Dublin Marinas

Where do I start.
What a great week in Dublin. Great people, great food, great shopping for SWMBO and a great atmosphere everywhere we visited. Stayed in the Gibson Hotel which was central to our visits and they even sorted tickets to El Divo at short notice.
We visited Malahide, Howth, Poolbeg, Dun Laoghaire and Greystones. We discounted Dun Laoghaire too big and busy and Poolbeg because of port location and concentrated on the others.
Malahide, Howth and Greystones are all villages with good restaurants, beaches and scenery. All have that tourism feel and should be good fun for a night out.
In the end the decision came down to Malahide or Greystones. Howth is a nice marina but clearly a sailing club marina however, they did say they should be able to squeeze us in if we decide to move. We got the feeling they weren't that bothered either way.
It looked like we were going to choose Malahide until we spotted that the local boat dealer BJ is the distributor for our boat (Cranchi). We had a chat and they recommend we look at Greystones due to berthing difficulties in Malahide Marina which is caused by the flow of water under the nearby railway bridge. They also reported that even they have had groundings over the sand bar from time to time. Apparently most of the time Malahide Marina is accessible but the dealer reckons that the marina sailing instructions are optimistic. BJ have a very proactive approach and organised for us to visit Greystones and gave us a good presentation of the facilities being installed there. They even offered to look after our boat while we are at home and promised a good berth for security and ease of handling. The entrance to the Irish Sea couldn't be easier and Malahide, Howth and Dun Laoghaire become cruising destinations for overnights. All very nice destinations.
We are very interested in relocating to Greystones but not until it is finished. We will contact them again in a few months to get a progress report. We will probably visit again because SWMBO absolutely fell in love with Dublin. To be fair I can't blame her, the Irish really cannot do enough for you. We can't wait to see the marina finished and get over there.
 
I'm just going to butt in here for a second!

Let me break this post in to 2 parts....

1) Malahide is not 'hard to moor' at all - I have had friends with 50 footers there and I had my Cranchi Smeraldo 37 there for a while. It is accessible in all states of tide (except maybe low spring tide). The groundings do happen - to totally inexperienced people on shafts. You need to be careful leaving the estuary and go slow on low water, but you'd have to do that anyway as there's traffic etc. Malahide is a lovely place and personally I would choose it.

2) BJ have been appointed to run/manage/whatever Greystones so there is obviously a vested interest. Need I say more? Greystones is quiet at the minute. You say you want a community/tourist feel to the place where you'll moor? That's Malahide, not Greystones!


I would think very hard before making a decision to go to Greystones, it would be Malahide every time for me. And this is coming from someone who has no vested interest!
 
Alt. I didn't know you were berthed in Malahide. Apparently the flow from the estuary makes it difficult at the outer berths but fine close to the apartments? Nevertheless, this is not the only point.

Yes, BJ were open about their management of the new marina at Greystones and it is plain to see the investment going on down there. They convinced me to look only and weren't too negative on Malahide. The fact that they can look after our boat while we are away is a bonus. Malahide aren't as pro-active about securing our business as BJ.

Both Malahide and Grystones are lovely and there is nothing in it as far as we are concerned. Malahide will make a nice place to visit though and we look forward to the Thai restaurant again :)
 
Alboretto said:
Alt. I didn't know you were berthed in Malahide. Apparently the flow from the estuary makes it difficult at the outer berths but fine close to the apartments? Nevertheless, this is not the only point.

Yes, BJ were open about their management of the new marina at Greystones and it is plain to see the investment going on down there. They convinced me to look only and weren't too negative on Malahide. The fact that they can look after our boat while we are away is a bonus. Malahide aren't as pro-active about securing our business as BJ.

Both Malahide and Grystones are lovely and there is nothing in it as far as we are concerned. Malahide will make a nice place to visit though and we look forward to the Thai restaurant again :)
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My boat was down near the apartments and I never had a problem with berthing, sometimes I found there was either a very slight current going directly with or against you - I used this to my advantage ;) They might be right though that the current could be worse up beside the train track end of the marina. But that's easily solved; take a berth down the end by the apartments! There are plenty of free spaces there.

I was berthed at Malahide for a short time - I went in/out of the marina enough to know what it's like to tie up
 
Hi Alboretto. Thanks for your feedback. I find myself agreeing with your appraisal. Malahide's sand bar means it does not quite have carefree 24x7x365 tidal access as do the other locations, especially in poor weather and easterlies. Some years ago a very experienced pal got caught out in poor weather affecting timing which resulting in a grounding and sinking. A rare and unfortunate event, I know but it shows that even professional yachtsmen can get caught out. Greystones is on the Dart rail network and a very cutesy village. We have been considering a move to the east coast for a season and Greystones is the location we currently favour, but we too are waiting to see it finished over the coming months before a final decision. I suspect the marina itself will be finished to high standard, but it may be many years before the adjacent property development and associated landscaping is finished (ie due recession). But I like the scenic location and town not to mention a season enjoying Dublin bay area venues. In the long term we still plan to move to a marina in the general Cork harbour area or perhaps Kinsale, the cutest boating harbour in all Ireland with an abundance of close overnight destinations. By the sound of it I think you will really enjoy Greystones and visits to Dublin city by boat or rail when overnighting.
 
