First Steps to Checking the Med

[sealines28]

We moved to the med may this year and wished we had done it sooner, Alicante is where we are moored, has plenty for the family and only 20 minutes from the airport. So if you get the chance check it out, we looked at a lot of marinas along the coast, Found Alicante met all our needs and a lot cheaper than some we looked at.

 

[oldgit]

" Malaga airport is so near and very regular cheap flights."

If you fancy a short trip down to the boat this weekend and intend flying into Malaga on Friday and coming home on Monday,Ryan Air will only charge you 1000.00 pounds for two adults and two children.
Out of season as well. !

 

[julians]

"If you fancy a short trip down to the boat this weekend and intend flying into Malaga on Friday and coming home on Monday,Ryan Air will only charge you 1000.00 pounds for two adults and two children.
Out of season as well. !"


hmmmm, Just checked my local airport (manchester), and the cheapest I (2 adults/2 children) can do it for this weekend is £372 with a combination of ryanair and jet 2. The most expensive is £692.

Looks pretty good value to me.

 

[oldgit]

" Just checked my local airport (manchester), and the cheapest I (2 adults/2 children) can do it for this weekend is £372 with a combination of ryanair and jet 2. The most expensive is £692."

Yea....but my price was from where somebody might actually want to fly from.

 

[jfm]

" Just checked my local airport (manchester), and the cheapest I (2 adults/2 children) can do it for this weekend is £372 with a combination of ryanair and jet 2. The most expensive is £692."

Yea....but my price was from where somebody might actually want to fly from.

You are 100% correct oldgit that if you book now for the weekend, on a busy route, it will be expensive in the context of a normal family budget, esp if x4 in the family. But that's because you are CHOOSING to do it the most epxnesive way you can

The med thing only works if you are more creative than that, or have a lot of money. The easy way to avoid these high charges is to book in advance - it is then MUCH cheaper. Alternatively you can use Avios - I booked THIS MORNING an aisle seat on Friday evening (tomorrow) on BA at the very front of the plane from Heathrow to Nice on Avios for £22 each way. = £176 return for family of 4. Friday evening LHR to Nice is pretty much the most expensive short haul sector in the aviation world, yet Avios gets you on at 36 hours notice for virtually nothing.

So it all depends how you go about managing the thing...

 

[sealines28]

from Southampton to Alicante return the dates above £402 for 2 adults and 2 children. with flybe.

 

[Portofino]

You are 100% correct oldgit that if you book now for the weekend, on a busy route, it will be expensive in the context of a normal family budget, esp if x4 in the family. But that's because you are CHOOSING to do it the most epxnesive way you can

The med thing only works if you are more creative than that, or have a lot of money. The easy way to avoid these high charges is to book in advance - it is then MUCH cheaper. Alternatively you can use Avios - I booked THIS MORNING an aisle seat on Friday evening (tomorrow) on BA at the very front of the plane from Heathrow to Nice on Avios for £22 each way. = £176 return for family of 4. Friday evening LHR to Nice is pretty much the most expensive short haul sector in the aviation world, yet Avios gets you on at 36 hours notice for virtually nothing.

So it all depends how you go about managing the thing...

Well said John
For Oldgit can I add - Any perceived or real transport cost pale into insignificance When you factor in weather,food,sea temp ,lack of tides / mud , beautiful anchorages etc .

 

[kashurst]

+1 Portofino -

 

[MapisM]

Re. transport costs, I really don't see what the fuss is about. Maybe it's because you folks are looking at that the wrong way.
Aside from the first flight to reach the boat around April, and the last to fly back home after 6 or 7 months, if I wish to save on transport costs, I simply reduce the frequency of my occasional trips back home....

 

[jfm]

For Oldgit can I add - Any perceived or real transport cost pale into insignificance When you factor in weather,food,sea temp ,lack of tides / mud , beautiful anchorages etc .

Hear hear. Plus the length of the season - see MapisM's late season video of swimming with no wetsuit today, and last weekend in SofF was glorious, and there is plenty more sun left in November.

 

[oldgit]

Blimming Heck and I though Sealine owners were sensitive souls.

Well said John
For Oldgit can I add - Any perceived or real transport cost pale into insignificance When you factor in weather,food,sea temp ,lack of tides / mud , beautiful anchorages etc .

