Greece Town Wall mooring fees

[Irish Rover]

I berthed in the port in Karystos, Evia, earlier. I paid €10.50 for 2 days. Water and electricity are from a card which costs €10 - didn't get one yet but I gather the card can be used at all ports on the western coast of Evia.

 

[AndrewB]

The number of boats sailing Greece this season is far greater than ever before (Brexit made no difference) and the demand is collossal. The Greeks are fast catching up with the idea of demand and supply, and many places are setting charges according to what boaters are prepared to pay. The rest will doubtless follow suit soon.

My own annual mooring in Corfu has risen from €3318 (including services) in 2018 to €6790 (services extra) this year.

 

[Irish Rover]

I berthed in a small abandoned marina last night on Kavalliani Island between Evia and the mainland. What a strange place. The island is completely deserted but there are roads, power lines and buildings, including what appears to be a modern style villa up on the hill. The paved roads are better than some I saw around Athens. I had a very peaceful, tranquil night in this beautiful, wild place.

 

[sailoppopotamus]

The number of boats sailing Greece this season is far greater than ever before (Brexit made no difference) and the demand is collossal. The Greeks are fast catching up with the idea of demand and supply, and many places are setting charges according to what boaters are prepared to pay. The rest will doubtless follow suit soon.

My own annual mooring in Corfu has risen from €3318 (including services) in 2018 to €6790 (services extra) this year.

Government policy is to subsidize the yacht chartering industry while punishing local boat owners with higher mooring fees and taxes specifically targeting boat ownership. As a result, the seas are filled with charter boats and flotillas crowding out anchorages and the small town quays. There's hardly any state investment into improving or enlarging these. Instead permits are issued to private investment companies to build marinas that cater to charterers and super-yachts, and which are definitely unaffordable for anybody else.

 

[Irish Rover]

I'm just one boat with limited experience but I've been moving around the Aegean since 01 June and I've yet to enter a port or anchorage which was full. I appreciate it will get busier in July and August. Prices have definitely gone up and are excessive in some places. It would be great if there was some standardisation of prices in the public ports because, as it stands now, private boat owners feel they are being ripped off in the more expensive ports. On the other hand, when you compare port fees to the cost of parking a car in most city or town centres, they really aren't all that expensive. I generally spend no more than 2/3 nights per week in a port so the fees are a very small proportion of the overall cost of our very privileged hobby.

 

[sailoppopotamus]

The problem is not so much the town quay fees, which are generally very low, it's the lack of available berths. The existing town quays are simply incapable of accommodating the ever increasing number of charter yachts, who by the way pay much reduced rates compared to recreational vessels. And where new space is being created it's in the form of expensive marinas, not town quays. You mention being in Evia right now -- it's a part of Greece that has largely escaped the phenomenon of mass tourism so far. But you've already experienced the difficulty in finding a reasonably priced berth around Athens. Good luck trying to find a spot for your boat in any port of the Saronic at 7 or 8 pm. Or even worse, in the Ionian. You might get lucky, but chances are you won't succeed and will have to anchor out. But even that is no guarantee, as you might find your otherwise idyllic quiet little anchorage of choice wholly occupied by a flotilla.

I like anchoring, but occasionally you need to get into port to embark or disembark crew and restock. For crew changes I generally have to anchor outside the port the night before so that I can be there at 11 or 12 in the morning to have a reasonable chance of getting a berth. Last September I was nearly turned away from Loutra at noon(!!), before eventually ending up boat #2 in a raft five boats deep. The port was completely packed, you could hardly squeeze a dinghy in at the end of the day -- 90% of them were charter boats.

 

[Irish Rover]

@sailoppopotamus I hear what you're saying but the reality is the charter fleets contribute much more to the local economy than we do. Sure, they pay less per diem than we do but it's guaranteed income for the ports. They can budget and plan on the basis of that income. The ports are also mainly in public ownership usually with local business owners on their boards and they know that the charter crews come ashore almost every night to eat and drink whereas many of us prefer Lidl and AB and buying direct from the fishing boats. When I want a berth in a port I time my arrival for around noon, even if that means leaving at dawn.
The ports, restaurants, bars etc in these idyllic places we love so much have a tough existence. They have 4/5 months business at best and have to earn enough in that short time to keep them going for the other 7/8 months. I know you already know all this but sometimes we need to remind ourselves what a privileged life we lead.

