I’m going to do a quick cruiser’s review on a few of the places we’ve visited in the past couple months but am behind on for posting about. First up: Astoria’s West Basin Marina.
Map of Port of Astoria – West Basin marina *taken from their website
This marina is a bit tricky to enter, or at least it can be, due to the current outflow from the Columbia River. Here are some instructions that I wrote up for entering the marina safely:
So, as you’re coming downriver, with the current (2-3 knot current here when we came in, but up to 5 or 6, I hear), you’ll want to come even with the entrance or perhaps a little past it and then turn to face upriver so that you can control your speed and approach.
Then, carefully crab sideways toward the entrance. You’ll have to have some throttle on to keep yourself even with the entrance to counteract the current.
The tricky part is that you’ll suddenly come out of the current and then will be headed straight toward that wall, at speed. You’ll need to then quickly throttle down a bit, turn to starboard and angle through the ‘gate’ and into the marina. Once inside, things will settle down. Breathe! ????
Have all your fenders out and dock lines ready before you even approach the marina. I didn’t this time and I missed all the excitement of the entrance because I was rushing just trying to get fenders down and dock lines prepped!
Also, we didn’t do this but since being here we’ve found that the regulars here, especially the bigger ones, all sound their air horn in warning before going in or out of the marina to warn anybody on the other side that a ship’s coming through.
Check out the marina map again, it has the fuel and pump-out docks marked, and the guest docks. We called ahead and talked to the marina staff for a slip assignment. They instructed us to take an end tie on B or C dock. C dock’s end tie is a little shorter than B. We would’ve been better on C but it was full when we arrived, so we ended up on the end of B dock. There is a sign that says it’s for 49′ or longer but that’s where they told us to go so we did.
Opening to the Port of Astoria’s West Basin Marina
One thing to note about this marina, even though there’s nothing you can really do about it due to their arrangements, is that these docks are really long. We still joke about how long it would take us to walk out to the boat any time that we left and came home. It would take 15-20 minutes to walk from our boat over to the marina office/showers/restrooms/laundry.
The marina does offer decent, locked (key-code) restrooms, complete with several showers, and a laundry room with coin-operated machines.
We loved our time in Astoria. We spent a week there doing final projects and preparations for our ocean passage up to the Puget Sound. There’s a nice marine store within easy walking distance, we provisioned at Fred Meyer just a quick 5-10 minute drive from the marina, and we enjoyed exploring the numerous fun tourist things around town with the kids.
Thanks for reading! I hope this review helps anybody looking for information on transient moorage at the Port of Astoria West Basin Marina in Astoria Oregon. Check out my other marina and cruiser’s reviews here. Cheers! ~Rachel
