I have stayed at many of the marinas in the area. I am at SSH now on Pier 10. I will also say that SSH is probably the hardest partying marina in the area. Is that a bad thing? I guess it depends....it surely can be if you are looking for peace and quiet. The Memorial Day weekend in question for me started at Keith's dock and his boat for his annual Hurricane Stay Away party. He had live music and it was a great time as always and definitely in control and not too loud. A Band "erupted" from that crowd and set up on Pier 12. It was all acoustic and no electric amplification. We were visited by the security guard but only because he was doing his rounds...not because we were too loud. The cops never came so it may have been a different night you speak of. I am of the belief that sitting on the dock playing guitar and singing along is a pretty damn good time....even if it goes past midnight..
With all of that said, the general personality of the marina is people that own 30 something foot gas powered boats. This is the most active group. That demographic is usually younger and louder and partier. Take that for what it is worth. If you go to a "sailboat marina"(Waterford, Watergate, KBM,etc.) the mentality of the marina is sailors(older, anal, people that don't use their boats but like to talk about it, sweaters with sparkly anchors on them,etc.).
One of the things I do like about SSH is that it is less "regulated". If you want to erect a canopy on the dock, have at it. If your slip is significantly bigger than you boat, you can build it out and make your own little personal deck/boarding platform. There are people on the other side of the marina that rented an entire slip and built it in(ie all wood decking and no water) and now have a tiki bar on their dock!!!! If you want another dockbox, you screw the bitch down and there you have it. Nowhere in the area will you have that kind of freedom. In fact, at Waterford, if you leave your flip flops on the dock you will likely receive a letter of reprimand stating their displeasure with your footwear on the dock...I AM NOT KIDDING! Waterford is an excellent marina. But I do get irritated when people are watching me that closely. Also it would be nearly double the money for me to move my boat there so I can't really justify that expense.
I enjoyed Portofino as well. But again, the dock nazi there irritated the hell out of me. And the lady in the office was consistently rude and pissed off at the world. I kinda got the impression that most people there kinda had that same mentality. I never really felt welcomed there because I was a "Stinkpotter"...one of very few there. But the marina itself is fairly nice and the pool is second to none. It was their management that drove me off.
Strangely, Kemah Boardwalk Marina ranks highly in my book. It is a good mix of regulation and freedom. There is noise from the boardwalk and traffic but not as much as you think. You would think traffic getting in is an issue but it isn't. Just stay to the right and go past the 6th street stop light...hang a rleft into the neighborhood....and loop around back to the marina. Might add 90 seconds??? and the touristas aren't wise enough to figure that out. Even when there is a line over the bridge, the right lane is open because everyone is trying to turn left at the first stop light(6th).
Watergate is nice but is mostly fixed piers and the new floating ones are nice but expensive. If I were to pay that much, I would go to Waterford.
In summary, I do occasionally get tired of the "activity" at SSH. The pool can get kinda crazy and sometimes that craziness spills out into the marina. We do watch out for one another. The guy across your fairway probably had no clue what was going on and to judge based on that alone I think is unfair. Keith is somewhat insulated over in his little corner of the world. He has a buffer zone(brokerage dock) between him and the parking lot and also has a gate with a menacing sign on it...
. I see the full brunt of the "activity"....and it can go on into the night on the weekends. I have tolerated it thus far. Will I be able to continue to...who knows. The money has me kinda stuck because my boat is small and the dock fees are cheap....and free electricity on my dock!!! But I have NEVER felt unsafe there!!!!!!
PS....Keith probably wheres sweaters with sparkly anchors on them!!!...