Experience of Alicante marina

[matt8442]

Hi All,
currently planning for 2022 season and looking to get into a marina around the Alicante region for the winter months 2022/2023. Can anyone let me know if they have any previous experience with either the Alicante marina or any marinas in this area please? Boat will be 52ft motorboat with a beam of 4.5m with 1.1m draft. Would be looking at winter servicing in the yard if one is available. Appreciate lots of debate about VAT, Bexit, COVID-19 and Schengen 90/180 rule, but I’m not asking about that, just looking for some friendly advice on where to put the boat out of season.
Thanks in advance and here’s to the world getting back to some kind of new normal...

 

[Sticky Fingers]

@petem keeps his boat there I think, might be along to comment.

 

[petem]

I've no personal experience of Alicante marina (I'll let others who have comment). But we do keep out boat an hour up the coast (Marina Greenwich - Altea) and really like the area. It's not a cheap place to park a bout though.

If you want somewhere cheaper then head an hour further south from Alicante (Torrevieja) and berthing prices drop.

We find servicing cheap (a lot cheaper than the Balearics). Our local VP dealer are very good and charge €40 per hour (plus VAT).

 

[Peterlewis321]

I've no personal experience of Alicante marina (I'll let others who have comment). But we do keep out boat an hour up the coast (Marina Greenwich - Altea) and really like the area. It's not a cheap place to park a bout though.

If you want somewhere cheaper then head an hour further south from Alicante (Torrevieja) and berthing prices drop.

We find servicing cheap (a lot cheaper than the Balearics). Our local VP dealer are very good and charge €40 per hour (plus VAT).

We are based in Denia just a bit further up the coast towards Valencia (about mid way between Alicante and Valencia) and we also love the area - and nice and close to the Balearics too. The thing we really like about Denia is the fact that it is 'open' all year round unlike some of the pretty places like Moraira which get very very quiet out of season.
Which VP dealer you use at Euro40/hr....that is a good rate - we are paying Euro45/hr here in Denia?

 

[matt8442]

I've no personal experience of Alicante marina (I'll let others who have comment). But we do keep out boat an hour up the coast (Marina Greenwich - Altea) and really like the area. It's not a cheap place to park a bout though.

If you want somewhere cheaper then head an hour further south from Alicante (Torrevieja) and berthing prices drop.

We find servicing cheap (a lot cheaper than the Balearics). Our local VP dealer are very good and charge €40 per hour (plus VAT).

Thanks for the reply Pete, Ill have a look at Altea.

 

[matt8442]

We are based in Denia just a bit further up the coast towards Valencia (about mid way between Alicante and Valencia) and we also love the area - and nice and close to the Balearics too. The thing we really like about Denia is the fact that it is 'open' all year round unlike some of the pretty places like Moraira which get very very quiet out of season.
Which VP dealer you use at Euro40/hr....that is a good rate - we are paying Euro45/hr here in Denia?

Again Peter, like I said to Pete, thanks for taking the time to reply, again Ill have a look at Denia. Again reason for this is to bounce into the Balaerics when we can so that also sounds like a good place.

 

[Peterlewis321]

Again Peter, like I said to Pete, thanks for taking the time to reply, again Ill have a look at Denia. Again reason for this is to bounce into the Balaerics when we can so that also sounds like a good place.

You are welcome Matt. Denia is (IMHO) the best location (on the mainland) if you intend on cruising the balearics - on a smooth day you are on the western tip of Ibiza in c2 hours, and in Formentera within 3 hours. If staying local, there is some decent cruising to be had South towards Alicante. And Denia is pretty much equal distance from either Alicante or Valencia airports allowing you to shop the best flight deals/availability. Being a decent sized town it has all the facilities, all year round, and loads of good restaurants. Good luck in your search.

 

[kashurst]

Alicante is a lovely marina. I have been there loads of times. Staff generally very helpful. There are two boat yards - but you are close to loads of other marinas with good yards as well so you can shop around.
Berth wise it can get a bit noisy when the festivals are on so if you can, get a spot away from the restaurants. Its also very handy for the airport and the city. Its about 40 miles north to Moraira/Greenwhich marinas which are good places to stop on the way to Ibiza etc. Overall south of Javea the bays get less wind and are a bit more sheltered.

 

[petem]

We are based in Denia just a bit further up the coast towards Valencia (about mid way between Alicante and Valencia) and we also love the area - and nice and close to the Balearics too. The thing we really like about Denia is the fact that it is 'open' all year round unlike some of the pretty places like Moraira which get very very quiet out of season.
Which VP dealer you use at Euro40/hr....that is a good rate - we are paying Euro45/hr here in Denia?

