New Palmetto Bay Marina Docks

By (in part) Mary Lou Jay | Marina Dock Age

Five years after Hurricane Matthew wiped out Palmetto Bay Marina on Hilton Head Island, the marina has finally reached the completion of its dock rebuilding project.

Renovations began in the spring of 2019, when new owners took over the marina. By 2020, they had rebuilt the east side of the marina, which offers about 3,000 linear feet of dockage. Although the marina does have a few long-term recreational boats on the east side, these docks serve commercial customers like dolphin tours, boat clubs and jet ski rentals. There’s also a popular dock-and-dine section reserved for boaters who want to enjoy a meal at one of several restaurants at the marina.

Docking in Hilton Head is now even Easier

The footprint of the new docks look very much like the old ones, with one exception. “We were able to obtain dock extensions, so on the west side, where they were originally 400 feet long, we were able to extend them to 700 feet,” said Kuy Scott, general manager of Palmetto Bay Marina.

The west side dock extensions enable the marina to offer some long-term slip rentals, primarily for boats 50 feet and up. But Kuy expects a larger percentage of the marina’s business will come from larger transient vessels that are moving up and down the Intracoastal Waterway. The docks are designed to handle those large boats. “Not only do we have single phase and 30, 50 and 100-amp power, we also have three-phase with two-way 2240 volts and three-phase, 480 volts as well. Larger boats like to come to the marina because it has a depth of 22 feet at the face piers at low tide. That’s unusual for our area, especially since it is tidal,” Kuy said. He noted that Palmetto Bay Marina is the oldest on the island – it dates back to the 1950s – and the water depth is probably one reason why the marina was built there.