Moorage Space All Tied Up At North Idaho Marinas Scarcity Of Cda Slips Has Many Heading To Lake Pend Oreille

If that boat is still in the driveway and not snuggled up in a marina, plan on some long waits at the public boat launch this summer.

Moorage is at a premium these days, and vacant slips are scarce on Pend Oreille and Coeur d’Alene lakes.

“It didn’t always used to be this way,” said Keith Sheckler, who has operated Sandpoint’s Windbag Marina for 20 years.

“There were some lean years when I used to always have more slips than renters. The last few years, though, I’ve filled up. In fact, I’m turning people away. I think that’s the case pretty much everywhere up here.”

Sheckler’s 100 spaces filled in April, and he already has turned away 30 slip seekers. Most marina owners have waiting lists and are taking reservations for next year.

“Don’t show up on the first day of summer and expect to find a slip. It won’t happen,” Sheckler said. “You need to get on the stick early or plan on trailering your boat all summer.”

Prospects on Lake Coeur d’Alene aren’t any better.

Boaters tied to prime dock space have first dibs on the spots for next year. The slots rarely are given up, even at a cost of $1,800 a season.

“Money doesn’t seem to be a factor, but people really have to look right now to find room,” said Geri Hyatt, co-owner of the Rockford Bay Resort on Lake Coeur d’Alene.

Last year, 50 people were left on the waiting list after her 110 slips filled. It’s the same story at Squaw Bay Resort and the popular Silver Beach Marina. Silver Beach charges from $1,075 to $1,800 a season but had no trouble filling its 273 slips.

High prices and crowded conditions on Lake Coeur d’Alene are starting to drive some boaters, especially sailors, to the calmer but colder Lake Pend Oreille.

The 43-mile-long lake, Idaho’s largest, never has had as much congestion and traffic as Coeur d’Alene.

“It’s just too wild and busy down there,” said Bayview Marina owner Greg Park, who sold out of spaces two months ago. “A lot of people who have been on Lake Coeur d’Alene for years are now coming up here.”

The Bayview Marina is a convenient drive from Coeur d’Alene and offers cheaper space (from $900 to $1,100 a year).

Barbara Brow, manager of the Coeur d’Alene Yacht Club, has only 20 spaces out of 400 still available. She, too, has seen boaters flee to the north to Sandpoint.

First, they move to outlying marinas in Coeur d’Alene, then head to Lake Pend Oreille, she said, where seasonal moorage costs anywhere from $250 to $950.

Many of those looking for calmer waters have ended up at Jim Baldwin’s Garfield Bay Marina. “People tell me they just don’t want the headaches of Coeur d’Alene. When you go there, it’s a zoo,” he said.

One of Baldwin’s Coeur d’Alene customers moved his boat there last year. He went out on Lake Coeur d’Alene once and was so afraid of all the congestion that he never left the slip again, Baldwin said.

Most marina owners say the demand for moorage has nearly outstripped the supply on both lakes. A slip shortage is on its way, but new docks aren’t.

The expense to build docks and the time needed to wade through bureaucratic red tape aren’t worth it, they say.

“The revenue from the summer months doesn’t always offset the cost of the facilities,” said Rockford Bay’s Hyatt. “And some expansion is futile. I don’t even think they (the Idaho Department of Lands) would let us put a whole lot more in this bay.”

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