The Merrow Slip dredge window: winter only
The Merrow Slip sits at the northeast corner of the basin, tucked behind the old coal wharf and mostly forgotten nine months of the year. But from December through February, it becomes the most reliable small-craft berth in the harbor—provided you arrive during the dredge window.
The harbor master runs a single dredge pass each afternoon, typically starting two hours before high water. The channel they clear is narrow—twenty feet at most—and it silts back in by morning. You will not find the schedule posted anywhere. The dredge crew works from a clipboard that lists the day's high tide, adds two hours, and subtracts fifteen minutes for equipment warm-up. If you want the window, you calculate it yourself.
Why winter
Merrow Slip was dug in the 1880s to serve the limestone trade, and the basin geometry has not changed. During the spring and summer, runoff from the Thornley River carries enough sediment to choke the channel within hours of any dredging. By December, the river slows, the silt load drops, and a single pass holds until the next tide cycle.
The slip itself offers six fixed moorings and a short floating dock that can take three boats if you raft. No reservations, no phone number. You tie up, you note the time in the logbook bolted to the piling, and you make sure you are gone before the channel closes again.
Timing your approach
If high water is at 14:20, expect the dredge to begin at 12:05. The channel stays navigable until roughly 16:00, though I have seen it start to shoal by 15:30 on a particularly still day. You do not want to cut it close. A boat drawing four feet can usually feel the mud by 15:45.
The dredge itself is loud and slow. If you are already in the channel when it starts, pull to the side and wait. The operator will wave you through once the pass is complete. If you try to thread around the equipment, you will end up aground in soft bottom, and the crew will not pull you off until they finish the run.
What you will find
Merrow Slip is not scenic. The old coal wharf blocks any view of the harbor mouth, and the only building still standing is a brick pump house with no roof. But the water is calm, the holding is good, and you are fifteen minutes' walk from the Windlass Tavern if you want a bowl of chowder before they stop serving at two.
The logbook makes for decent reading while you wait out the weather. Most entries are terse—boat name, arrival time, departure time—but every few pages someone has added a note about ice in the channel or a complaint about the dredge schedule. One entry from January 2018 simply reads: "Dredge late. Missed supper. Worth it."
If you are looking for a winter berth that does not require three days' notice and a deposit, Merrow Slip is still the best option in the basin. Just watch the tide, give yourself margin, and do not expect the channel to wait.