A tour of marinas in Spain - where do you suggest I go?

[petem]

Thinking about Gibraltar at one end to Sant Carles at the other.

Peter, if this is a one way trip by hire car be warned that picking up and dropping off at different locations can be expensive. Plus the mileage isn't unlimited. Finally, if you are picking up or dropping off at Reus or Castellon you will need your wits about as you'll be limited to Goldcar or Firefly.

 

[MapisM]

orange Germans

Wazzat

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Wazzat

All the Germans in Portals seem to use the same cheap fake tan product which makes them look orange

 

[MapisM]

Urgh. A clear cut case of "each to their own", if I've ever seen one!

 

[petem]

All the Germans in Portals seem to use the same cheap fake tan product which makes them look orange

Same colour as Trump.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Same colour as Trump.

Actually youre right!

 

[Hurricane]

Same colour as Trump.

Do you mean this guy

 

[PEJ]

Peter, if this is a one way trip by hire car be warned that picking up and dropping off at different locations can be expensive. Plus the mileage isn't unlimited. Finally, if you are picking up or dropping off at Reus or Castellon you will need your wits about as you'll be limited to Goldcar or Firefly.

Thanks for the advice Pete,

My latest thoughts are to fly to Malaga, drive to GIB, back to Malaga, fly to Barcelona, drive to Roses, back to Barcelona, fly to Alicante and drive around that area. The two internal flights will cost £42.00

 

[DavidJ]

Peter, if this is a one way trip by hire car be warned that picking up and dropping off at different locations can be expensive. Plus the mileage isn't unlimited. Finally, if you are picking up or dropping off at Reus or Castellon you will need your wits about as you'll be limited to Goldcar or Firefly.

Avoid Goldcar.
You get ripped off at every opportunity
Last time had to pat €4 extra per day because the car was diesel????

 

[NGM]

Thanks for the advice Pete,

My latest thoughts are to fly to Malaga, drive to GIB, back to Malaga, fly to Barcelona, drive to Roses, back to Barcelona, fly to Alicante and drive around that area. The two internal flights will cost £42.00

sounds like a fun trip, it's not my home port but I really like Alicante. It's a genuine 365 day big town. Restaurants and shopping are great, beautiful promenade and beaches and airport is 10 mins away with vast selection of flights all year.
As others have said the coastline is limited but it is a least centrally located (Cartegena-Valencia) for marina hopping and only 90 miles to Ibiza.
In Marina Deportiva the berths adjacent to the restaurants and bars are very noisy in the summer months.

 

[PlanB]

If flying into Gib or Malaga, look at www.brunoscar.com. Small independent, good prices, great service, extras included and no rip off.

 

[AlexKT7]

Hello evryone, I have a lame question about buying a mooring. For example this option http://www.navicularia.com/en/archivos/listings/marina-de-las-dunas-guardamar-2 is priced at 9500 EUR until 2026. How does this work?

Do I buy from the local authority (i.e. marina, council, etc) or some owner is looking to sell his place? What's normally included? 9500 EUR seems to be pretty cheap if compared with quoted pa 3-4K rent options. Any other annual fees? What happens in 2026? Do I get to renew the lease?

I have been to Guardamar many times in summer and would not mind having this marina as our base in Spain given close proximity to Alicante.

thanks

 

[Grubble]

Hello evryone, I have a lame question about buying a mooring. For example this option http://www.navicularia.com/en/archivos/listings/marina-de-las-dunas-guardamar-2 is priced at 9500 EUR until 2026. How does this work?

Do I buy from the local authority (i.e. marina, council, etc) or some owner is looking to sell his place? What's normally included? 9500 EUR seems to be pretty cheap if compared with quoted pa 3-4K rent options. Any other annual fees? What happens in 2026? Do I get to renew the lease?

I have been to Guardamar many times in summer and would not mind having this marina as our base in Spain given close proximity to Alicante.

thanks

The marinas in Spain belong to the state and are leased to concessionaries for a fixed term, who then rent the berths out. Presumably the one you are looking at is on sale from a private individual who has purchased the right to use that berth until the concession runs out in 2026. You need to check what monthly fees are due to the marina itself, which could be steep. At the end of the lease you lose the berth, but you might then be given the right of first refusal to renew at whatever price the (new) concession holder for the marina thinks they can get for it.

You need to phone them up and ask.

 

[jrudge]

Also ask if you need to join a club.

Club de mar in Mallorca for example is for my size I think a e15000 joining fee which made the annual berth cost inc buying It and paying the service charges non viable

 

[DavidJ]

.....fly to Barcelona, drive to Roses, .....

The motorway drive from Barcelona to Empuriabrava and Rosas is actually quite lovely and one of my favourite motorways.
If you have time drive up to Cap de Creus from Rosas for Salvador Dali inspired views. On the way drop into Hemingway’s Cadaques on the coast
Then of course there is Dali’s house in Port Lligat
.....you’ll need a couple days

 

[Hooligan]

@ J rudge and any others with itchy feet .
We’ve moved to Italy’s Ligurian coast , Marina d Loano to be precise but there are plenty of others .
Ours was based on logistics of nearest base from Switzerland - shorter drive .