AKA.No on the spur of the moment boating.Planning months in advance only to find the Italians/French/Spanish air controllers are on strike and when you do finally arrive the wind makes it impossible to go round the corner to a usually packed anchorage where the only view is of 30 other identical boats (probably all from your marina) desperately trying not to get their anchor chains across the anchor chains of all the other boats.
As for sea temp the hordes of jelly fish also appreciate the temperatures.
Anybody worried by tides really needs to take up knitting for a hobby,you will get ample time to practise while sitting in departure lounges and being couped up in a steel tube with 150 drunks,screaming kids most of whom will be sharing their colds,flu or even worse infectious diseases with you FOC.
As for beautiful anchorages if you seen one dull brown coast shimmering in the blistering heat,you have probably seen them all.
.

 

[MapisM]

Well, if nothing else, we have a decent choice of proper wines to help us forget our miseries, rather than being restricted to pale, mild, old and brown ale...

 

[blueglass]

AKA.No on the spur of the moment boating.Planning months in advance only to find the Italians/French/Spanish air controllers are on strike and when you do finally arrive the wind makes it impossible to go round the corner to a usually packed anchorage where the only view is of 30 other identical boats (probably all from your marina) desperately trying not to get their anchor chains across the anchor chains of all the other boats.
As for sea temp the hordes of jelly fish also appreciate the temperatures.
Anybody worried by tides really needs to take up knitting for a hobby,you will get ample time to practise while sitting in departure lounges and being couped up in a steel tube with 150 drunks,screaming kids most of whom will be sharing their colds,flu or even worse infectious diseases with you FOC.
As for beautiful anchorages if you seen one dull brown coast shimmering in the blistering heat,you have probably seen them all.
.

To call that a jaundiced view doesn't even come close. I think maybe you chose all the wrong parts of the med all on the wrong days.

 

[KevB]

I guess it all depends how much you want to use your boat. If It was in the med I guess I'd get to use it 6-8 times a year, mostly for long weekends and school holidays (when flights are very expensive). As it is the boat is in the UK I use it at least twice a month for the whole year....

I base this on the fact that we have an apartment on the costa del sol and that's when we use it.

For me 8 times a year isn't enough to warrant the cost of the boat when I could use it whenever I want in the UK.

So I have the best of both, an apartment for the holidays and boat for boating...

If I had to choose only one it would definitely be a boat in the UK.

 

[pan]

….Sorry 'oldgit' this is what you are missing & no jellyfish!

 

[jrudge]

I love these threads!

Nothing in the world could possess me to keep my boat in the UK. We spend 9 weeks a year on the boat drifting round Mallorca and it is glorious. Flights? Give or take £2k per annum - I book in advance. Mooring E7500 per annum so flight and mooring £8300 which as far as I know is less than the solent for a 40 foot boat.

Why oh why would you want to say to the wife and kids - hey this is fantastic we are going to Southampton for our holidays. The sea will be cold, the water brown and we can eat in pubs with chips ( actually the kids would like that bit!).

Its a floating holiday home and I would not want to spend my holidays in England!

I know people do, so maybe its me. After all I help raggies and they help me so I must be the odd one out!

 

[blueglass]

I love these threads!

Nothing in the world could possess me to keep my boat in the UK. We spend 9 weeks a year on the boat drifting round Mallorca and it is glorious. Flights? Give or take £2k per annum - I book in advance. Mooring E7500 per annum so flight and mooring £8300 which as far as I know is less than the solent for a 40 foot boat.

Why oh why would you want to say to the wife and kids - hey this is fantastic we are going to Southampton for our holidays. The sea will be cold, the water brown and we can eat in pubs with chips ( actually the kids would like that bit!).

Its a floating holiday home and I would not want to spend my holidays in England!

I know people do, so maybe its me. After all I help raggies and they help me so I must be the odd one out!

+1 def less than solent prices and if you head out to Greece - half the price, which pays all the flights and more!

 

[vas]

+1 def less than solent prices and if you head out to Greece - half the price, which pays all the flights and more!

+1
mooring fees for a 43ft mobo is under 2K (and that's euros) if you choose carefully you may get easy/cheap connection to the UK
[and wall to wall sunshine, 25C daytime, 15Cat night, no wind, t-shirt weather, eating outside this week and forecast the same for next week, and that's more or less as south as Gibraltar]

yeah, I know rubbing it in, but it's an open forum, innit?

cheers

V.

 

[speedfiend]

I have to say I'm just about to go and look at a med based boat to switch. Have had a boat uk based for 14 years. Had some fantastic holidays and days out but sun sea and sangria tempting .
Mooring a lot more expensive but it's time to try something new .
I will get a lot less boating in cos swmbo won't keep going to same place on holiday.
Hopefully get something organised by Xmas .

 

[blueglass]

Mooring a lot more expensive but it's time to try something new .

You must be somewhere very expensive in the UK to be faced with a big increase in the med.