Fuel prices are through the roof! Who knows better than boaters?
If you think it’s expensive to fill up your car, try fueling up a boat.
Fuel prices run higher on the water for a number of reasons: Insurance at marinas is generally higher than at land-based gas stations. Marinas usually have a lot of specialized dock maintenance. And, with a compressed season, marinas — particularly those in Maryland, Virginia and D.C. — have just a few months to turn a profit.
But the prices per gallon are more than a dollar higher than they were a year ago.
As of Friday, The Wharf Marina was charging $6.17 for diesel and $6.63 for gasoline. James Creek Marina had diesel for $6.15 and gas for $6.50 per gallon. National Harbor was selling gas for $6.45 per gallon and reported a malfunction with its diesel system, so a price was not available. Columbia Island Marina does not sell diesel, but gas was $6.60 a gallon.
The higher fuel prices are causing some to adjust their boating behavior.
“I just took the boat out last weekend, and we didn’t go fast. We went at a snail’s pace because we didn’t want to use that much fuel. It’s expensive,” said Jodie Knox, who has a boat at Capital Yacht Club. “We have a 53-foot boat, and we probably went about 7 knots, so that’s pretty slow to go all the way to Mount Vernon because we didn’t want to burn that much.”
“I usually fill up the fuel at the end of the season, and I’m so glad I did that last year because I’m starting with a full tank this summer, but I’m going to be really conservative with it until the prices come back down,” Knox said.
“We’re not going to go very far on trips this summer until I see the fuel prices come down,” said Jon Love of Ashburn, Virginia, who keeps a boat at The Wharf. “Normally by now, I would have gone up on the bay or taken a long ride down the Potomac.”
“I’ve been shortening my rides, and, hopefully, I won’t buy as much fuel,” Love said.
“That changes how much we go boating,” said John Locke, who lives aboard at Capital Yacht Club.
“We often would take our boat down to Colonial Beach or someplace like that. But we’re not going to. We’re going to instead drive and save money with an Airbnb, and we’re not going to go boating. We’ll wind up boating less,” Locke said.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
