The Med in Winter

[Prose Echo]

I'm starting to plan my retirement and I'd like to spend a couple of years cruising the Med.

What is the weather like on the Med during winter? Are there other destinations I should be considering for the winter period?

 

[DavidJ]

In north Med Spain it gets cold you need to be way down south If you’re thinking Spain.

 

[jrudge]

In Mallorca you have 3 issues
1. Depending on where you are the place is closed or at best very quiet
2 the weather is mixed with big winter storms.
3 you cant Swim from Nov to May

 

[Bouba]

In the South of France I have had a few great winters, with mirror like seas. But lately it’s been mostly rough and stormy and for the first time ever, this year we are contemplating taking the boat out of the water for winter

 

[PlanB]

I spent 12 years living aboard in the western Med, near Gib. It seems to be almost a micro climate, with sunny winters, even if a bit chilly a night. Most years Feb/March could be a bit wet. Windy at times (but it used to be called the Costa del Viento before some tourist marketer renamed it Costa Del Sol.

 

[Hurricane]

As said above, most of the usual Med places are quiet during the winter months.
As jrudge says, the sea is too cold to swim but on the other hand, the weather on land can be really nice.
Beach BBQs in January aren't rare in our part of Spain.
The Med marinas during the winter months can be very pleasant.
Some of the sunny days in winter can be as nice as the UK in summer.

There is always a group of Brits in our marina over the New Year.
Usually, they paddle their canoes and paddle boards around the marina in bright sunshine.
In fact, this outlines the importance of selecting a location where you can make friends.
Our boating in Spain is more about the friends that we have rather than the actual boating.
So the winter months can be as fun as the summer ones.

The big difference is that during the winter months, people don't tend to go cruising.
But, of course, it isn't impossible.
Here are some pics from a delivery trip (an F43) which we did in February

Weather in Alicante was like summer in the UK


And the sea was really inviting


Likewise - the bar when we got home.
The weather can be bad but this is a typical winter day in our marina.


I retired 20 years ago and moved the boat to Spain 12 years ago.
I definitely recommend boating the the Med rather than in the UK
Hope this helps with your decision.

 

[Prose Echo]

As said above, most of the usual Med places are quiet during the winter months.
As jrudge says, the sea is too cold to swim but on the other hand, the weather on land can be really nice.
Beach BBQs in January aren't rare in our part of Spain.
The Med marinas during the winter months can be very pleasant.
Some of the sunny days in winter can be as nice as the UK in summer.

There is always a group of Brits in our marina over the New Year.
Usually, they paddle their canoes and paddle boards around the marina in bright sunshine.
In fact, this outlines the importance of selecting a location where you can make friends.
Our boating in Spain is more about the friends that we have rather than the actual boating.
So the winter months can be as fun as the summer ones.

The big difference is that during the winter months, people don't tend to go cruising.
But, of course, it isn't impossible.
Here are some pics from a delivery trip (an F43) which we did in February

Weather in Alicante was like summer in the UK
View attachment 99438

And the sea was really inviting
View attachment 99439

Likewise - the bar when we got home.
The weather can be bad but this is a typical winter day in our marina.
View attachment 99440

I retired 20 years ago and moved the boat to Spain 12 years ago.
I definitely recommend boating the the Med rather than in the UK
Hope this helps with your decision.

On the basis that you sound as though you move boats back and forth, what is your experience of the Aegean over the winter months?

 

[Prose Echo]

As I'm a constant cruiser what is everyone's thoughts of the Aegean?

 

[DavidJ]

Suggest you put a posting on the liveaboard forum. Over winter it is nice to be around a bunch of like minded people.
We had a winter in Porto Turistico di Roma some years ago, for us we flew back and forth (Airport very close) but we met a crowd of interesting livaboards, very welcoming group organising all sorts of low budget activities.
Got to know Rome really well also

 

[Hurricane]

On the basis that you sound as though you move boats back and forth, what is your experience of the Aegean over the winter months?

Sorry, no experience of the Aegean.
And I only help friends with deliveries - nothing professional.

 

[PlanB]

I had friends who planned to liveaboard in Greece, but ended up keeping the boat in Corfu and coming back to UK between November and April - too wet and cold.

 

[Peterlewis321]

Our boat is in Denia, Spain. We love spending time down there over the winter in the school holidays. Past 3 New Years trips have been great-pleasantly warm in the day (t shirt and shorts out of any wind) and generally calm seas. Sea is cold for swimming, and you need heating (reverse cycle air con is fine) on at night to take the chill off. But it is 1000% nicer than UK at that time of year (generally). We contemplated keeping our boat in Ibiza, but after visiting in the off season we realised that a) flights are harder to find, and b) nothing is open and there is Zero atmosphere. Find a location that is ‘local’ and has all year round activity - Denia is perfect for that in our opinion as well as being <3hr cruise to Ibiza!!

