The Alton Marina

A Waterway Guide User on May 9th, 2026:

We stayed in October 2025 for a few weeks. Staff was friendly and helpful. Nice laundry room and restrooms.

A Waterway Guide User on February 8th, 2026:

We stayed here on Oct 1-2 2025. Great marina with covered docks. Not so good for starlink, Marina wifi ok so long as not too many people are using it at the same time. Great staff and great help getting tied up in slip. Very nice restroom/showers and great laundry facilities. Great place to walk the dogs. Also local grocery in town has a shuttle service for provisioning. Call them they pick you up at marina and drop you back off. Great place for dock tales and to make plans with others to get thru the next two large locks. Easier if you travel in packs on these, Mel Price and Chain of Rocks. Have one person in charge to call lock master so they are not annoyed by 20 boats calling. Barges do take priority so longest wait was 2hrs, not bad on these locks. Quiet and comfortable place to stay.

A Waterway Guide User on January 11th, 2026:

Very nice marina. Showers were closed when I was there (January). Friendly staff. Greg gave me a ride into town. Go visit Morrisons Irish Pub on Thursday nights for sea shanty singing and AP Cigars right next door for a great little community cigar shop.

A Waterway Guide User on October 14th, 2025:

11/1/24 Great service as always. 10/2/25 Still great service as always, if staying more than 10 days, just get a month though! :)

A Waterway Guide User on October 4th, 2025:

To update what I just submitted, the Dockmaster confirmed that they no longer offer discounts

A Waterway Guide User on October 4th, 2025:

Note that the price on the pump "includes the discount". I guess that means EVERYONE gets the "discounted" price. Pump outs cost $15.

A Waterway Guide User on September 28th, 2025:

Great marina. Has everything you need, fuel, (good price) laundry, close to town, great individual shower/toilet rooms, and even a little diner inside marina office, that had a good breakfast. I would definitely stop here again. Thanks!

A Waterway Guide User on September 21st, 2025:

We are having a wonderful experience at Alton Marina AKA Seahorse Marina in Alton, Illinois! From start to finish, the service was excellent. At the fuel dock, Jackson and Jill went above and beyond—helping with pump-out, rinse-out, and even offering to take our trash. Fuel prices were very reasonable too. The marina office staff were fantastic to deal with. We were a bit uncertain about our timing and length of stay, but they were flexible and accommodating the whole way through. When we pulled into our slip, our neighbors came right out to lend a hand with docking, which gave the whole place a welcoming, community feel. The facilities are clean and well-kept, with a laundry room (two washers and two dryers at just $1 each!), a beautiful pool area, and a casual snack bar that's perfect for breakfast or lunch. The covered slips feel secure, and the location is excellent—right next to the Alton Amphitheater, where there were live events going on during our visit. Another big plus is convenience: Enterprise picked us up right at the marina for a rental car, which made exploring the area simple. All in all, Seahorse Marina is a gem on the river. Great service, friendly atmosphere, and everything you need for a comfortable stay. We'll definitely be back!

A Waterway Guide User on September 17th, 2025:

Very clean and accommodating. Helpful and friendly staff. Even a pool during season. Short walk into town. Covered slips available.

A Waterway Guide User on July 21st, 2025:

Had to move slips 3 times, poor communication with pleasure crafts. Was a busy weekend.

A Waterway Guide User on June 4th, 2025:

May 13-14. A great marina. We stayed 2 nights while we waited out some weather. Nice clean, hot showers. Everyone we came in contact with were very helpful. We had a great experience. There was only 1 other transient boat besides us. They have a large number of slips dedicated to transients.

A Waterway Guide User on November 1st, 2024:

This is a great marina that we stayed at for six days. The docks and covered slips are well-maintained and very stable. The marina is very clean, and has great facilities. They offer private restrooms/ showers, laundry room (two each washer/dryer), and a small ships store (more of a gift shop). The marina has very good lighting and security. The grounds are very pet-friendly. There is also a wonderful little breakfast grill in the ships store that serves great breakfast and lunch options at a remarkably reasonable price. It is a bit of a walk to the town's restaurants and bars or casino. Uber and car rental options are good in the area, and access to downtown St. Louis or the airport is about $40. This marina is a great place to leave your boat if you need to travel, or just stop for a few days before you head down the river. We would definitely stay here again.

A Waterway Guide User on September 30th, 2024:

Great marina! We were there to wait out two hurricanes, and we left the boat there as we traveled to Washington State for a wedding. Great staff. Covered slips. Great individual bathrooms/showers. Enterprise will pick you up at the marina to get your car rental. Walmart delivery is available for those with Walmart +. A small grocery store will pick you up and bring you back to the marina for your shopping.

A Waterway Guide User on September 30th, 2024:

All comments valid- however we saw no depth issues whatsoever. Staff super helpful. Nice cafe onsite with awesome breakfast sandwiches. Good but small laundry facilities. Bath and restroom facilities top notch and clean. A first rate marina by any measure.

