Ocean City company renting watercraft, providing lessons, tours from Higbee Ave. marina
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
SOMERS POINT — The city is boosting offerings at its bayfront marina and beach with the addition of watercraft rentals, lessons and tours to its docking services.
Last week, members of the city government gathered at the city’s William Morrow Beach with the owner of the company that will be running the marina to kick off the new services.
Councilman Mike Owen said the city had a vision to take the bay area to the next level, an undertaking that was years in the making.
“We finally have the final product, we also have someone who can run it,” Owen said.
Councilwoman Janice Johnston said the city is “really excited to get this going,” noting that the city received grants to pay for all of the work.
“This is a great addition to our town, another destination for to go to,” she said.
City Council approved a public/private partnership with a watercraft-rental business June 11 to operate the municipal marina the city opened late last summer. In turn, the company will be offering kayak and paddleboard rentals, lessons and tours, as well as Hobie Cat rides, from the pier at the end of Higbee Avenue and the adjacent beach.
Greg Sykora, of the Somers Point Economic Development Advisory Committee, called it “another component of the bayfront community that has been missing.”
He said he is pleased that an established company, Baycats of Ocean City, would be taking over operations at the transient marina. The company’s Somers Point site opened June 25.
“The good thing is we have a company that has been around for decades that is going to be running it,” Sykora said, adding that Baycats would be serving as dockmaster — helping people get in and out of their boat slips, operating the pump-out stations and providing other services.
In exchange, Baycats owner Jennifer Boyce will be offering rentals of self-propelled watercraft that can be launched from the beach, as well as a couple of small sailing vessels that will be docked at the marina.
“We’re really excited about having somebody there that doesn’t need training and will take us to the next level,” Sykora said, adding that the marina — where boaters can dock for as long as three days free of charge, paying only for water, electricity and pump-out services — will boost foot traffic in the area.
“Not only is it another piece of the bayfront puzzle, but it will bring people that have spent time here to spend more time,” he said, adding that the next step is to dredge the entire bayfront to get deep water in the whole area, a project he said the city is working toward.
Boyce has owned Baycats at 316 Bay Ave. in Ocean City since 2012. Prior to that, she conducted kayak tours for the company dating back to 1998.
She said she enjoys her job.
“The things that we are able to provide to people is pretty cool,” Boyce said on the opening day on the William Morrow Beach on Bay Avenue in Somers Point.
In addition to rentals, Boyce will be offering lessons and tours. She is designing some suggested routes for people renting the craft, as well as for her guided full-moon tours.
She said the full-moon tours are popular on the Ocean City side of Great Egg Harbor Bay. Kayakers paddle out and watch the sun set and the moon rising over the island on the way back.
Boyce said the beach in Somers Point is the “perfect place to launch.”
“We are excited to have the opportunity,” she said.
Hours will be 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Thursday and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. She plans to stay late on nights when the city holds concerts on the beach.
“It’s a great way to social distance,” she said of taking in the concert from the water.
Boyce said Sykora and Johnston were instrumental in getting the deal done.
“I’m so excited that we are finally getting this together,” Johnston said, noting that it’s going to give visitors something else to do and make Bay Avenue more of a tourist destination.
“With the marina being there, people can go to the beach and go to lunch, make a day of it,” Johnston said.
The Higbee Avenue marina’s opening was celebrated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the end of last summer. Facilities include 20 transient boat slips, as well as space for the Duke O’ Fluke fishing charter boat and emergency vessels.
During the ribbon-cutting, Mayor Jack Glasser said the marina is something that will enhance Somers Point.
City Council President Sean McGuigan said he felt it was going to be “another economic engine that’s going to drive business here.”
According to a news release about the marina, the city received a $1.45 million National Boating Infrastructure Grant and a $35,000 United States Fish and Wildlife Service grant for the project.
As part of the project, the area was dredged from Ship Channel in Great Egg Harbor Bay to the waters at the end of Higbee Avenue. The sediment was used as a living shoreline and resiliency embankment.