California Yacht Marina – Port Royal Marina

It is very clean and pretty here. I like coming here. Parking is horrible, but I still like coming and walking around.

Management promptly contacted me about my issue and are working to resolve it. Very professional and courteous.

Me and family decided to take a walk over to king harbor from the redondo pier. All of the resteraunts that you dress up for are located out this way. Except for Pollys on the pier. I would actually like to try that. But anyway not too much to do here unless I missed something. I believe you can sail and sport fish. That’s all I have for this section of the harbor.

Camren is the reason two of my friends and I are moving our boats to another harbor… that is all

I contacted club for membership information. They promptly returned my call. Very friendly and welcoming club. We are still checking out others but will definetly be stopping back here to visit them in person.
In driving by, it looks like a nice and simple clubhouse.

This review is written from the perspective of looking at a map of SoCal and trying to choose a marina/​harbor (and waiting lists therein) for the parking of yer boat or yacht.
Waiting lists are not 100% necessary for all slip sizes, but they can still extend into the 5-​year-​to-​never range surprisingly easily for larger sizes and particular marinas.
Consider on paper the following options in/​near Santa Monica Bay:
Marina del Rey
King Harbor
San Pedro
I’ll stop there — sorry Oceanside, Channel Islands/​Oxnard, and Ventura Harbors, not to mention Long Beach and Alamitos Bay. Different reviews and focii those will be and have.
Here’s the deal:
***Non-​cruising time (time not actually spent outside the harbor):
It can take a good half-​hour to get out of Marina del Rey (once you’re out of your fairway) past the breakwater.
From King Harbor, it’s about 5 minutes — 10, maybe, depending upon from which basin you emerge.
San Pedro has some flexibility, but that brings me to the next point…
***Traffic:
Nothing against San Pedro — but it is adjacent to one of the largest commercial shipping ports (combined ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach) in the world. You may have noticed that container ships tend to take a somewhat more liberal interpretation than might you or I with regard to the exact boundaries of a marked channel. In the fog. Just saying.
Marina del Rey: This marina complex is so large that it is visible from space. I believe it remains the largest man-​made marina complex (I hesitate to call it a harbor) since inception about 50 years ago. There’s a little traffic there. Not big block-​out-​the-​sky traffic like Pedro or other port entry points, but traffic nonetheless.
King Harbor: Virtually zero traffic by comparison.
***Catalina Island:
Why are you thinking of parking a boat or yacht in the area if you aren’t planning to become one with the Island? San Pedro is closest. King Harbor next, and Marina del Rey furthest away of the three. Not a huge deal if you have twin 400HP engines and no aversion to a bumpy ride, but for the sailors and slowboaters among us, adding an hour or two each way is a consideration.
***Panache:
No doubt here — Marina del Rey is a spiffy place for the most part, and that Burton Chace Park, too. However, you’ll pay for it in most cases. That’s paying more to be further away from the breakwater and further away from Catalina. Just saying. You may not care. It’s very cool to be that close to Santa Monica, Venice, and for that matter, the other side of LAX. Since for some sad reason there are no marinas north of MdR (ok, there are moorings at Paradise Cove), if you decide to live in Malibu, MdR is your closest option. It’s a nice drive up the coast to Oxnard, but outside the scope of this review.
King Harbor is a jewel of a location. Also man-​made and about the same vintage as MdR, there’s a lot of history, and a first class yacht club (KHYC). With that said, there are efforts underway to update the adjacent Pier infrastructure and other shoreside facilities (gone will be the long-​vacant Red Onion shortly to make way for another Shade Hotel, due 2014). The good news is that’s just great. The other news is that these are necessary steps to make the most of what should be a jewel of a location; yep — it’s a tad… underused now.
San Pedro: If you like maritime history and soon, tours of one of the most historic battleships ever constructed on the planet, this is the place for you. With that said, San Pedro is adjacent to some very polluted areas. This is supposed to get better over time, and needs to. Meanwhile, 3000x federal limit numbers are not encouraging. Some areas are not fit for human habitation. This is a shame, since recreational boating in SoCal started in what is now LA Harbor. There are 3800 recreational slips there still, give or take.
***Net net:
King Harbor has the location and the quietness that many people want. In the end, if you need a slip in SoCal, often there’s not a lot of choice — the reality is that you get on 20 waiting lists and play the game. Definitely consider King Harbor from the standpoints of location, quietness, and existing services.
***Bonus to the reader for having read this far:
There is one unique relationship in King Harbor not found anywhere else on the West Coast. Gain admittance to the King Harbor Yacht Club, and you gain access to their slip waiting list. KHYC members have first priority at King Harbor Marina. Absent that, Joe off the street who joins the KHM waiting list gets to pay $ 100/​year and wait perhaps 10 years. *Furthermore*, KHYC members who are slipholders in KHM have the option of paying the year’s slip fees in advance, in exchange for a 10% discount. That 10% discount, coincidentally, can equal, more or less, the year’s dues at KHYC. An excellent arrangement any way you slice it — especially as the larger slips can and do command $ 1000/​month rent.