those marinas

[TheShipsCat]

Has anyone had an Aquqvista marina mooring and has used their "Explore 100" benefit?  Experiences?

 

Yes, I know, Aquavista... 

[Bacchus]

My only contact is that my housemate bought a boat that was on a mooring in Packet Boat Marina, and I was very impressed with the place; staff are friendly and efficient, marina itself is very clean and organised. The other moorers that we met seemed happy. She would have kept the berth if West Drayton itself wasn't such a hit shole.  

[MrsM]

We kept our boat on a leisure mooring at Kings in Newark, which was an Aquavista marina. We were very happy there and would not hesitate to recommend it, although much depends on the manager at the time. We cruised extensively and made much use of the reciprocal mooring agreements with other Aquavista marinas. We will hope to moor at Kings again when we get our next boat - even though we live about 3 minutes walk from the Brayford Pool in Lincoln.

[TheShipsCat]

8 hours ago, MrsM said:

We kept our boat on a leisure mooring at Kings in Newark, which was an Aquavista marina. We were very happy there and would not hesitate to recommend it, although much depends on the manager at the time. We cruised extensively and made much use of the reciprocal mooring agreements with other Aquavista marinas. We will hope to moor at Kings again when we get our next boat - even though we live about 3 minutes walk from the Brayford Pool in Lincoln.

Thank you.  It is the reciprocal mooring between marinas in the network that has me looking at Aquavista.  In my plans, I would be cruising approximately 4 months out of a year, broken up with travel outside the UK.  It might be 4-6 weeks on the cut starting April ending at a "remote" (not "home") marina, 2-4 weeks berthed in the remote marina while away from the UK, back for another cruise cycle ending at yet another marina, perhaps three cycles of this ending in September at the home marina, and put the boat to bed for the winter until next April.

 

When you took reciprocal moorings, what was the longest you stayed? Were moorings easy to book or catch as catch can?  I'm trying to assess if my plans are feasible in this scheme.  Any customer experience would be helpful.  I can and will go to Aquavista with this question, but I expect they will say whatever to get me to sign for a year.   

[MrsM]

1 hour ago, TheShipsCat said:

Thank you.  It is the reciprocal mooring between marinas in the network that has me looking at Aquavista.  In my plans, I would be cruising approximately 4 months out of a year, broken up with travel outside the UK.  It might be 4-6 weeks on the cut starting April ending at a "remote" (not "home") marina, 2-4 weeks berthed in the remote marina while away from the UK, back for another cruise cycle ending at yet another marina, perhaps three cycles of this ending in September at the home marina, and put the boat to bed for the winter until next April.

 

When you took reciprocal moorings, what was the longest you stayed? Were moorings easy to book or catch as catch can?  I'm trying to assess if my plans are feasible in this scheme.  Any customer experience would be helpful.  I can and will go to Aquavista with this question, but I expect they will say whatever to get me to sign for a year.   

Hi. The longest we stayed was at White Bear near Addlington because our onward journey was thwarted by closures. We also stayed at Sawley marina on the T&M when the Meadow Lane lock onto the Trent was out of action after an idiot in a WB broke it trying to use to look at his hull. Can't remember how many reciprocal weeks we were allowed under our contract, but I can honestly say that the other Aquavista marinas we stayed in went out of their way to accommodate us. We also had a voucher when we took out our contract that we spent on life jackets and a spare water pump. We were very happy with Aquavista. The manager at Kings was even helpful when we sold our boat, offering to put up the new owners while they found their feet, even though there was a waiting list for our berth. We also cruised roughly 4-5 months a year and the arrangement suited us perfectly. We did, however, always come back to Kings for the main winter months. 

Edited February 2 by MrsM

[Col_T]

We were at Crick for a number of years, and used their Explore 100 scheme last year - Sawley Marina for nearly 2 months.

Booking was no problem but remember that the marina you hope to pop into will only agree if they have space - not surprising, really.

[eightacre]

We have used this scheme for the past two years, stopping up to a week and a half on occasions. Last year we visited Cropredy; Wigrams; Hinkley and Nottingham.

[TheShipsCat]

Thanks to all responders.  I'm including Aquavista in my list of mooring possibilities.  We have a share currently based at Cropredy, and folks there seem to be happy with the marina.

 

I do feel sensitive to the big fish eat little fish dynamic of AV buying up independent marinas.  This causes some people unease and likely has caused some displacement of workers, management changes for good or ill, etc.  

 

And then, there is a benefit to be had for customers of a large network of marinas in this reciprocal moorings arrangement.  It would certainly seem to offer a solution in my circumstances.

