Ibiza anchorages info

[MAURICE]

Just spent 8 days in Ibiza and probably the last time i will go. Ive been 8 times in the past 7 years.. The anchorages are getting busier there are some calas that are now prohibited to anchor. So the boats are getting grouped into ever increasing smaller spaces. This is all down to the protected sea grass. You are only allowed to anchor in clear sand and your chain must also not touch the grass. For instance Portanax you can only get about 5 boats in before you used to see about 10 to 15. At Portanax i could see two people going around moving boats on. This was the same in other bays and i was moved on once elsewhere. Ibiza have increased the patrols on the sea grasses Used to be a really nice place to visit but unless the powers that be place specially marked bouys in all the popular anchorages it will be spoilt for us.

 

[FlyingGoose]

Seems the Spanish are looking after their environment and keeping people informed, it seems that you are complaining because a countries environmental laws are spoiling your sailing , but there are anchorages available on first come basis , seems odd to complain because you miss out.

 

[RupertW]

Seems the Spanish are looking after their environment and keeping people informed, it seems that you are complaining because a countries environmental laws are spoiling your sailing , but there are anchorages available on first come basis , seems odd to complain because you miss out.

Except they are not looking after their environment, they and other EU countries are relying on two flawed papers which simply show that there is less sea grass at the end of one particular Summer than at the beginning. It is a daft leap of logic to suggest that it must be anchoring that has reduced it, and the lack of follow up stats for the next Spring means we don’t even know whether there is more seagrass each Spring than the last one. It’s all so illogical it wouldn’t surprise me if they do a check in a couple of years, find that warming seas have continued to increase sea grass and decide that it must be the forbidding of anchoring which has helped.

 

[ghostlymoron]

There's no doubt that anchoring has a drastic effect on sea grass as has been found along the Dorset coast in UK so I can appreciate the reason behind their action but they need to go the whole hog and provide visitor mooring buoys. This would protect the sea bed and not drive the sailors away. Possibly financed by a small charge.

 

[RupertW]

There's no doubt that anchoring has a drastic effect on sea grass as has been found along the Dorset coast in UK so I can appreciate the reason behind their action but they need to go the whole hog and provide visitor mooring buoys. This would protect the sea bed and not drive the sailors away. Possibly financed by a small charge.

Good trolling as you know perfectly well that seagrass has been proven to have increased decade on decade on the Dorset coast along with the increase in anchoring. If we followed the tiny amount of actual science done on this logically we would therefore call for all areas with seagrass to be actively anchored up as often as possible to plough and spread the sea grass, keeping it healthy.

As it is we have Europe wide policy with great intentions but based on a small amount of science that shows the exact opposite to the resulting policy, where it has any corollary at all.

 

[RobbieW]

Good trolling as you know perfectly well that seagrass has been proven to have increased decade on decade on the Dorset coast along with the increase in anchoring. If we followed the tiny amount of actual science done on this logically we would therefore call for all areas with seagrass to be actively anchored up as often as possible to plough and spread the sea grass, keeping it healthy.

As it is we have Europe wide policy with great intentions but based on a small amount of science that shows the exact opposite to the resulting policy, where it has any corollary at all.

Different types of sea grass on the UK S coast to that found in the Med. The Med stuff is much slower growing

 

[GHA]

Except they are not looking after their environment, they and other EU countries are relying on two flawed papers

Is that just guessing or have you links to published reviewed science confirming that anchoring has no adverse effect on Posidonia in the Med and that Ibiza made a judgement based on just 2 published papers, ignoring all the other published work on the subject? No links to the 2 papers you say are flawed either, not exactly the most robust post in the history of posts......

Google Scholar

 

[RupertW]

Different types of sea grass on the UK S coast to that found in the Med. The Med stuff is much slower growing

It was not ghostlymoron that brought up Dorset in this discussion - that was just a reply to that. The two papers I mention (and if there are others which take either side further I’d love to know about them) were both Med based.

 

[RupertW]

Is that just guessing or have you links to published reviewed science confirming that anchoring has no adverse effect on Posidonia in the Med and that Ibiza made a judgement based on just 2 published papers, ignoring all the other published work on the subject? No links to the 2 papers you say are flawed either, not exactly the most robust post in the history of posts......

