I assume Dick Turpin is head of the Council.

11m £42 & 13.5m £61 per night, including harbour dues at around £6 - 10 /day, and electric at £3.50. And then they want a further £7.50 for the Wifi.

Now I'm sitting in Cowes YH at a far more amenable £30 including free Wifi and power paid for.

Can I suggest anyone visiting Poole casually mentions they berth at Cobbs Quay or similar, at least this will save you the over priced harbour dues.

Happy to pay fair fees, but these are not fair, and perhaps that's why the place was so empty Sunday and Monday.
Click to expand...

But remember -you are contributing towards the cost of repairs to the Twin Sails Bridge. The berthing fees will probably double by next year. !
 
beejay190 said:
But remember -you are contributing towards the cost of repairs to the Twin Sails Bridge. The berthing fees will probably double by next year. !
Click to expand...

NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, and maybe NO.

Quay haven is PHC, Twin Fails is PBC, Council tax may double.

Bridges worked well, for me, this weekend, but Twin Fails still painfully slow to lift. I managed to creep under just as lift started, had proceed with caution signal, but it seem to have to go through a full lift cycle before they could lower it again, seemed about 10 mins.
 
That's a no then !

Whatever it is, it puts most people I know visiting Cobbs Quay.

Question that did come up over dinner at night - if visiting Cobbs Quay and the bridge packs up leaving one trapped, who is responsible for - ongoing marina fees, train / taxi fares home, then back again say a week after to recover the boat, etc ?
 
Cobs is a little, err concrete if you're planning a visit to Poole. If you don't want to pay for the boat haven short term, the Salterns has a visitor pontoon and has a nice restaurant. Alternatively, if the tide is anywhere over 1m you can get into Parkstone Bay Marina and visit South Deep cafe, or there is Lakeyard over by Hamworthy. All nice places for a beer and a bite to eat.
 
Last time we stopped for a drink at Salterns Hotel, the marina wanted £20 for a couple of hours!
They are apparently run as separate operations unless things have changed.
It would be good if they have as it is a nice place to have a drink and a bite to eat
 
They are a different business to the hotel but to be honest, I've always just gone in there and gone straight to the visitors berth. I did that with my instructor on my PB2 course and he seemed to know everyone there. Another friend tried calling on his VHF but nobody answered so he just went in to eat.

I think there is a charge, but I don't know who to pay so I've never bothered. Certainly nobody has ever asked me. Maybe I've just been lucky - I wouldn't pay £20.
 
rhino_mac said:
Cobs is a little, err concrete if you're planning a visit to Poole. If you don't want to pay for the boat haven short term, the Salterns has a visitor pontoon and has a nice restaurant. Alternatively, if the tide is anywhere over 1m you can get into Parkstone Bay Marina and visit South Deep cafe, or there is Lakeyard over by Hamworthy. All nice places for a beer and a bite to eat.
Click to expand...

You are right, Cobbs is a little concrete but that refers to its excellent car parking facilities. There is plenty of room to sit outside the Club House on the lawn and enjoy the views towards the RNLI College and the rows of boats berthed on the pontoons. The toilet and shower facilities are excellent.

I found the South Deep Café a bit expensive. I don't want to pay a fiver for a sandwich with trimmings. Visit the Quay shop at Cobbs Quay
and you will pay half that amount. New to boats ? Got lots of questions ? Just ask Ian who runs the shop ( as I have been doing for the past three years)
he will give you plenty of good advice.

Cobbs has an excellent Chandlery where you can get virtually any size of nut and bolt and loads of advice for free. They are not too up to speed
when it comes to the latest style in deck shoes or anoraks tho.

Whenever I visit a marina I like to do my "marina walk " and make sure I have looked at every boat there . There are hundreds of boats at Cobbs-
it is like a mini boatshow.

I can understand the viewpoint of the poster who fears he might get trapped if the Twin Sails Bridge breaks down [95% of the things we worry about in life
never happen]. I believe it has happened once or twice since the Bridge was commissioned. But check your airdraft, check the tide height at Poole Quay-there is
opportunity to pass under the Bridge. The first time I passed under it I followed a Targa 37.

Should boats ever be trapped then all the RNLI's boats brought to Poole for repair/maintenance/testing will also be trapped (the AWB is berthed downstream
of both bridges.

Parkstone Bay is a nice little family run marina .I always find it a bit cramped when I visit (by car). Its biggest drawback is that it is tide restricted and
it is much dearer than Cobbs. You pays yer money ------.
 
Last edited:
rhino_mac said:
Cobs is a little, err concrete if you're planning a visit to Poole. If you don't want to pay for the boat haven short term, the Salterns has a visitor pontoon and has a nice restaurant. Alternatively, if the tide is anywhere over 1m you can get into Parkstone Bay Marina and visit South Deep cafe, or there is Lakeyard over by Hamworthy. All nice places for a beer and a bite to eat.
Click to expand...

I'll second Lake Yard, really great place to go and stay for the night. Really nice convivial atmosphere, lucky if you can get into the marina, but plenty of swinging moorings. Sunsets are terrific, well worth the visit !
 
The main reasons Dolphin Haven can be 'almost empty' on bank holiday weekends is that they let people book/cancel at will. This ends up being reflected in the prices. I aware of a number of people who make a lot of bookings 'just in case'; and they are, of course, preventing many others from booking.

You can't have it both ways (unfortunately)
 
Just spent the night at Poole Quay Boat Haven - the Visitors Marina. All good here, nice berth, hoses on the pontoon (note you need to take your own hose to Yarmouth to fill water tanks / wash boat off) it was about £40 with power but no wifi, so not cheap but great location for popping into Poole, taking a wander up to the bridge, looking at the many Sunseekers in various states of build etc.

We had a v good meal in Banana Wharf looking out over Poole Bay and our boat. There is something very special seeing your boat in the middle of the panoramic vista.

Sorry no pics, left camera on the boat and i have yet to aquire / master camera to iPad to upload skills!

Mike
 
beejay190 said:
It is Audi TT night at Poole Quay this evening.
Click to expand...

Yes it is. I'm sat in the cockpit at PQBH right now in the sunshine nursing slight sun burn with an ice cold carlsberg watching the council stakirelies paring for the influx of hairdressers.

Just for comparison three days at East Cowes thus week cost me £80, three nights here at the boat haven £120. As I type threre are only 5 boats on all of C pontoon.
 
Can you still tie up to the main quay or is that forbidden now, sorry been a long time since I was there. Also is there nowhere to anchor and come into Poole on/in your dinghy? Plus of course somewhere to leave your dinghy?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top