Costa del Sol

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barrie

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16 Jul 2004
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Gothenburg, Sweden
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I'm just wondering if you could give me your opinion. We have now had our boat for several minutes now so obviously it is time to think about the next one and it's location.

How difficult is it to get a mooring in the South of Spain ( we will be located at Marbella). At the moment we just have a 6. 5 m boat, which is great fun here but I don't know if we wouldn't fancy something bigger.

I also seem to have picked up that cruising of the South of Spain is not so good - is that right ?

Any thoughts, any wisdom, any advice welcome

Thanks

Barrie

ps Haven't posted the pics of boating in Sweden cos I can't figure out how to do it, sorry
 
Errm - I don't think it was intentional, but yep, funny /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Barrie - There are loads of folks on here with moorings and boats on the C del S. Maybe some of them will reply with advise. Med Dreamer would be a good one coz he's not just sure, but currently OK. Magnum would be another good one but he has a large boat, so his problems are different to ours.

Of course med boating has its appeals coz of the weather, but you have to consider access and costs...travel costs, as well as moorings. Then holidays?? Do you have access tot the required amount of time. I know I don't yet coz I'm still a wage slave /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Keep looking in for replies. Oh, and click my web site below (Morocco) for where I will be going in the next few years.
 
Thanks for the comments, ref the time and travel, we have a place there now and will be looking to move permanently withi the next couple of years, my question is driven to a certain extent because I would like to plan, ie should we buy/rent a mooring, is it better to do it now ( prices investment etc) and therefore I am hoping to get some input to help.

At the moment I am at the unconcious incompetence stage and was hoping to advance to the concious incompetence stage !!
 
Can't comment on Southern Spain as I'm in Majorca.

More generally I think the big question is how do you want to use your boat. If you want to have access to your boat whenever you want it then the Med is obviously not the place to be if you live in Gothenburg. On the other hand you may think its worth not seeing the boat for weeks at at time for the benefit of enjoying cruising in the sun.

I have written several times on here about our logic for choosing to move the boat but one of the key factors for us was that although we visit the boat less often when in the UK (typically 8 times per year as opposed to 16-20 when UK based) we actually spend more time on board because our visits are for longer periods.
That may not suit everybody and I have to say that there have been times this summer when I would have loved to just "pop down" to the boat.

You do get a longer season but as flights are booked in advance you have less flexibilty to work around the weather. ie My visits for next year are already set in stone, flights and holidays booked, so I just hope that the weather gods are kind for those times. If your boat is nearer home then you can change your mind at short notice - stay at home if the weather is bad and sneak in an extra trip if the weather is unexpectedly fine. This was particuarly true for us in our first Med season last year - we had diabolical weather for the first four visits and never got out of the Marina.

Also when in the Med your time is too precious to be doing your own maintenance so you have the additional costs of engineers for things you may normally do yourself.

Hope this helps

Martyn

PS We love it now and only a major change in circumstances would make us come back to the UK
 
[ QUOTE ]



How difficult is it to get a mooring in the South of Spain ( we will be located at Marbella). At the moment we just have a 6. 5 m boat, which is great fun here but I don't know if we wouldn't fancy something bigger.

[/ QUOTE ]

Marbella ... terible busy and expensive .... more alternatives towards Gibraltar ... 2 - 3 alternatives ... get hold of SunCoast... other direction is Puerto Cabopino (not sure about spelling) ... nice little place, but abit tight to get in to ... for bigger boats ... think they limit to approx 16M ... but not sure ... then you probably get too close to Malaga. I'm going doewn to our apartment on Sunday and will speak with someone as we may take our boat down that way at some stage (when we have finished here up North) ... Just want to get an idea about availability and prices ... which I suspect will be virtually non-existent and high...
 
Barrie

I run a yacht charter and management company on the Costa del Sol so can probably help a little bit.

Some info on ports:

Fuengirola - rather yukky throw back from high rise appartments. Mix of spanish and english difficult to get a berth for anything of reasonable size.

Cabo Pino - as someone said there is a limit on size, probably a waiting list too... During the winter the harbour entrance is likely to silt up thus restricting getting in and out.

Marbella fish port - no space but even if there was you would have years to wait for a berth.

Marbella deportivo - limited large berths and last time I spoke to anyone there it was a long wait.

