The Lake Ontario water levels may have been high at Loyalist Cove Marina in Bath on Friday, but so were the spirits of owners Dave and Michelle Hinton as they celebrated their 20th anniversary of ownership.

Staff and patrons gathered on June 14th for the special festivities. In addition to the anniversary, Michelle was also proud to announce that the marina has attained Boating Ontario’s Diamond Clean Marine status and is the first non-municipal marina to obtain International Blue Flag Status from Environment Defense in South-eastern Ontario.

Blue Flag is one of the world’s most recognized voluntary eco-labels awarded to beaches, marinas, and sustainable boating tourism operators. In order to qualify for the Blue Flag, a series of stringent environmental, educational, safety, and accessibility criteria must be met and maintained.

Since purchasing the marina in 1999, they’ve transformed a humble waterfront property into a full service boating facility. Loyalist Cove Marina has continuously upgraded their facilities and infrastructure, ensuring that larger boats with deeper draughts can still utilize the marina.

Michelle is quick to give credit to the surrounding community for the popularity of the marina by patrons, some of which have been there for their entire 20 years of operation. “It’s easy for people to go into the village, shop and get groceries and just have a nice visit. We have a bank, liquor store, pharmacy, museum, restaurants – all within a 15-minute walk.

“People just fall in love with Bath and its amazing little community as soon as they get off their boats. We’re so lucky to be able to live and have our business here.”

Find out more about Loyalist Cove Marina.