Best Marinas - €2 for a weekend

[NigeCh]

A few weeks ago I sailed to Dun Laoghaire into the new marina and was gobsmacked: €2 for the weekend, and they apologized for the price !!!! What gobsmacked me more was the €3 return on City Dart to Tara Street. If you add the 2 together they were less than a pint of Guinness at FitzGeralds.

Dun Laoghaire Marina and its facilities is a wake up call to all to what the Marinas in the UK should be. IMO, it's amongst the best functional Marinas that I've been to anywhere in Europe and the Americas. The port staff and Marina staff are nulli secundus.



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[castaway]

Is it near an airport??

Regds Nick

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[charles_reed]

Yes, Dublin

and the holyhead cat docks there too

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[charles_reed]

That\'s good news

Last time I was there there was no marina, tieing up was a major adventure and all 3 of the yacht clubs were shut.
And all that after coming thro' Bardsey with 100M vis and bucking a NW F6 all across the Irish Sea.
The sun did shine and allow drying the foul-weather gear, tyhank God.

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[whisper]

Re: Yes, Dublin

If being near the airport is very important then Howth & Malahide Marinas are far closer to Dublin Airport than Dun Laoghaire. It can be a slow trip to the airport from there.

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[NigeCh]

Come off it ...

How many People sail to Dublin Airport ???? (It's almost as bad as Vyv Cox saying that there could be such a thing as a Cwnwyd Marina)

Howth is nearer to Dublin Airport and not a patch on (cf anglicised) Dunleery.

Tell me if there is a better and cheaper Marina within 800 miles of where you sail from ??? .... It'r your choice.


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[longjohnsadler]

Nigel
I spent a weekend In Dun Laoghaire marina last year. I agree about the staff and facilities, but they charged me, from memory, about 20 euro per night (for 32 feet).
Are you sure you didn't get a new member of staff who misread the tarriff, or is this a special promotion?

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[BrendanS]

Their website says € 2.25 per meter

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[NigeCh]

I\'ve got a receipt

"Birgitta. 7.7m €2" The bill was made out by the staff member at the top of the stairs in the 1st floor reception. We arrived Friday night and left on the Sunday.

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[charles_reed]

That lad\'s got a way with him

and he's never been to Castle Blarney.

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[BrendanS]

Re: That lad\'s got a way with him

Wish he'd come and negotiate some of my marina charges!

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[charles_reed]

Move out of the UK

marina charges in Europe are 35-50% of the UK.

Demand is as great and prices rise as you get closer to the UK S coast.

A 10m on the French mediterranean coast is about £1400 pa.

Prices won't go down in the UK until people start voting with their keels.

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[whiskerstay]

Re: I\'ve got a receipt

I think they must have been being nice, what with it being out-of-season and all that. 2 euros is what they charge for a day visit. It was probably a special favour.

/<

<hr width=100% size=1>"Stop mucking about, darling, and get the bloody mud weight over."

 

[charles_reed]

Jealous?

Because you're not as charming? ;-)

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[vyv_cox]

Cynwyd marina

I think it was you who said that, Nigel, possibly unwittingly. I believe I said it might not do very well.

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[NigeCh]

Re: Cynwyd marina on the Dee

You mistook what I said ... but ....

If you took a locking seawall between Dickies and Penrhyn, dredged out the mud, extended the area between the football pitch and the sewage pumping station you could create the marina of all marinas. It wouldn't affect the grebes. CADW wouldn't cry hurt and it would be good for Bangor.

As an aside issue: Have you heard that Watkins Jones are going to take over Victoria Dock (Caernarfon) and build a leisure centre on the land to the north between Victoria Dock and Safeway ? It's supposedly still in the 'planning stage' but given how they've already ruined Port Dinorwic how does anyone suppose that the World Heritage site that is Caernarfon Castle will be enhanced by what Watkins Jones proposes to do.

I'm all in favour of the ABC marina ... but am appauled by WJ's internecine tactics at Caernarfon.

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[vyv_cox]

Dickie\'Penrhyn marina

In about 1988, that's exactly what Dickies were going to do. Their present site was put up for sale, intended for a supermarket. The proceeds were going to be spent on a wall and dredging, exactly as you describe. As usual in North Wales, the council were unable to see the wider view and planning permission for the supermarket was delayed so much that Dickies withdrew. That was when the new boatshed was built, replacing the old one whose replacement was very much overdue.

I'm a little out of touch with happenings in the Strait, hope to be catching up before too long. It's some time since I was at Port Dinorwic, must have a look at Xmas.

I still reckon that Porth Dinllaen would make a fabulous all-weather marina, and avoid the problems of crossing Caernarfon Bar. Minimal building required, plenty of water and space available. It'll never happen.

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[NigeCh]

Porth Dinllaen Marina

I've a book somewhere giving the history of the Porth Dinllaen harbour scheme that was going to be used before Holyhead Harbour was built. The book includes all the drawings and the new railway that was going to be built .... It's a fascinating saga of Victorian madness.

Porth Dinllaen is pure magic :

http://www.davenewbould.co.uk/postcards8-gallery/images/Porth Dinllaen.jpg

Before I bought Birgitta we would sail the Wayfarer there from Port Dinorwic and camp on the beach next to the lifeboat station. Water is still available from the tap on the golf course on the green next the Coastguard Lookout. Now we either anchor or use the single visitors mooring and row to Ty Coch. (For those of you who don't know the Lleyn Peninsula, Ty Coch [The Red House] is a pub on the beach.) .... and the way back would either be around Anglesey or a quick hop across to Mermaid Cove on Llanddwyn Island to wait for the tide ....

I don't think that a marina at Porth Dinllaen would be a good idea - It would bring more boats into an area that is made special by its wilderness status: There are so many secret anchorages around the Lleyn Peninsula, Bardsey and Anglesey that it would be a pity to spoil any of them .... apart from a) Cemaes (which is another natural) which is already spoiled by the whine from the windmills and from Wylfa, and b) Porth Wen by the ruined brickworks.

People ask me why I live in Reading and sail out of the Menai Strait. I've sailed most places in Europe, the Caribean and the Americas .... but apart from the west coast of Scotland, there's nowhere else that has the same magic that North Wales and the Irish Sea has: Ireland, The Isle of Man, The Clyde and the West Coast of Scotland on your doorstep .... and of course, sailing through the Swellies at ALL states of the tide !!!


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[vyv_cox]

Swellies at ALL states of the tide

With it presumably! I recall a time when we were rather late at the Swellies, going north. We motored hard against an increasing flow, noticeably going uphill all the way. Just under the suspension bridge there was a clear increase in water height of almost 2 feet. We just got through but a boat no more than a couple of boat lengths behind us didn't make it.

Agree on Porth Dinllaen, the advantages of a marina there are clearly outweighed by the disadvantages. Having sat out a few southerly or southwesterly gales there, it's always something of a lottery whether the wind will veer in time that the swells have diminished enough to get over the Bar, or at least to get into Pilot's Cove. A wall to the north would be nice in those circumstances!

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[NigeCh]

That reminds me of Wicklow

where we weren't charged because we completely tangled a French boat that was trying to escape to void harbour dues. (It's a long and hilarious story that's best told over a Guinness or two in Wicklow Sailing Club.)

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