Bare Boat charter - where

oGaryo

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So, now I have an ICC on the way and already in possession of a VHF license I think the only other question I need to answer for holidays abroad next year is, where? We'd not charter a boat for longer than a weekend as we'd do none boaty stuff for the majority of the holiday. We're thinking Croatia. Should we consider other locations?

cheers Gary
 
So, now I have an ICC on the way and already in possession of a VHF license I think the only other question I need to answer for holidays abroad next year is, where? We'd not charter a boat for longer than a weekend as we'd do none boaty stuff for the majority of the holiday. We're thinking Croatia. Should we consider other locations?

cheers Gary

Jack and Chantal did a trip earlier this year to Florida with The Moorings. The feature is in the December MBY, out today. They loved it - and found it came in cheaper than a rival Med charter.
 
Tenerife ?

In my opinion you dont really need a large boat in reliable weather.
With an ICC you can charter a RIB prior to lunch time rush for peanuts , stay somewhere comfortable and take the RIB out each morning/early afternoon.

these photos were taken over a few trips but last year in a single cruise we saw more marine life than ever before !


Walking to the boat across the beach and this little chap came to say hello

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Colourful fish in the harbour
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Barely outside the harbour when a dolphin came to play
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Thinking about swimming when we spotted what looked like inflated durex floating around, turn out to be highly toxic Bluebottle jelly fish :eek:

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A little further out and pilot whales
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And on the way back, floated unanchored for lunch and we think we saw a turtle swim underneath us, didnt have time to take a photo.

I didnt know what to make of this, but I was pleased I opted for the bigger engine .
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5 m Rib 90 HP and I was happy on tick over (most the time) ;)

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Even if you dont choose Tenerife I think the idea of investing a lot into a large charter boat for a week or two might not be the best choice for a family holiday, make sure it has aircon if you do choose to stay on the boat. :cool:
 
Croatia is great for a boating holiday and flights with Ryanair are for nothing. We hired a couple of days during our weeks stay In Pakostrane and it was simply fantastic - crystal clear water, island after island to visit and you frequently come across like cafe's with their own mooring where you can stop for an ice cream or a beer.

As the previous poster said - there is no need for anything big unless you are planning to liveaboard. There is a hotel in Biograd that has its own marina out front and you can rent a zippy little rib by the day or the week and that would be fast enough to get all around the islands - and there are lots of them!

Just a word if you have kids and/or an easily shocked wife - lots of people seem to be into nude boating and so don't be surprised to pull into a sheltered anchorage and see the boat next to you full of naked people :-0 ...... We are going back next year and will probably not be taking up the full Ryanair baggage allowance this time lol

Attached a couple of pictures

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Yup agree all the above.

In Croatia I'd rent (and have done several times) a sailboat not a mobo, and rent relatively north and hand the boat back relatively south due to prevailing winds. There is just no need for an engine. The cruising is fantastic, though there are very few sandy beaches.

In France there is almost no bareboat availability except for RIBs and centre console dayboats of which there are zillions. Anything bigger is invariably crewed.

In Balearics there is loads of availability of bareboat mobos up to around 45-55 feet, when the "crewed only" requirement starts to kick in. The cruising is fantastic and nicer than mainland spain imho

Why not put the s28 on a truck? There and back for a 6 month season with a rented mooring is around £10k, and you'll spend the thick end of that anyway on a 1-2 week holiday
 
... possibly followed by this one from tonyh1 ... there's something very wrong with your legs mate! :D:D

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Cheers
Jimmy

I think he has waxed one leg and painted the toe nails on one leg before remembering he would have to wait for the nail polish to dry before he could wax the other one........ amateur !
 
That's got to be a winner of 'weird photo of the week' ... what is going on there??

Cheers
Jimmy


Its a Bluebottle jelly fish AKA Portuguese man of war I think, they are potential killers but we didnt know that at the time,
they looked like floating durex , we poked it with a paddle and it went all colourful,
flashed from blue to red like a fibre optic Christmas tree.
Something about it said do not touch , the more we poked it the faster it flashed.
There were loads of them like a mini sailing regatta.
It uses the durex as a sail and navigates apparently with intelligence.
 
That's got to be a winner of 'weird photo of the week' ... what is going on there??

Cheers
Jimmy

Bluebottle also known as a Portugese man of war, its a marine cnidaria. Not a jellyfish but a siphonophore. Very, very nasty stings.

10 000 people stung by them annually in Australia so not generally lethal unless you get a lot of stings or have a weak heart. I can tell you from first hand experience that the stings hurt like hell.
 
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In Croatia I'd rent (and have done several times) a sailboat not a mobo, and rent relatively north and hand the boat back relatively south due to prevailing winds. There is just no need for an engine. The cruising is fantastic, though there are very few sandy beaches.
There's certainly a lot more choice of sailboats to rent in Croatia but because of their speed, or lack of, they tend to do milk run cruises ie all pitch up in the same port on the same day. At least with a mobo you can go beyond the usual charter sailboat destinations and of course, motor into any wind. Yup good advice on the N to S itinerary because the prevailing wind is indeed out of the NW but sods law says there'll be a SE'ly when you book so again a mobo makes more sense IMHO if you want real freedom about where you go. Btw I have yet to come across these mythical sandy beaches in Croatia; what the locals call sand, we would call pebbles so if you've got kids who must have a bucket and spade element to the holiday, praps Croatia isn't good for that. On the other hand, the water is mainly really clean and clear and I have yet to see a single jellyfish in Croatia unlike the zillions that seem to live in the W Med so I would say that the swimming is better in Croatia even though the water temps are a couple of degrees cooler
 
So, now I have an ICC on the way and already in possession of a VHF license I think the only other question I need to answer for holidays abroad next year is, where? We'd not charter a boat for longer than a weekend as we'd do none boaty stuff for the majority of the holiday. We're thinking Croatia. Should we consider other locations?

cheers Gary

Another vote for the Balearics and Menorca especially. Nothing wrong with the others but we've had a couple of fantastic charters in Menorca on small boats. Base yourself in Mahon, leave the harbour and turn right or left and you can't really go wrong!

Croatia great for island hopping and the Greek islands are fantastic as well. But, like Croatia, may be better suited to something with a sail.

Enjoy it wherever you go and post lots of pics!

Cheers,

Jack
 
Bluebottle also known as a Portugese man of war, its a marine cnidaria. Not a jellyfish but a siphonophore. Very, very nasty stings.

10 000 people stung by them annually in Australia so not generally lethal unless you get a lot of stings or have a weak heart. I can tell you from first hand experience that the stings hurt like hell.

+1 on hurting like hell.. Got stung many times while surfing in South Africa.. Really nasty thing is the tails (the stingy bit) stretches it seems like forever so as you flap around after the initial sting it wraps more and more around your legs or arms or whatever making it a million times worse..
 
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+1 on hurting like hell.. Got stung many times while surfing in South Africa.. Really nasty think is the tails (the stingy bit) stretches it seems like forever so as you flap around after the initial sting it wraps more and more around your legs or arms or whatever making it a million times worse..

........and always have a supply of white vinegar close by.
 
They say that urinating on the stings is just as good

Oh great Mike, that has to be classic quote of the day.

Cartoon captions welcome , how do you manage that while swimming
or do you wait until you get back to the crowded beach,
Sweden might be happy for you to take your wanger out on the beach
so helpful to a certain extent I suppose , just in case I ever get stung from a bluebottle in the Baltic

thanks for the tip :cool:
 
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