Boat wise we have up and down that coast plenty of times and sure it’s less interesting than SoF .However Monaco is 2 hrs and Lerins ( Cannes islands 3 hrs ) so it’s not like we have been exiled etc .Plus a huge fresh cruising ground to our E and S = Elba etc .

But the point is this ........a pleasant upside ....
It’s cheap , refreshingly cheap .Large Beer €4.50 not €7/8 as Cote d Azur .
Yard labour €40 / hr as opposed to 70/80 .
My berth ( 14m ) is €6600 + tax so under €8 k all in no service charge just leccy on meter est €4/6 00 ? currently renting out by SoF for €17 K pa took a week to find a tenant .

It’s a posh one by Liguria standards there are even cheaper .
We choose it on location not price .
Meals out can be peanuts like starters €5\7 and mains teens .
Pizza Marguerite €6 etc etc .
There’s some “ posh “ places like Alassiso nearby ,

Genoa airport is 55 mins away with regulators flights into London and Nice 2 hrs away .

Sea bottom is sand and the people are really warm + nice .

It’s just if you are wanting to escape without the hassle of expensive SoF and availability commitments you could try the Liguria for a year and boat into the SoF for a sniff around.

We bought 2 years they do discount if you buy more years . Our tenant s contract ends Sept 21
So far I have not regretted it .Its different in a positive kinda way .

Take stabs for example .....

Obviously I follow the threads which mostly seem to be rolling @ anchor stuff on the tables going flying etc etc .,,,buts that’s just shear boat density / crowded areas / wakes etc .
Fully understand and sympathise feel the pain etc etc in the Cote d Azur .

How ever in the Liguria all that’s a none event , none starter because of the low density , there just isn’t the crowdedness to make unpleasant wakes to stimulate any sales in stabs .

We made the move this year from menorca where we had moved to from Mallorca. Could not agree more with Jrudge and I wished we had moved earlier. Spent 6 weeks moving to the Bay of Salerno in the footsteps of MedMilo n- Marina d'Arechi. the journey was incredible especially Corsica where we spent a ton of time. We avoided N Sardinia in general except as a transit point. Part of me wishes we had done longer in Corsica/Elba. Where we are now is cheaper all around and excellent boating with plenty of culture onshore and lots of islands in either direction and also the posh stuff on the Amalfi Coast to give SWMBO the occasional good night out. The marina is fairly basic and I know BartW didnt stay long but it is functional and seems to work thus far. Overall totally agree with all the above. Had the best pizza i ever had for €5 washed down with a jug of wine that cost less and didn't taste like rat's poison. Basically something for everyone and wonderfully chaotic in a nice way. If you join in the humour and chaos the local people will do anything for you and we have loved the fact that you can usually always find somewhere to berth despite everything supposedly being full!!

 

[Paulie300]

Im a year late dipping into this thread but as one on the point of shortlisting a boat to purchase circa 20m, and considering home berths versus leapfrogging around, in particular somewhere in or within ease of using the Balearics, and perhaps later eastward to the Ionian and Greek Islands, this has been incredibly useful. I note Hurricanes analysis of mainland cost, versus the Islands, but seek comfort for the practicality of finding a short term marina or mooring around Ibiza/Mallorca should I want to stay for several days, (ideally at anchor/buoy), butbwith a bolt hole should the wind/weather no be ideal ? Next q, a worry really, is how limited the endurance range appears to be for the boats I seem to shortlist... a couple hundred miles if at reasonable cruise speed... is this normal, and ill get used to it, or is this a concern, always hunting down the next fuel pontoon? It may well be that my first base will be Sant Carles with an attractive prospect being currently based there... should I think to sit tight there initially, make a few friends, learn better from others experience before worrying about onward plans? I've done a fair bit of sailing, just back from Caribbean actually, and never felt the need to concern myself overly with fuel stops before, though I did motor bareboat a couple thousand miles around Greece 20 years ago (during the fuel strike actually, that was a bit smarting), but all advice most gratefully received. So I mix my enquiry with Spain mainland vs Islands, with fuel management practicalities. On this forum, is direct contact possible? Particularly useful if I am shortly visiting marinas for viewings, in order to meet a friendly and experienced face..

 

[Hurricane]

You will be very welcome at Sant Carles.
You will find the berthing costs very competative.

This forum seems to have lost the links to my videos earlier in this thread.
Maybe these two videos will give you an idea of how to cruise the Balearics from Sant Carles.

This was a late season cruise round all three islands and then back along the coast from Denia.

And this was from an Ibiza cruise at the end of 2019.

Jennywren is 20m

 

[Paulie300]

This is very kind, I had noticed the absent videos, will watch now.

 

[Paulie300]

Mike, Thank you for these, and indeed I was able to link to others and other past features, including your delivery trip, a great read. I'll be in touch if I may, as soon as arrangements can be made for viewing in Sant Carles, and will ultimately post here what I end up with, and if it should not be there, where!