Puerto Banus - Great place to keep a boat if budget allows. Very hard to get a long term berth through the tower. There are private moorings for rent and sale. I helped a client buy a 18m berth this year and it cost in teh region of €750,000. I can sell it for him today for €800,000. He could also have rented it at about €40,000 euro for the year. IT is a pretty good return on investment.
Banus itself is a great place to hang out as it is busy, safe and great fun. BUT that comes at a price. Banus is also cosmopolitan, lots of different nations include loads of Swedish people. I have about 7 swedish neighbours.

Estepona - Very spanish with a hint of english bit scruffy but cheaper than Banus

Duquesa - YUK very english with lots of Karaoke bars and english menus in the bars... ok if you like that sort of thing.... go beyond front row and it feels a bit more spanish but!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sotogrande - this is a largish harbour and a good size. spare berths at a reasonable rate. The wind does blow had here though and if it comes from the East you get covered in slat, if it comes from the west you get covered in builders dust. you can buy your berth here but you cannot sublet it as the tower control it.

Gibraltar - Cheap!!!!!! and v. nasty. only reason to go here is for fuel.....


Cruising....

People say that the Costa del sol is dull. that is there opinion....

Places you can go to.

Morroco, Tangier, Smir, Mellia, Cueta, Cadiz, Tarifa, Sevilla, marina del este, malaga etc etc etc. and what is to stop you from going on a long journey to the Balearics?

Also lots to visit inland unlike the islands.

The weather means that you get a longer season. On Saturday I went to Morroco, on sunday I went to Gibraltar. teperature today is about 27c....

if you need any help then let me know, if you want to speak swinglish no problem.

There is a surefire way to get a berth in Puerto Banus if you want one.....let me know I have plenty of contacts here.
 
You know sometimes we just analyse the hairs on a fly's arse to much. Just do it!!!! the worst you can do is make a mistake!! everyone has an opinion but at the end of the day we are talking about boat's, and the clever thing about boat's is they are mobile. If you move it to a place you dont like, pull up the spikey thing and move on, That's what they were made to do. Life's an adventure, get on with it!!
 
Thanks all,

Good input, much appreciated.

Sorry if this kind of question winds people up, it's not intended to. I agree that you need to do these things or they just remain a "what if" but unless you have a bottomless pit of money or b@@@s the size of footballs, then I reckon you got to get a bit of info to begin with, especially in a foreign country.

Peurto Banus is a nice place thats for sure, and only 5-10 minutes from our house ( traffic allowing !!), but maybe a bit over the top financially for what we want to spend. Cabopino is a nice little place that looks like it could be good for a base , and its again within 15 minutes of our place.

We want to get back over around the end of the year as our house is going on long term rent so we just want to check it out, maybe we can combine our visit with a bit of boat training so we can experience what it's like there, and try and see what sort of prices I can see for berths.

I will take contact with some of the persons who have replied, and feel free to PM me if you have any other info that might help.

Thanks again for all the help, this group really is a great place to visit.

Cheers,

Barrie
 
Re: Peurto Banus

Barrie,

Myself and SWMBO are just back from a two week last minute charter holiday there (not by boat unfortunately).

Nice place, but huge. Also something like 50 craft with 'for sale' stickers.

This is one of the many photos I took.
PeurtoBenus2.jpg

It is the enterance into the marina from a yacht.

Some of the smaller ports looked less commercilised and were much better for that.

Cheers

Iain
 
Re: Peurto Banus

"Duquesa - YUK very english with lots of Karaoke bars and english menus in the bars... ok if you like that sort of thing"

Do I detect the snob seeping to the surface Lozzer.

Look beyond the TWO Kareoke bars and Duquesa has a lot to offer. Least its not full of Ladies who have lost their amatuer status, and posers in hired Ferrarris circling the Marina, and arsey marinaros waiting to shove you off the waiting pontoon if you dare to err........wait............ even for 2 minutes.
 
Re: Peurto Banus

I must totally agree with you.

Some of the people in the hotel were complaining because they only served Spainish food. They should have gone to Blackpool.

One outstanding place we found was in a large Taverna just east of Malaga right on the shore last Sunday. No tourists (apart from ourselves) Just Spainish families.

It was around El Palo or La Cala del Moral.

The waiters walked about with plates of seafood shouting loudly what they were carrying and you just stopped them and took a plate. Everything from sardines to lobsters including oysters,shrimps,mussels and calamari.

We had a full lobster, calamari and a bottle of wine for 30euro. The bill was written on the paper tablecloth.

Of equal importantance there was a small marina or yacht club with a locked entrance just to the east. It looked very interesting.

In a few years time I will be out there again looking for berthing. But not quite ready yet.

Iain
 
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