On the water

All of this came to mind this week as I noticed that the very last floating home — indeed, the very last vessel of any kind — once berthed at Redwood City’s Docktown Marina is now gone, having been transferred to a new owner or having been destroyed.

Docktown Marina, which was located along a stretch of Redwood Creek just east of Highway 101, has officially been gone for a number of years, but with the disappearance of this last vessel and the docks that provided moorings for roughly 70 boats and floating homes, it has been truly relegated to history. Today, only a number of thin concrete pilings sticking out of the mud remain as evidence of what once was.

Docktown Marina’s status was always somewhat legally questionable, but, while it lasted, it was counted among the many marinas that give Redwood City its particular identity. These days, although Redwood City actually has more marinas than it did just a few decades ago, the total number of vessels that can be berthed in them is markedly less than back then.

And the number of opportunities for so-called “liveaboards” — boats and floating homes on which one can actually live — is an order of magnitude less than what Redwood City had just 30 short years ago.

Interestingly, the changes seem to have largely come about due to others wanting to live along the water. Redwood City’s biggest loss, when it comes to marinas, appears to have been Peninsula Marina, which at one time could accommodate as many as 500 vessels, 400 of which could be lived on.

But that marina was purchased along with the land surrounding it, and in 2001 it was closed to facilitate the development of the large One Marina townhouse development. Today the townhouses surround a body of water containing a couple of docks where just a handful of boats are berthed — but access to the marina is restricted to those living in (and presumably owning) a home at One Marina.

Nearby, what had been known since 1958 as “Pete’s Harbor” grew to accommodate roughly 250 boats on the water and another 100 or so in dry storage. At the time the property was sold for development (around 2014), some 144 households were living in floating accommodations there. But the transformation of the area into today’s Blu Harbor, with its 402 apartments, left it with a smaller marina that can accommodate just 64 boats — none of which can be lived on.

Redwood City does have one recent success story when it comes to marinas: Westpoint Harbor. Privately owned and constructed from a former bittern pond purchased from the Leslie Salt Company, Westpoint Harbor is located at the end of Seaport Boulevard, just east of the Pacific Shores office complex. The marina’s 416 slips — 10% of which can be liveaboards — range in sizes from 36 to 80 feet (vessels up to 120 feet in length can be accommodated via “side-tie berthing”).

Public walking trails at the end of Seaport Boulevard provide expansive views of not only this newest of the San Francisco Bay’s marinas, but also Redwood Creek and Westpoint Slough. And I mustn’t neglect to mention Hurrica, the high-end seafood restaurant at Westpoint Harbor. I’ve eaten there a handful of times and can attest to the high quality of the food and drink, plus the restaurant’s lovely decor and marina views.

Redwood City has one of the bay’s four deep water ports, and the port’s industrial operations do the city credit. But the city’s half-dozen marinas are not to be overlooked, they help give Redwood City a character it shares with few other Bay Area municipalities. And although fewer people can live on boats in Redwood City’s marinas these days, a great many more can live by the water and enjoy looking at what boats there are.