Reviews: Pope's Island Marina

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Pope's Island Marina

102 Pope's Island
New Bedford, MA 02740
New Bedford Harbor

4.13
(8)

4.13 out of 5 stars

  • Review for Pope's Island Marina

    Reviewed by: Rich Inman on Sep 10, 2023
    Vessel Type: Sail
    LOA: 50'
    Draft: 4.0'

    Rating: 5

    Stayed two nights on mooring. Main reason to stop was to get a part for our outboard at Rick's in Fairhaven. Marina is well run and facilities are clean, well maintained, and staff is great. Don't miss the whaling museum, and especially Miguel's for breakfast or lunch (he closes at 2p) for an authentic local experience.

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  • Review for Pope's Island Marina

    Reviewed by: Queen B on Jul 22, 2023
    Vessel Type: Sail
    LOA: 41'
    Draft: 6.0'

    Rating: 5

    Excellent staff and facilities! Staff is helpful and personable. Facilities are well- maintained and clean..
    Stayed on a mooring for 2 nights. Easy walk across the bridge into New Bedford. Gotta watch the swing bridge opening for boat traffic to pass.

    Gr8 dinner at Fathoms across the street. Will def return here and explore Fairhaven side of the harbor .

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  • Review for Pope's Island Marina

    Reviewed by: Brian Gross , V-Tack, on Aug 30, 2022
    Vessel Type: Sail
    LOA: 40'
    Draft: 7.0'

    Rating: 5

    Stayed for 2 days July 16-18. What a hidden gem! A wooden breakwater and larger boats tied up to it, keeps the marina smooth even with slow moving commercial traffic passing by. Easy approach even at low tide with our 7 foot draft and helpful dockhands are there to help your landing. Excellent value with power and water included in the slip fee accessible from Dockwa. Floating concrete docks show their age but are safe and adaquate. Onshore there are great laundry, and shower facilities with gas grills and a secure courtyard. The facility is pet friendly with lots of safe walking outside the courtyard for shore leave. An easy walk to either Fairhaven or New Bedford with shopping, museums and great restaurants. We will be back.

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  • Review for Pope's Island Marina

    Reviewed by: Captain Gene , Galene, on Aug 1, 2022
    Vessel Type: Power
    LOA: 39'
    Draft: 4.0'

    Rating: 4

    July 23, 2022, stayed six days due to winds and we had head issues to repair. Staff made us feel welcome. Facilities were clean and maintained. Picnic area has grills and tables as well as a tent. Fathoms restaurant across the street had good, varied menu and staff were very good. Whale museum interesting and well worth visiting. Walked mile across bridge to town. Launch service will take you downtown to Pier 3 which is downtown $3 per person if you do not want to walk the bridge. Several restaurants short walk when your downtown. We traveled here with another boat. Many of the docks here have new GFI pedestals as now required for safety. If your boat has any ground faults it will trip the breaker and you will not have power. This is for the safety of everyone. If you trip the GFI it is a fault on your boat. The marina power is not the issue. The boat traveling with us has a ground fault, so it tripped the breakers. The pedestals have a 20A outlet you can plug into to run your refrigerator and such with an extension cord if your boat has a fault which the boat traveling with us did to have some power. Many boats with inverters that switch automatically will trip the breakers because the unit was not installed professionally and properly. Once again, the electrical power here is wired safely and is fine it meets the new Underwriters labs standards and the new electrical codes as required by law.
    The Floating docks are showing their age here though.

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  • Review for Pope's Island Marina

    Reviewed by: David Rogers on Jan 21, 2022
    Vessel Type: Power
    LOA: 43'
    Draft: 6.0'

    Rating: 4

    Stayed at this marina 3 years ago. Staff was helpful getting in. Close to downtown New Bedford. Whaling Museum was awesome! Locked gates.

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  • Review for Pope's Island Marina

    Reviewed by: Greighlin on Oct 9, 2020
    Vessel Type: Sail
    LOA: 35'
    Draft: 6.0'

    Rating: 5

    Wonderful staff. Location is close to both downtown newbedford and Fairhaven. Not a far walk downtown. When my electric didn’t fit they accommodated with an adapter which was really helpful.

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  • Review for Pope's Island Marina

    Reviewed by: Ray Parrish on Sep 16, 2020
    Vessel Type: Power
    LOA: 51'
    Draft: 4.5'

    Rating: 1

    We came to this marina because of the reviews. Unfortunately, the last review was from 2018 and something has definitely happened since then! I think the personnel has been changed.

    Here is what we experienced. The dock hands were at our slip to help us tie up. All was well until we hooked up our power cable. The pedestal was new and popped it’s breaker as soon as we turned on our system. The dock master said it was our boat’s fault because we were from the South. He said all southern boats are wired wrong. We have covered the east coast of the United States in the last 8 months and have had no electrical issues at marinas, even with the new GFCI pedestals. The dock master moved us to a new slip and the power still did not work. The dock-hand told me we should look at another Marina in the area if we wanted power. The people on the adjacent boats said all slips have power problems and I noticed 30 and 50 amp extension cords going everywhere on all docks. I told the dockmaster we wanted a 50 amp extension cord to try some other pedestals. He found us one and based on advice from adjacent boaters, we found a pedestal that worked.

    Customer service was non-existent! We had to ask for everything. The docks were in poor shape, but you could walk on them. The bathrooms and showers were not clean and most showers only had one hanger and no shelves. In light of Covid, this was disturbing because it was clear the women’s and men’s shower facilities had not been clean for days. In the women’s showers there were bunches of hair in each shower. Very poor!

    This marina sounded much better than it was. We will not be coming back. We do not like giving bad reviews, but I would have not gone there if I had known the true condition of the facilities, especially at the price we paid!

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  • Review for Pope's Island Marina

    Reviewed by: Greg Reardon on Jul 15, 2020
    Vessel Type: Power
    LOA: 43'
    Draft: 4.0'

    Rating: 4

    Great facility with courteous and friendly staff that will promptly help you with anything you need, from docking assistance, to pumpout at your slip, to launch service to the mooring field or across the main channel to downtown New Bedford. Pope’s Island is an active boating community, with very friendly and helpful boat owners. This is a secure, gated marina with well maintained grounds including a spacious picnic area with grilles. They have laundry, ice, vending machines, and a lending library. Marine supply right across the street, and outstanding seafood within walking distance. Bike trail to Mattapoisett, Marion and beyond.

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