Shelter Island Marina

Shelter Island Marina is the Port of San Diego's flagship recreational marina inside the western shore of San Diego Bay — 565 mixed wet slips spread across eight concrete floating piers, a 200-ft vessel-length cap on the outer megayacht row, year-round diesel and gasoline fuel service, a free vessel-pumpout station, and a 4-lane public boat ramp that runs the highest single-day trailer-launch volume of any West Coast public ramp per the Port's published annual recreation report. The marina sits roughly 0.5 miles north of Naval Base Point Loma's main gate and operates under a long-running Port of San Diego concessionaire agreement; vessel transits in and out of the marina basin must yield to active Navy fleet traffic per the published Port-Navy coordination protocol, which gives carrier-strike-group and submarine departures absolute right-of-way through the bay's main shipping channel. Channel depth runs 25 ft at the marina basin and the San Diego Bay main shipping channel holds 50+ ft to accommodate the Navy's nuclear carriers and the commercial container traffic moving through the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal. The 4-lane public launch ramp at the foot of Shelter Island Drive holds 250 trailer-parking spaces — the highest trailer-parking count of any single ramp facility in California — and runs $8 per launch with a $14 daily trailer-parking fee. The ramp opens daily 0500 to 2200 with after-hours access by gate code for registered slip-holders. Slip wait lists for annual berths run 18 to 24 months per the Port's published wait-list dashboard; transient slips accept reservations 90 days out through Dockwa with priority to vessels participating in the annual Yachting Cup, the Lipton Cup, or the Master Mariners regatta. Storm policy: the marina is sheltered from typical Pacific winter swells by the Coronado peninsula and Point Loma but issues mandatory mooring inspection notices when NWS San Diego posts a Wind Advisory above 35 knots. The RV-relevant truth is restrictive: the Shelter Island marina lot is signed car-only and Point Loma's parking ordinances ban overnight RV parking on every public street under San Diego Municipal Code §86.0139 (passed 2017 specifically to address oversize-vehicle camping along Catalina Boulevard and Rosecrans Street). The closest RV-friendly basecamp is Mission Bay RV Resort 5 miles northwest on East Mission Bay Drive (private, 50-amp electric full hookups, 45-ft rig cap, 260 sites, books 12 months ahead for summer weekends and the August Sandcastle Days week). For state-park alternatives, the next option is San Elijo State Beach 30 miles north in Cardiff-by-the-Sea (CA State Parks, 171 sites, 30-amp, 35-ft cap, reservecalifornia.com 6 months out).