IOM update Prices ect

[Davy_S]

We sailed to IOM last Saturday and returned this Saturday . We headed straight to Douglas as we wanted to spend a week chilling out and touring around.
Last year in the boating mags Douglas harbour control got a slagging However I can now confirm that they are very good, we wanted a pontoon mooring and were given a bridge lift and directed to a mooring straight away. Prices are £10 per night plus vat (no reduction for long stay) You can use the showers at Douglas harbour yachtclub £1 coin meter or new showers, same building but near harbourmasters office 50p tokens. We bought a rover ticket £6 per day that lets you use any public transport and visited most of the major resorts. Our favourites were Castletown Port Erin Peel and Laxey, IMHO Ramsey and ST Maryport both dumps. The Battery pier is now wood so no clanking. I have to say that we were made VERY welcome at Douglas Harbour yachtclub by raggies and stinkpots, they do a sailing supper for £5 Steak chips peas lettuce peppers ect very good value. WE would visit again. We sailed halfway back and then the wind died so it was engine on autopilot on feet up in the sun brilliant! I think I have bored you enough now bye!.

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[[3889]]

THe pontoons may be wood but do they stop the bow-wave from the seacat that sets everything a'rollin' in the small hours? I too found the harbour staff very helpful but facilities are lacking -berthed within spitting distance of an oil storage plant but can't get diesel without a taxi ride or vain hope to meet some elusive supplier in the harbour with a switched-off mobile - doesn't smack of organisation. Might be OK for a longer stay (What for on the IOM except TT?) but limited access and ferry traffic makes it a less appealing 1 night stay than Peel or Derbyhaven. Well placed stop but until island drags itself into the 1990s I say onwards to Scotland /Cumbria / Wales / Ireland . Nice people - bad business planning.

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[Davy_S]

Please dont shoot the messenger! I tried to show a factual report on my experience as a visitor in the hope that it may help someone else who may be doing similar. I agree about the ferry wash but i was inside on pontoon so no effect. As for fuel i sail but carry a full tank plus two containers, which gives me a range of 5 knots 24 hours so no problem there. we were offered fuel on the pontoons by someone delivering by van but needednone. I live near the tackyist resort in Britain so to find a place in a timewarp suits me. I engoy walking and sightseing combined with a liquid lunch so i was made up for a week. there are many parts of the north west i have yet to visit by boat, so please if you have any reccomendations put them on the forum as i am sure they are read by many, and hopefully we all may gain.
Regards Dave.

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[extravert]

I haven't been to the IOM since 2001, but like you, I like the slow pace of life and lack of development. It has varied scenery for its size, and I gladly cope with the inconvenience and lack of facilities for the benefit of empty seas and no overcrowding aggro. I would rather visit the IOM than the IOW any day. (Maybe I have just been lucky, but I don't recall having ever seen a jetski in the IOM).

Other destinations I have enjoyed round those parts are Kipford, Kirkcudbright, Isle of Whithorn, Portpatrick and Campbeltown. They all have excellent scenery nearby and little traffic.



<hr width=100% size=1>Adventures of the VAT unpaid <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.xrayted.fsnet.co.uk>Teddy Bear Boat</A>

 

[Birdseye]

" near the tackiest resort in Britain". That just has to be Barry Island!

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[nicho]

Davy - I've been going to the IOM for over 25 years (but only to compete in motorsports there). However, in my view, it is a really lovely island, and when (if) the sun shines there is little to beat it. Many years ago, before the foreign package holidays really took off, it was a heaving holiday resort, with vast armies of tourists pouring in from the Liverpool/Manchester area on the good old IOM Steam Packet service. The birch was still in use then, and inspite of the so called "hate" relationship between the two cities, no one dared to misbehave. These days, as you no doubt found, it is more of an offshore finance centre and is a much quiter place. I'm back ther in two weeks for the Manx Rally (by air, it's too far from the solent!)

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[Davy_S]

I first went to Barry island as a kid to Butlins, thought it was brilliant then! but never been back since. I think I found it odd in IOM that it seemed to be vandal free, no graffiti on public transport ect. Then unfortunatly reality set in when we arrived back home. Keep on never minding.

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