 

[penfold]

They have 4/5 months business at best and have to earn enough in that short time to keep them going for the other 7/8 months. I know you already know all this but sometimes we need to remind ourselves what a privileged life we lead.

Does that really need to be so? It's like that because it's traditional, but whenever I've been in Greece out of season(admittedly only Oct-Dec but several times) it's still been perfectly fine by UK sailing standards, but no one attempts to market it. Not invented here perhaps?

 

[sailaboutvic]

Likely to be more people with Greek experience watching that forum - although it has been rather dead of late, perhaps because of a drop in liveaboard and long term cruising in the med for UK orientated folks in recent years. 10 Years ago the forum was very active for that set.

I moved on ha ha

 

[Irish Rover]

Well I guess you're marketing it now on what is probably the biggest yachting site in the UK. I doubt it will make any difference though. Very few want to be cruising the Med wearing rain gear and needing heating in the cabin at night - the heating in our house is usually on from late October/early November. Access from western Europe is also an issue in the winter although the budget airlines and tour operators have been extending their flights for the last couple of years. One thing you can be sure about - if the customers are there then the service providers will be open and available. I can vouch for that as someone who is involved in the tourism sector in the eastern Med.

 

[Davy_S]

Does that really need to be so? It's like that because it's traditional, but whenever I've been in Greece out of season(admittedly only Oct-Dec but several times) it's still been perfectly fine by UK sailing standards, but no one attempts to market it. Not invented here perhaps?

I think Irish Rover has hit the nail on the head, when i was living out there, there were many attempts to try and extend the season, but the fact is most Tavernas closed between October and November, the ones that remained open did very little trade, local Greeks sipping a one euro coffee to keep warm! it simply did not work for a Taverna owner to pay staff and overheads for hardly any trade, a lot of the premises are on a lease of 2,000 euros a month, or more, they have to make as much as they can in under six months, they hope the mad six weeks of July and August allows them to trouser some cash to see them over winter.

 

[Irish Rover]

Last night I paid €23.50 for one night in Livadhi, Serifos. Small harbour, no showers or toilets, no electricity and no handles on the water taps which you could, however, operate with a pliars.

 

[Irish Rover]

I paid €12 last night in the harbour at Kolantos on the south coast of Naxos without water or electricity.

 

[wonkywinch]

€4.20 in Skopelos, water & electricity by keycard from nearby kiosk, min €5 credit.

 

[Bouba]

I arrived in Pythagorio, Samos today for check-in from Türkiye. I was here in October and paid €20 for my 10.3 metre catamaran. Nothing's changed except the addition of bright new yellow mooring lines and a single remote shower facility which is near impossible to access and minimum price is €38 per night and double for a catamaran. Absolute piracy. I plan to spend the next 5/6 weeks in the Aegean and I'll post prices as I go. It would be great if others would chip in with their own experience of current prices in Greece View attachment 157586

In fact that is quite enlightened..here cats are only charged 1.5x (as far as I know)…besides taking up two full spaces, cats try to take the cleats from a third and fourth place as well

 

[penfold]

Anyone filling up bollards with their lines deserves them cast off; put a bowline around it and adjust onboard!

 

[Irish Rover]

In fact that is quite enlightened..here cats are only charged 1.5x (as far as I know)…besides taking up two full spaces, cats try to take the cleats from a third and fourth place as well

Any more abuse of cats from you and you'll be getting a visit from the RSPCA.
If you want enlightened then I think the Turkish system of charging by the M² is the fairest.

 

[vyv_cox]

Anyone filling up bollards with their lines deserves them cast off; put a bowline around it and adjust onboard!

Almost nobody does that when berthing stern-to in Greece. Lines are attached on board, we use a bowline through the cleats. Lines are then thrown or taken ashore, through the ring or round the bollard, sometimes a lamppost or other convenient object, then back to the boat cleat. Asking a bystander or volunteer to tie a bowline is asking for trouble but most can manage to do what is needed and pass the line back.

 

[De.windhoos]

What happens is that the town municipalities start leasing their town harbours to commercial parties, this ensures a more steady revenue stream and lower costs for the municipalities. The commercial entities do not have to comply to the rules that set the fees for municipalities. therefore they can charge more.

 

[Ningaloo]

€13 for 14m mono at Nysiros including electric (although many posts not working) and non-potable water. Drinking water available in town square.
€9 at Milos, water and electricity extra.
€32 at Mandraki, Kos with utilities metered from €5.

After Balearics, Italy and Croatia I am very happy with mooring costs in Greece.