Partly for security and partly to make handling supplies easier, we dug a 'spur,' an extension of the waterway, and built a small dock and walkway at its end. The spur branches off from the dock that was built during the first phase of the project: the original dock where most of the increased traffic now comes. This spur and the new dock and walkway get boats and supplies closer to the new house where they are behind a gate that stays locked most of the time.
The original dock and at the left, the gate to the spur
At work on the small dock and walkway, with the unfinished house in the background
From the small dock looking toward the gate, the main pier, and the creek
From the walkway another view of the unfinished house
(It may become necessary to limit use of and access to the original dock. Access to the canal will remain open as will access from the canal across my property to the beach. I couldn't deny access to the beach even if I wanted to. However, limiting how easy it is to load and unload things that aren't supposed to leave the area might be needed in the future. Currently when a boat pulls up, everything that comes in it gets piled onto the original dock: tools, food, bedding, oars, dogs, sails, plants, chickens...whatever! And the reverse is true: when people get ready to go back to Bluefields after a day, or a weekend, or a week, their stuff ends up on that dock for easy loading for their return boat trip. For now, the only restriction on the use of the original False Bluff dock is to clean up any mess you make and - even that's a hard sell from time to time.)