[Richard R]

I'm glad that Jeff mentioned St Augustine Municipal marina, because that is an excellent example of a schilling problem developing with ActiveCaptain. I gave this marina a poor rating because of the swift current, and because it is exposed to some wind directions. When we stayed there we were unable to leave this marina until nearly slack tide because we deemed it too dangerous to back out of the slip, stop, and turn ninety degrees all with a four knot current pushing us back toward the docks and other boats.

Within a couple of days two other "boaters" gave it a 5 star, or "perfect" rating. Then when Jeff was there himself a few months later, he also gave this marina a "perfect" rating.

Too often marina managements are pretending to be boaters to give their facility glowing reviews.

However, ActiveCaptain is a valuable resource for information on marinas. I just don't place much faith in the reviews.

A downside is that in order to access ActiveCaptain, you must have an internet connection, or purchase one of the expensive PC based nav software packages, or buy a iPad and Navimatics Charts and Tides (not a bad idea). Therefore ActiveCaptain will never replace the printed guide books.

Schilling is a problem with other sites too. I don't bother visiting www.tripadvisor.com any more, because the hotel ratings are useless.

I am sure that Jeff would prefer if all the marina reviews came only from boaters. I am also sure that he will figure out a way to make that happen.

Richard