Google Scholar

It is a little less flawed than yours as you have no idea how many papers there have been or what they say - again very happy to be enlightened on this anti-scientific and illogical policy. It would be brilliant if you were able to point at even one other published work.

 

[Mikedefieslife]

The thing is in Spain they want to protect the grass, which is a noble effort. so in places like Porto Colom they lay moorings in all the aeras where there is no grass. Again no problem. The problem is they don't just charge you a figure to cover their costs and perhaps a little surcharge for conservation. They flat out profit.

I asked about a mooring for my boat 10.72 x 4.57m. They said €19 which is already steep. Then when filling out the forms they saw that it's a Catamaran. No they wanted €32 for the same mooring. Considering my boat is 4.500kg much less than a mono, with lower free board than most monos, and can be in 1m or less water, I failed to see any justification for the charge.

As such I joined the other anchored boats, which of course is in a area of grass/weed.

In France it's completely different. A mooring in Les Saintes is less than €10 a day. In Netherlands, Bonaire it's $10 a day. These make more sense to me, and look like they represent more the true cost of installing and maintaining the moorings over their lifetime.

In teignmouth harbour in the UK the cost to install a bouy is less than £400.

 

[stranded]

The thing is in Spain they want to protect the grass, which is a noble effort. so in places like Porto Colom they lay moorings in all the aeras where there is no grass. Again no problem. The problem is they don't just charge you a figure to cover their costs and perhaps a little surcharge for conservation. They flat out profit.

I asked about a mooring for my boat 10.72 x 4.57m. They said €19 which is already steep. Then when filling out the forms they saw that it's a Catamaran. No they wanted €32 for the same mooring. Considering my boat is 4.500kg much less than a mono, with lower free board than most monos, and can be in 1m or less water, I failed to see any justification for the charge.

As such I joined the other anchored boats, which of course is in a area of grass/weed.

In France it's completely different. A mooring in Les Saintes is less than €10 a day. In Netherlands, Bonaire it's $10 a day. These make more sense to me, and look like they represent more the true cost of installing and maintaining the moorings over their lifetime.

In teignmouth harbour in the UK the cost to install a bouy is less than £400.

I don’t know about you personally of course, but it never ceases to surprise me how many sailors, who in my experience tend more than the population generally to a dog eat dog free market view of the world, seem so often to complain when the providers of marine services prove to be equally enthusiastic capitalists.

 

[GHA]

It is a little less flawed than yours as you have no idea how many papers there have been or what they say - again very happy to be enlightened on this anti-scientific and illogical policy. It would be brilliant if you were able to point at even one other published work.

Still no answers to the questions raised or links to the published work you mentioned - maybe you're just making it up....

 

[FlyingGoose]

There are many papers on seagrass on the med and how anchoring has an effect , sea grass in the med is slightly different to that in colder waters and has been shown to be effected by heavy anchoring,
To think that the Spanish environment agency is relying on flaud scientific evidence is absurd , it is about time that our seas and oceans are protected for the future and not just for the now
The problem with any scientific papers they can be challenged by other scientific studies and the weight of the evidence and the credibility of the papers written then a decision is made by those more involved and better to analyse the data than anyone on here.
I am more than happy to Google scholar or access papers behind paywall restrictions ,as I have access to them all , but I truly think this would be a waste of time as members on here know better than those in the know

 

[Mikedefieslife]

I don’t know about you personally of course, but it never ceases to surprise me how many sailors, who in my experience tend more than the population generally to a dog eat dog free market view of the world, seem so often to complain when the providers of marine services prove to be equally enthusiastic capitalists.

This is supposed to be the government protecting the grass. Not about profiteering. It doesn't work in my example as most transients just anchor in the tiny area allowed even though it has a grass. Queue, some boats dragging in the night.

It's worth noting that Spain is trying to re-invent itself, and attract a better class of tourist than the Brits, Germans, Fins, and Dutch that plauge places like Magaluf, Torremolinos, Ratjada etc..

I guess it's arguable if liveaboard sailors are 'better'

 

[MAURICE]

I agree that we must all look after the enviroment but it is a little hypercritical of the Spanish to save the grass but completely fish out the med and the surrounding waters. I just think that Ibiza should place purpose fitted bouys in those bays they wish to protect. Thay could also charge perhaps a 50 euro annual fee that would help to pay for the maintenance of these bouys. Simples