A Note from the Marina:

Alton Upstream Gage 19.32 feet.

A Waterway Guide User on September 29th, 2024:

Great staff at this marina! We weren't in the covered area ( partly due to our power needs ) but the docks are wide and in good condition! Voltage hovers around 210 . Great amenities, private bathrooms/ showers, small ship store with a great little grill….and the woman that cooks does a great job !!! Fuel and pump out available.Laundry facilities….2/2 at $1 each. Town has many places to go for food/ drink and a couple of grocery stores. Nice place to stop for a couple of days before the long run to Paducah. Definitely would stay again !!!!!

A Waterway Guide User on September 20th, 2024:

Great place to leave to boat for a while and fly or drive home for a while. Enterprise car rental will pick you up here. Lots of covered slips with high air clearance. Pool, laundry, private baths/showers,pump out, snack bar. Courteous staff. Several decent restaurants in town. Make sure to visit the museum at the Mel Price Lock (by car or bicycle)

A Waterway Guide User on September 12th, 2024:

The marina staff were great to work with and the marina was good to stay in on Oct. 11, 23. We did like city of Graton better than the city of Alton though. But, the grocery store in Alton was very cruiser friendly and we found some great places in Alton.

A Waterway Guide User on August 19th, 2024:

Very friendly Marina personnel. We had a covered dock in the large Marina. We had lunch at their deli. They even have a frozen drink machine! There is a nice pool and private, clean bathrooms. It's a bit of a walk to town since you have to go over a bridge and a main road. Buff City Grill had good food and great dinner specials.

A Waterway Guide User on October 28th, 2023:

After 3 days of anchoring and tying up, Alton Marina was a welcome stop. Took advantage of their AGLCA special and booked 10 days. Fueled up, topped off water, and pumped out . Wi-Fi was good. Bathrooms/showers were clean and appointed. Deli was great. Robert the Marina Manager was wonderful during are stay and when I was trying to make arrangements for our stay. Can not say enough about this marina. Mac's Downtown was our favorite restaurant. We would stay here again.

A Waterway Guide User on October 22nd, 2023:

12 Oct 23 Sam at GreatLoopAcademy.com here on a training trip with a 430 Mainship with a 3' 8" draft. Stopped here for a rest, pump out, fuel, and water. Stayed two days due to weather and visited Fast Eddie's of course. Nice marina, well run by Rob. Snack bar is great but limited hours this time of year. No courtesy car, limited rental choices and hit/miss Uber, but town is well within walking distance. Home of Miles Davis. Statue in the town square area. Good T-Mobile and Verizon service. Sam from WhatYachtToDo ?

A Waterway Guide User on October 20th, 2023:

Great stop for anything you could need ,we had generator parts delivered and walmart even delivers groceries,, friendly people everything clean and neat !! Nice walk to resturants and town

A Waterway Guide User on September 30th, 2023:

Wonderful marina. Easy to book by phone. Deep water (10 feet) and covered slips on transient dock, which is close to clean, private bathrooms. Electric, water, fuel, small deli and convenience store on site. They were short-staffed and doing water system maintenance during our stay, but were very helpful and customer-focused. Close to town and the Mel Price Lock. Call the lock before you leave, if southbound. We had a 4-hour wait and it was nice to do most of that at the marina.

A Waterway Guide User on June 6th, 2023:

Stayed one night on a T head. just a little under staffed but courteous and dock hands try very hard. Still learning but great attitudes. We stayed on the "T" at J dock power was mediocre at best (98 Volts)
So be aware of that. Jill the Harbour Master is awesome. Only thing I would say is be prepared for a 3% add to credit card for fuel etc. Not unexpected. overall great place. Handled our 5 foot draft ok mostly saw 6-10 ft.

A Waterway Guide User on December 23rd, 2022:

I chose Alton Marina as a place to park my boat for the month of November 2022 while I went home to take care of some business. I got a covered slip in the long term tenant area. I stayed on the boat 3 days before I went home and 3 days after returning, before continuing my trip south on the Loop.

Unfortunately, the water and pumpout had been shut off prior to our arrival for the winter. This meant that the bathrooms with showers were not available and there was no water at the boat. The only restrooms were at the marina office, which was quite a walk from where the boat was parked. The laundry room (in the same building) was open and available. The deli/shop was closed for the season.

The place is very dog friendly, especially that time of year with hardly anyone around.

The marina is walking distance to town, but it isn't a short walk. Not many shops or restaurants were open during our stays. We did walk to a small local market in town -- it was at least a mile away. There was no courtesy car. I wound up renting a car before my departure and then again on my return so I had more flexibility for provisioning and making airport runs. There's a Walmart outside of town that sells just about anything you might need.

The main benefit of this stop -- at least to me -- was its proximity to St. Louis and its airport.