WetSlipFinder Editorial Team Author Profile

Who we are

The WetSlipFinder Editorial Team is a small group of marine writers and researchers. Together we have logged thousands of nautical miles aboard:

• • Sailing catamarans
• • Cruising trawlers
• • Sportfish boats
• • Liveaboard sloops

Several team members have worked as dockmasters, fuel-dock attendants, or marina general managers. Others came from marine surveying, sail-loft work, and yacht-broker offices. We hire for time on the water, not time at a desk.

Coverage

We cover every type of U.S. marina infrastructure:

• • Inland reservoirs and Great Lakes harbors
• • ICW basins and southeast coastal marinas
• • Megayacht harbors in South Florida
• • Pacific Coast and Gulf Coast cruising marinas

Each region has depth across pricing, amenities, regional cruising notes, and seasonal planning.

International coverage extends to:

• • The Bahamas — Abacos, Exumas, Bimini
• • The Caribbean chain — USVI, BVI, Leewards, Windwards
• • Hawaii's inter-island harbors
• • Bermuda — St. George's and Hamilton harbours

We track over 500 verified marinas and add new harbors continuously based on boater demand.

Editorial standards

Every long-form marina page, guide, and city profile is researched from primary sources before it's written. Those sources include:

• • Operator-published rate cards
• • NOAA Coast Pilot entries
• • USACE controlling-depth surveys for federal channels
• • Light List entries from the U.S. Coast Guard
• • Direct phone conversations with dockmasters

We do not republish other directory listings without independent verification. We don't accept payment for editorial placement. Sponsored content, when it appears, is labeled clearly and never affects ranking.

Full standards are in our editorial policy.

Content review process

Our Marina Research Review group reviews all long-form content before publication and again at least once a year. The review checks four things:

• • Factual accuracy against primary sources
• • Freshness of depth and amenity data
• • Neutrality of tone (no marketing copy masquerading as editorial)
• • Consistency with our internal style guide

Marina owners can flag inaccuracies through the contact page. Flagged records jump to the front of the re-review queue and are typically corrected within one business day.

Marine data sources

For navigation and conditions, we rely on a layered stack of public data:

• • NOAA — marine forecasts, tide and current predictions (CO-OPS station harmonics), and the official chart suite
• • USACE — controlling-depth surveys on federal channels and the ICW
• • USCG Light List — aids to navigation
• • Open-Meteo's marine model — high-resolution wind, swell, and sea-state context
• • Google Places — proximity context on fuel and dock discovery

Every data source is documented in our data methodology.

NOAA integration and chart verification

We treat NOAA charts and the Coast Pilot as the authoritative reference for navigation — never our own model output. Where our marina pages list controlling depth or approach notes, the numbers come from NOAA-charted depths and operator confirmation.

Before getting underway, always cross-check our planning data against:

• • The latest NOAA ENC on your chartplotter
• • The current NOAA marine forecast

The site's role is planning context. Chart verification stays with the navigator.

Fact-checking standards

Every numerical claim — depth, beam, slip count, fuel pricing, distances — carries source attribution in our internal record, even when it's not surfaced in the published page.

Reader corrections are validated against the primary source before any change is published. When sources disagree (common with rapidly silting inlets), we publish the more conservative value and note the discrepancy. We re-verify depth and amenity fields at the editorial review interval set for each market.

Conflicts of interest

No editorial team member accepts free slip stays, fuel discounts, or sponsored trips from marinas we cover.

Software and instrument reviews use equipment purchased independently — or borrowed under a no-strings loan that is disclosed in the byline. When a team member has a prior employment relationship with a marina operator, that record is reassigned to a different editor.

Contact the editorial team

Reach the editorial team via the contact page with corrections, tips, or story ideas. Marina owners with verified updates should use the same form and identify themselves as the operator of record.

For fuel-dock pricing submissions, the fuel-dock owner portal is the fastest path.