[Wafi]

Another benefit that might be useful to you is what they call "Marina Swap". The idea seems to be you have a year-long contract, but can swap it to a new marina up to twice a year (subject to availability, obviously). No personal experience I'm afraid.

 

My guess is that there are probably a handful of marinas in specific locations that have availability constraints, but that in practice most will have adequate vacancies for either scheme. My suspicion is they'll be reluctant to give any indication of future availablity, lest that be interpreted as a commitment, but you could ask what the situation was like last year or in 2024.

[TheShipsCat]

On 02/02/2026 at 00:31, Bacchus said:

My only contact is that my housemate bought a boat that was on a mooring in Packet Boat Marina, and I was very impressed with the place; staff are friendly and efficient, marina itself is very clean and organised. The other moorers that we met seemed happy. She would have kept the berth if West Drayton itself wasn't such a hit shole.  

Looking through the map, I was wondering if Packet might be a fitting base to end this first year, mainly due to its proximity to Heathrow.  Something about the Grand Union calls to me as "start and end here"  When I speak of base, I  mean that the boat would "winter" there from October-March while I winter at home in ridiculously sunny California.  Come April I would start my cruising cycle, getting the hell out of West Drayton and heading for greener towpaths.  It's sounding feasible depending on availability of berths.

[Bacchus]

7 hours ago, TheShipsCat said:

Looking through the map, I was wondering if Packet might be a fitting base to end this first year, mainly due to its proximity to Heathrow.  Something about the Grand Union calls to me as "start and end here"  When I speak of base, I  mean that the boat would "winter" there from October-March while I winter at home in ridiculously sunny California.  Come April I would start my cruising cycle, getting the hell out of West Drayton and heading for greener towpaths.  It's sounding feasible depending on availability of berths.

 

I might be doing West Drayton down a bit... What put me off was the number of flags hanging from lampposts as we approached; for me it was like driving through a nazi rally. Others may feel right at home...  the marina itself had a good atmosphere and is very close to Heathrow/London and a lovely stretch of the GU. Additionally I misread the parking information and managed to get a parking ticket (two parking tickets...), but the marina manager couldn't do enough to help and get them nullified even though I am not a customer - she was extremely helpful and professional. The boat movers we used are AV moorers and also spoke highly. Definitely worth a look IMHO - I would if I had more of a canal boat. 

[mrsmelly]

On 03/02/2026 at 19:45, TheShipsCat said:

Thanks to all responders.  I'm including Aquavista in my list of mooring possibilities.  We have a share currently based at Cropredy, and folks there seem to be happy with the marina.

 

I do feel sensitive to the big fish eat little fish dynamic of AV buying up independent marinas.  This causes some people unease and likely has caused some displacement of workers, management changes for good or ill, etc.  

 

And then, there is a benefit to be had for customers of a large network of marinas in this reciprocal moorings arrangement.  It would certainly seem to offer a solution in my circumstances.

Off topic but I agree on your stance re big business. Our dishwasher started playing up yesterday so knowing which model I wanted to buy looked online and available by all the biggies like curries etc. I ordered it from local private shop that cost me 25 quid more than anywhere else. You use it or you lose it. Keeping people in work locally. 

[Opener]

On 02/02/2026 at 03:46, TheShipsCat said:

Has anyone had an Aquqvista marina mooring and has used their "Explore 100" benefit?  Experiences?

 

Yes, I know, Aquavista... 

 

On 02/02/2026 at 03:46, TheShipsCat said:

Has anyone had an Aquqvista marina mooring and has used their "Explore 100" benefit?  Experiences?

 

Yes, I know, Aquavista... 

End of last year we booked a place at Ripon Marina (Aquavista) and planned to transfer from Skipton area early in 2026 - subject to good weather. Then the drought arrived (remember 'drought' !!!!). We set off earlier than planned and just managed to exit the L&LC before everything closed - Yay!! Part way down the Aire we then received the notice that Oxclose Lock (access to the Ripon Canal) was closed until further notice.

We turned up at Lemonroyd (again Aquavista) and threw ourselves on their mercy. Despite being nominally full and booked up they squeezed us in 'until we could shift'. There were actually a few Ripon-bound boats marooned there. They could not have been more helpful - we actually ended up on adverts for Explore 100 or some such option.

Stuck there until Ripon reopening - Lemonroyd were very helpful and we got the same reception at Ripon. There is actually some reciprocity between staff so they both knew our story. I'm sure we overstayed our 'Explore 100' in the end but they took the closures into consideration - in the end there are a few other 'refugees' who have also made the same move.

Can't vouch for this attitude applying across the group - just speak from our (very positive) experience. Good boating.....