 

[Trident]

Bear in mind that Brexit means you can only be in Schengen for 90 days in 180 so cruising in the Med full time means 3 months in North Africa or Gib etc out of every 6 months

 

[petem]

I'm starting to plan my retirement and I'd like to spend a couple of years cruising the Med.

What is the weather like on the Med during winter? Are there other destinations I should be considering for the winter period?

Can be lovely but can be like this...

 

[vas]

Bear in mind that Brexit means you can only be in Schengen for 90 days in 180 so cruising in the Med full time means 3 months in North Africa or Gib etc out of every 6 months

or Turkey if you choose Aegean
had a medicane last week, left lots of damage in the Ionian and many boats sunk
weather can be nice, can be awful, can be v.calm, can be windy.
The more to the south you get, the better.
Central Aegean in the summer is too windy with the meltemi winds, makes it annoying, around Rhodes, Marmaris maybe?
also note that in the Greek area there are v.few marinas (in the proper sense of the term), mostly fishing ports or other rough setups which can be nice but maybe not what you want.

 

[John100156]

....And I only help friends with deliveries - nothing professional....

Yes and much appreciated was your and Mary's help over three days in Feb/Mar 2011 IIRC taking that F43 from Duquesa to Sant Carles, the picture of us on an over-night stop on the fuel berth in Alicante....

I sold that boat and it's now under offer at Boats.co.uk having been recently sold by its last owner (of this parish) who now has a very nice looking Fairline.....

Its great in the Med in the winter, if only the days were longer!

I recall many years ago sitting in shorts and short sleeve shirt on 14 December having lunch outside a restaurant in L'Ampolla, not far from SCM, compared to mid-July in Torquay waiting for the wind and rain to stop..... As Jrudge says, you do get high winds but no comparison in my opinion.....

 

[Hurricane]

Yes and much appreciated was your and Mary's help over three days in Feb/Mar 2011 IIRC taking that F43 from Duquesa to Sant Carles, the picture of us on an over-night stop on the fuel berth in Alicante....

I sold that boat and it's now under offer at Boats.co.uk having been recently sold by its last owner (of this parish) who now has a very nice looking Fairline.....

Its great in the Med in the winter, if only the days were longer!

I recall many years ago sitting in shorts and short sleeve shirt on 14 December having lunch outside a restaurant in L'Ampolla, not far from SCM, compared to mid-July in Torquay waiting for the wind and rain to stop..... As Jrudge says, you do get high winds but no comparison in my opinion.....

John
You missed out the memory of that "New Year's Day" swim on the town beach - January 1st 2013
The water was a bit "nippy" but several of us swam - including you and I.
IIRC the big problem is that the town beach has a very shallow slope so we had to walk quite a long way out before swimming.
Then back to the marina bar for a hot toddy.

We live close to the sea in Devon and some nutters swim on Christmas Day.
Believe me the water in Sant Carles on that New Year's day in 2013 was a LOT warmer than it is here in the UK at the same time of the year.

 

[John100156]

I remember it well Mike, as I recall Mary brought us a hot toddy to warm us all up!

Not sure it will ever be repeated...!

Good crowd of people in Sant Carles, all very friendly and helpful, hope events are not too badly interrupted next year.... I reckon we would be on for a major rafting event out in the bay next summer.

 

[Hurricane]

. I reckon we would be on for a major rafting event out in the bay next summer.

Maybe more like this then


Been a funny year - this year.

Maybe we can dream of these kinds of parties - who knows what the future will be.
Depressing - isn't it.

 

[Irish Rover]

As I'm a constant cruiser what is everyone's thoughts of the Aegean?

I'm not a liveaboard but I use my boat all year around here on the Aegean and we're rarely curtailed by weather. In fact the winter months are generally more calm than the summer months. We get a fair amount of rain Dec, Jan and Feb but certainly not as much or as frequently as the Ionian. The sea temperature rarely gets below 16C and I swim all year around. There aren't very many liveaboards in our marina In Kusadasi but I understand there are a good number in marinas further south in Marmaris, Fethiye, Kas and Finike. Boats from Turkey weren't allowed into Greece this year because of C19 but normally the Aegean is a fantastic cruising area including the fabulous Turkish coast and dozens of attractive and welcoming Greek islands.