Peter, we use Prada Yachts - Prada Yachts Altea – Embarcaciones de Ocasión y Nuevas. I tend to get Prada to collect the boat and take it to Altea where a bloke called Diego antifouls it and Prada do the servicing / repairs.

An ex Fairline field engineer based in Altea does general repairs for me.

When you keep a boat abroad, you really need trustworthy people to keep an eye on it and not rip you off. Particularly during a pandemic.

 

[Peterlewis321]

Peter, we use Prada Yachts - Prada Yachts Altea – Embarcaciones de Ocasión y Nuevas. I tend to get Prada to collect the boat and take it to Altea where a bloke called Diego antifouls it and Prada do the servicing / repairs.

An ex Fairline field engineer based in Altea does general repairs for me.

When you keep a boat abroad, you really need trustworthy people to keep an eye on it and not rip you off. Particularly during a pandemic.

Pete, we use A&P Marine based in Marina Denia run by Brits who are also ex-Fairline funnily enough. They really do a fantastic job in all honesty albeit their rates are perhaps marginally higher - they take care of everything including the VP stuff, Williams, Onan generator, antifouling etc etc etc. As you say, you need a local company to look after your boat (as you say even more so right now with not being able to get out there yourself) and you need to trust them - plenty of ripoff merchants out there!!

 

[petem]

Pete, we use A&P Marine based in Marina Denia run by Brits who are also ex-Fairline funnily enough. They really do a fantastic job in all honesty albeit their rates are perhaps marginally higher - they take care of everything including the VP stuff, Williams, Onan generator, antifouling etc etc etc. As you say, you need a local company to look after your boat (as you say even more so right now with not being able to get out there yourself) and you need to trust them - plenty of ripoff merchants out there!!

Is that Andy? I think @kashurst has mentioned him to me in the past. That's good to know.

I've just checked my last quote and Altea are €45 too (not €40). Not that it maters much, it's more important to find someone who actually fixes the thing and doesn't charge excessive hours.

 

[petem]

@Peterlewis321 do they ever do rescue runs on the ferry to collect stranded / broken boats in Ibiza?!

 

[Peterlewis321]

@Peterlewis321 do they ever do rescue runs on the ferry to collect stranded / broken boats in Ibiza?!

Thankfully I've not had to find that out (yet!!). But I believe they absolutely would

 

[Peterlewis321]

Is that Andy? I think @kashurst has mentioned him to me in the past. That's good to know.

I've just checked my last quote and Altea are €45 too (not €40). Not that it maters much, it's more important to find someone who actually fixes the thing and doesn't charge excessive hours.

Peter, the 'A' is Amanda and the 'P' is Paul.....but they do have an engineer called Andy and he is excellent!! So, looks like Euro45 is the going rate for a good company then. As you say, it is the trust that really counts anyway!!

 

[Truro Ex Pat]

I stayed there for a year and found it very easy to get to as close to the airport and easy flights to and from UK.
Try Isaac or Samuel at Jover yachts they are based there and can organise most things. Its a great town and loads of amenities but the cursing is a bit limited, we always used to go over to Mallorca in the summer and moved up to Altea as close to our house and then Denia which a bit more holiday ish! We found the cursing limited but there are some great places to see up and down the coast but lack the bays of the Balearics.

 

[matt8442]

Hi Everyone, thanks for all the comments and input, I’ve got some good starting points to look at now as well as Alicante.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

You are welcome Matt. Denia is (IMHO) the best location (on the mainland) if you intend on cruising the balearics - on a smooth day you are on the western tip of Ibiza in c2 hours, and in Formentera within 3 hours. If staying local, there is some decent cruising to be had South towards Alicante. And Denia is pretty much equal distance from either Alicante or Valencia airports allowing you to shop the best flight deals/availability. Being a decent sized town it has all the facilities, all year round, and loads of good restaurants. Good luck in your search.

I dont want to be argumentative but I have the opposite view of Denia. Yes it is midway between Alicante and Valencia airports but it is about 1 1/2hrs drive from either and thats the last thing you want after a delayed flight from the UK with kids in tow. Yes it is about as close as you can get on the mainland to the Balearics but IMHO the local cruising is limited. North there is nothing but flat coastline. OK south the coastline gets a bit more interesting but there arent any anchorages which are truly sheltered from all wind directions. And talking about the wind, the prevailing wind seems to be mostly easterly which is augmented by afternoon sea breezes which makes cruising along that coastline quite lumpy. Often when we cruised to Ibiza from Denia, we'd start back from Ibiza in a flat calm and arrive off the coast at Denia in half a gale. I've got no proof of this but also IMHO Denia has its own microclimate. We'd often see thunderclouds over Denia but clear to the north and south

