Water, water everywhere in Beaufort, but no place to dock and eat. Until now.

A sunset cruise for dinner from Dataw.

A daytrip from Edisto to hit Bay Street Outfitters.

A place to take in a downtown Beaufort festival without battling parking.

Boaters looking to make northern Beaufort County a quick cruising destination to shop or eat should finally have that ability soon. In Beaufort, boaters should be able to tie up at no cost as early as late next spring or early summer when a long-proposed day dock is expected to be complete.

“I have very little doubt it won’t see a lot of traffic fast,” Beaufort Mayor Billy Keyserling said.

The Beaufort Downtown Marina earns revenue from larger boats, long-term guests and those stopping in for fuel or other provisions. But Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park hasn’t had the space for those seeking short trips.

Developers also expect Port Royal to become a destination for a day on the water after the sale of its former state port property this year. A planned 225-slip marina would include space for boaters to tie up for short trips and eventually walk a waterfront promenade of shops and restaurants.

While there is no timeline on the marina, the public will be able to dock at Port Royal’s 11th Street and eat when a new restaurant opens in the former Dockside location next year, said Chris Butler, one of the property’s developers.

Fish Camp on 11th Street could open as early as March, a spokeswoman for the Hilton Head Island restaurant group behind the project said last month.

“If you build something that’s a destination, you’re going to get people driving and boating,” said Butler, who owns Butler Marine and will operate a drystack boat storage facility on Battery Creek starting in January. “The hard part is, if boaters have a bad experience being able to find a spot, it’s hard to get them back.”

The new Beaufort dock should be a boon for downtown restaurants, Butler said. What would have been a dinner date by car can turn into six or eight people piling in a boat.

“Everybody wants to go on a boat,” he said.

The Beaufort dock plans will go before the city’s Historic District Review Board on Wednesday. The 200-foot dock will be accessed from a ramp on the east end of Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park, near the restrooms and playground.

The $500,000 dock project includes about $280,000 in state and federal grants.

City officials plan to take a comprehensive look at the marina, including its management, layout and buildings to see if changes or upgrades are needed. But Keyserling said he doesn’t expect those plans to move forward while the city faces other major expenses like a major drainage overhaul to help relieve flooding issues in some neighborhoods.

“It’s been a long time since anyone’s sort of taken an integrated approach to looking at that (marina) — which is an important asset of the city — and how the pieces fit together there,” he said.

This story was originally published December 11, 2017 at 3:03 PM with the headline "Water, water everywhere in Beaufort, but no place to dock and eat. Until now.."