Freeport Marina

Freeport Marina sits on LaGrange Bayou, the same natural harbor that drew the earliest settlers to this stretch of Walton County around 1830, when the town first grew up along the bayou’s banks under names like Genoa and Four Mile Landing before eventually becoming Freeport. That history matters because the bayou has never stopped being the town’s link to the water: LaGrange Bayou drains into Choctawhatchee Bay on the north side, and boats here have easy access out to the bay and, a few miles further, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.

The marina markets itself as Freeport’s first full-service public marina, and the “public” part is a real distinction from many private slip arrangements along the bay: at least 90 percent of the roughly 135 slips are held open on a first-come, first-served basis rather than reserved for members, so transient boaters and locals without a private dock have a genuine shot at tying up here. Slips range from 15 feet up to 250 feet, with a dockside depth of about 14 feet and an approach depth of roughly 15 feet, enough room for everything from small runabouts to larger cruising boats passing through on the Intracoastal.

Beyond slip rentals, the marina offers non-ethanol fuel, a real convenience for boaters running older outboards or engines sensitive to ethanol blends, along with dry storage and RV storage for anyone who trailers a boat or brings a camper down for a fishing trip. A boat launch rounds out the facility, making this a practical access point whether someone is keeping a boat here long-term or just needs to put in for the day. The marina keeps consistent daily hours, open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week, worth noting since a number of boat launches and marinas along the Emerald Coast either close on Sundays or run shorter weekend hours.

Location-wise, the marina sits roughly two miles south of Freeport’s City Hall off Bay Loop Road and about three miles north of the Intracoastal Waterway, putting it well inside protected water rather than exposed bay frontage, which makes it a comfortable staging point for boaters heading out into Choctawhatchee Bay to fish or spend a day on the water. For visitors without their own boat, it is still worth knowing this stretch of LaGrange Bayou exists as a working waterfront, a reminder that Freeport’s identity has always been tied to the bay even as the town has grown up around US-331 and the highway corridor.

One note for anyone researching this marina online: directories and boating sites are inconsistent about its current name and contact details, with some listing it as Freeport Marina, others referencing a “Marina Village at LaGrange Bayou,” and still others pointing to a more recently rebranded “North Star Marina” at what appears to be the same or an adjacent address on Marina Village Boulevard. That kind of naming drift is common when a marina changes ownership or branding, and it is worth confirming current details by phone before a visit, especially fuel pricing and slip availability, since those tend to shift with ownership and season. Anyone planning to fuel up or dock here for the first time should call ahead to confirm current rates and slip status rather than relying solely on older online listings, which may describe an earlier version of the operation under a different name.