Yes Denia marina is excellent and the town has a number of good restaurants including a v good steak restaurant who's name escapes me. We had one and half seasons in Denia but on one of our cruises to Majorca we docked in Palma and literally never went back to Denia

 

[Peterlewis321]

I dont want to be argumentative but I have the opposite view of Denia. Yes it is midway between Alicante and Valencia airports but it is about 1 1/2hrs drive from either and thats the last thing you want after a delayed flight from the UK with kids in tow. Yes it is about as close as you can get on the mainland to the Balearics but IMHO the local cruising is limited. North there is nothing but flat coastline. OK south the coastline gets a bit more interesting but there arent any anchorages which are truly sheltered from all wind directions. And talking about the wind, the prevailing wind seems to be mostly easterly which is augmented by afternoon sea breezes which makes cruising along that coastline quite lumpy. Often when we cruised to Ibiza from Denia, we'd start back from Ibiza in a flat calm and arrive off the coast at Denia in half a gale. I've got no proof of this but also IMHO Denia has its own microclimate. We'd often see thunderclouds over Denia but clear to the north and south

Yes Denia marina is excellent and the town has a number of good restaurants including a v good steak restaurant who's name escapes me. We had one and half seasons in Denia but on one of our cruises to Majorca we docked in Palma and literally never went back to Denia

Hi Mike, I agree with many of your points-and we would love to keep our boat in Mallorca or Ibiza-but from a cost perspective the moorings are at least twice the cost (if not more?). And also, in the off season, it can be more difficult (if not more expensive) to get flights to the islands whereas Valencia and Alicante are served all year round...not to mention the fact that many parts of the islands literally close down out of season! You are also right that Denia can be windy at times, but in the summer this can often be a relief and I do think that the local mountain “Montgo” does have a part to play in the climate (but it works both ways). We’ve never found the drive to be an issue (and we have kids), and remain of the opinion that Denia is the best location-on the mainland-to keep a boat if you want to cruise the islands in the summer months. But we all have, and are fully entitled to, our opinions!!

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Hi Mike, I agree with many of your points-and we would love to keep our boat in Mallorca or Ibiza-but from a cost perspective the moorings are at least twice the cost (if not more?). And also, in the off season, it can be more difficult (if not more expensive) to get flights to the islands whereas Valencia and Alicante are served all year round...not to mention the fact that many parts of the islands literally close down out of season! You are also right that Denia can be windy at times, but in the summer this can often be a relief and I do think that the local mountain “Montgo” does have a part to play in the climate (but it works both ways). We’ve never found the drive to be an issue (and we have kids), and remain of the opinion that Denia is the best location-on the mainland-to keep a boat if you want to cruise the islands in the summer months. But we all have, and are fully entitled to, our opinions!!

Hi Peter, actually when I added the cost of the fuel we'd used in a season shuttling to and from the islands, there wasnt such a big difference in cost between the berthing rates in Denia and Club de Mar in Palma where we ended up staying but there's an element of man maths in that calculation? Yes though I agree that places like Cala d'Or and Alcudia are pretty dead out of season, one of the reasons we stayed in Palma was that it is a proper living city and there was plenty to do out of season. In fact we liked it better out of season, fewer people and cooler of course. Also the marinas in Palma were only a 10-15min taxi ride from the airport which was very welcome after what we felt was too long a drive from Alicante. Another thing we liked about Palma was the wide availability of flights from any London airport so we could pick the flight times that suited us

Anyway each to his own and Denia certainly has its attractions so I fully understand why you stay there!

 

[Peterlewis321]

Hi Peter, actually when I added the cost of the fuel we'd used in a season shuttling to and from the islands, there wasnt such a big difference in cost between the berthing rates in Denia and Club de Mar in Palma where we ended up staying but there's an element of man maths in that calculation? Yes though I agree that places like Cala d'Or and Alcudia are pretty dead out of season, one of the reasons we stayed in Palma was that it is a proper living city and there was plenty to do out of season. In fact we liked it better out of season, fewer people and cooler of course. Also the marinas in Palma were only a 10-15min taxi ride from the airport which was very welcome after what we felt was too long a drive from Alicante. Another thing we liked about Palma was the wide availability of flights from any London airport so we could pick the flight times that suited us

Anyway each to his own and Denia certainly has its attractions so I fully understand why you stay there!

Thanks Mike-amazing how Man Maths can work! We are hoping to get over to Mallorca this late July/August…any recommendations, and any suggestions on how to try and get a berth booked for a couple of days at the Club de Mar….or are we dreaming??! So far we have always really struggled to get into any marina (particularly Ibiza)-either they won’t take advanced bookings or we phone the day before/that day only to find them always full!!! Whilst we love to anchor, a night or 2 ashore after a few days out on the hook is always nice.