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Hi Alborettto
glad to hear you had a good trip.
I wasn't aware that greystones was near completion ,
the bar as malahide is a nusance allright and not ideal, i'm used to it as i've had boats there over 10 years, there is a fair run and catches out even regular bertholders
my sail boat draws 5'6'' and the bar only restricts me 2 hours either side of low water
however yesterday a fellow bertholder told me that it has recently silted up in the marina & needs dredging again & apparently they havn't the money to do it
they have lost a lot of customers because of the manager who blows hot & cold, i would consider a move myself but malahide is 30 mins from me & i enjoy the nightlife there :)
i spoke with howth, theres at least a year waiting list & and the joining fee & membership are certainly not recession prices.
looking forward to greystones getting completed as it would be a handy overnight hop.
 
Oceanfroggie. Both SWMBO and I spend every second weekend (Thursday evening - Monday morning) on the boat every second weekend from April - October and the decision must work for both of us. We like different things on land but thankfully we share the same passion for the sea. We both came away from our trip with the same opinion that Greystones is a more traditional village which seemed to have a less commercial feel about it. Maybe the new apartment development will change that? The best bit is it works for both of us once it is completed as promised.
I am sure we could have managed the sand bar at Malahide as it looks easy compared to Pwllheli and this was not the deciding factor. The lack of interest from the marina is surprising and in complete contrast to the welcome we received at Greystones. This was the deciding factor ;)
Thank you for your guidance which was valuable as we seem to be on the same wavelength :) I will be back to the forum with more questions in the coming weeks I'm sure :)
 
Ragbag. From what we saw Greytones is ready for berth holders but boatyard, fuel berth, landscaping are work in progress. I suppose it does have that under construction feel about it but the construction work standards are amazing. The breakwaters are a work of art and it will be nice to be part of the new community down there. The only slight downside (and I mean very slight) is the added distance to the airport. I didn't do a trial run as we went south into the Wicklow Mountains on the day of our visit.
The sand bar at Malahide didn't bother us as much as the fact we left two messages for the manager to call us. We made it quiet clear that we were interested in negotiating a berth for two - three years and that we wanted to visit. He never returned our calls. However, I'm sure we would have ended up making the same decision but he isn't give himself the opportunity. As SWMBO said, if they don't call to chase custom are they likely to call if they spot something wrong when we are away from the boat? Decision made and we walked.
We had an awkward visit to Howth. We arrived unannounced and walked through the security gate which was open due to the amount of activity taking place. To be fair to the young man, he seemed to be distracted with everything going on around him and coped as best he could with a couple of strangers wandering in off the street. We somehow didn't believe him when he said he should be able to squeeze us in. Not his fault at all as we should have made an appointment.
I'm sure both Howth and Malahide will make lovely cruises destinations. Some chart work reveals that we are spoil for choice and the prevailing winds should allow plenty of opportunity to explore the coast between Waterford and Carlingford.
Thank you also for your assistance. By they way, the trip into the Wicklow mountains was a great suggestion and we enjoyed a great lunch in the highest village of Roundwood :)
 
It's a pitty that you didn't get a good welcome at Malahide Alboretto. But ratbag is right, the manager has unfortunately put a lot of people off. I found him a pleasure to deal with and quite helpful, but many others said the exact opposite. I real pity.

Do whatever your heart tells you at the end of the day it's your money being spent. Maybe spend a weekend on the boat at each marina before committing??
 
alt said:
It's a pitty that you didn't get a good welcome at Malahide Alboretto. But ratbag is right, the manager has unfortunately put a lot of people off. I found him a pleasure to deal with and quite helpful, but many others said the exact opposite. I real pity.

Do whatever your heart tells you at the end of the day it's your money being spent. Maybe spend a weekend on the boat at each marina before committing??
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Thanks Alt.

We had a great welcome at Malahide but not from the marina. I'm sure he's a good guy but I couldn't possibly comment as we didn't get the chance to meet him. Indeed the marina looks very clean and secure which is sign of a good manager. If we hadn't had a chat with BJ we would have wandered in anyway but I'm sure SWMBO would have mentioned our calls at some stage :)

We will have plenty of opportunity to sample Malahide as a visitor in the coming months.
 
Alboretto, you should definitely try to get to Cork and West Cork if you take a week or two as holidays. From Cork harbour right around to Dingle is fantastic cruising ground.
 
dherraghty said:
. . . From Cork harbour right around to Dingle is fantastic cruising ground.
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See page two of link below.

Cork/Kerry magic: SW cruise gallery

Agree but Cork seems too far in terms of travel time for Alborettos purposes. We've cruised that stretch many a time. The Kinsale to Dingle leg though needs fairly decent weater and sea state from the Mizen to Dingle bay due to the Atlantic swell. East of the Mizen the south coast of Ireland seems to enjoy better sea state than the SW and west coasts.
 
Thanks guys. All our research and talking to friends etc has us firmly decided on the Dublin area. We couldn't find any reason to change our mind during our visit. Cork looks nice for sure but we think the Atlantic may be a bit more challenging than the Irish Sea. On the East Coast we would be looking at cruising just offshore and two hours (assuming 25knots) gives us plenty of choice over two / three seasons. After that? well who knows :)

For a longer stay and assuming settled weather then the Cork area looks feasible with overnight stops along the way and back. Looks like there are visitors facilities at Arklow, Kilmore, Waterford, Crosshaven and Kinsale. The more I research the more I can't wait to get over there.
 
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