Italy

jointventureII said:
DavidJ you make a good point about Alghero, when the mistral is on, the swell is huge with very short wavelength. The roughest Med trip I've ever done was Mahon to Alghero. I'd not leave a boat in there for winter.

As for the Pontine islands, the little marina in Ponza can take up to about 40ft shallow draughted vessels (<1.5m), Ventotene can actually take bigger but there really are minimal berths and it's more swell prone. The problem in Ponza is the whole area around the port is reserved as a ferry turning area so no anchoring close in.
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Apologies, posts crossed. Re N Sardinia I left my boat for a month at Sta Theresa di Galluro which is really well sheltered even in a mistral. the problem is that because of the narrow entrance you can end up stuck in the marina for days after its blown through. In fact when we went to start the cruise two years ago the Mistral was coming in the pm we arrived so we dropped lines and went across to Isola Maddelana where we got a berth in the old harbour. Totally exposed to horrendous winds. had to take the Bimini down, only one bow line so put two lines onto the one buoy - in fact the yacht two down broke its bow line which caused havoc - and had three really uncomfortable nights with the boat swinging around all night (and day) along with every other boat on our berth area.
 
jointventureII said:
Portovenere a must I'd say. I've never been ashore but Caprera was stunning too.
We winter in Genoa and, although I'd say 50% of the place is a total s**thole, the other 50% is very nice. You can get any parts, supplies or work you want doing too.
Moving down, Elba has been mentioned a lot and rightly so, very pleasant place indeed, loads of good anchorages whatever the wind direction. The mainland coastal towns and marinas here aren't all that much barring Santo Stefano.
[...]
Aeolian islands - if you get good weather then they're lovely (Stromboli, Panarea) but Lipari was uninspiring if I'm honest.
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Good post jointventurell, I can second all you said. Just a few comments on the above, if you don't mind.

1) since you mentioned Caprera while talking of Porto Venere, I suppose you were actually referring to Palmaria, which is the island nearby.
Caprera is another island, part of the Maddalenas archipelago - very nice BTW, but it has nothing to see with Porto Venere and Liguria.

2) I see where you come from ref. Genoa, which as every town focused on a large commercial harbour can be disappointing, in places.
The historical center is a hidden gem though, well worth seeing imho (a bit inland from the coast).
Not up there with Venice, Florence and Rome for instance, no doubt about it. But very interesting anyway.

3) the village of Porto Santo Stefano (which was previously mentioned) is actually in Argentario peninsula, which is about 30 Nm S of Elba, along the mainland.
Around Elba island, on top of its main and lovely village of Porto Ferraio, other nice spots are Porto Azzurro, Rio Marina, Marciana Marina.

4) Lipari is actually peculiar, and nicer than you would say from the marina (which I agree is uninspiring, and not well sheltered).
But you'd better hire a scooter, or at least a bycicle, and move around a bit.
 
DavidJ said:
Yes, much better if you could go further into the harbour and less of a walk into town.
The pontoons seemed to be individually owned (or rented I guess) I’ll make a link to Ser-Mar anyway for interest. Frederico still sends me a Christmas card every year for over a decade.
Home
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Coming summer we are planning to go to Alghero and do some guest changes over there,
someone told me that the consession down from the old city is the best place in port of Alghero (short walk to the city, everything nearby)
do you perhaps know which consession / quay this is ?
 
MapisM said:
Good post jointventurell, I can second all you said. Just a few comments on the above, if you don't mind.

1) since you mentioned Caprera while talking of Porto Venere, I suppose you were actually referring to Palmaria, which is the island nearby.
Caprera is another island, part of the Maddalenas archipelago - very nice BTW, but it has nothing to see with Porto Venere and Liguria.

2) I see where you come from ref. Genoa, which as every town focused on a large commercial harbour can be disappointing, in places.
The historical center is a hidden gem though, well worth seeing imho (a bit inland from the coast).
Not up there with Venice, Florence and Rome for instance, no doubt about it. But very interesting anyway.

3) the village of Porto Santo Stefano (which was previously mentioned) is actually in Argentario peninsula, which is about 30 Nm S of Elba, along the mainland.
Around Elba island, on top of its main and lovely village of Porto Ferraio, other nice spots are Porto Azzurro, Rio Marina, Marciana Marina.

4) Lipari is actually peculiar, and nicer than you would say from the marina (which I agree is uninspiring, and not well sheltered).
But you'd better hire a scooter, or at least a bycicle, and move around a bit.
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Hi Mapis, you're dead right about Caprera, I just looked and it was Capraia I was thinking of.

Genoa, yes I live there, I suppose like all of the places I visit, I just see it from a work point of view (how busy / deep are anchorages, how close to airport, how windy, how easy to get a berth last minute...) My frequent trips to the commerical port & football stadium will influence my opinion more than they should! We're in Aeroporto marina and it's the absolute height of convenience, airport is a short walk from the marina or <5 mins drive, autostrada entrance also <5 mins
 
Deleted User said:
Excellent post. Thanks for the info. Apart from anchorages, are there any marinas in the Pontines which allow you to tie up and explore the islands on foot?
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On the west side of Ponza, you have a nice bay with sand beach "Cala di luna"
from that beach there is a tunnel for pedestrians, that goes to the village and via the road to Port of Ponza,
this was our first trip ever with Blue Angel , anchoring in the bay, by tenter to the beach, pull the tender on the beach, and walk to a restaurant in the village near the port
very adventurous and exiting for us at that moment,
unfortunately the guests with us, iirc could not enjoy the Italian food, shame on them !!!!

Ponza Harbour was big enough to place your boat, just not sure if its possible to get a visitor berth
 
jointventureII said:
Hi Mapis, you're dead right about Caprera, I just looked and it was Capraia I was thinking of.

Genoa, yes I live there, I suppose like all of the places I visit, I just see it from a work point of view (how busy / deep are anchorages, how close to airport, how windy, how easy to get a berth last minute...) My frequent trips to the commerical port & football stadium will influence my opinion more than they should! We're in Aeroporto marina and it's the absolute height of convenience, airport is a short walk from the marina or <5 mins drive, autostrada entrance also <5 mins
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Capraia is a hidden gem. We loved it there. Picture attached

 
BartW said:
Coming summer we are planning to go to Alghero and do some guest changes over there,
someone told me that the consession down from the old city is the best place in port of Alghero (short walk to the city, everything nearby)
do you perhaps know which consession / quay this is ?
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I don’t but referring back to my post #57 the pontoons are run by individuals. I think the harbour is still owned by the Navy and they allow locals to run pontoons rather than the being run as a whole marina. Hence I believe the reference to “concession“
The link by Clancy Moped looks good if your boat will fit Aquatica Alghero Marina Sardinia
They are all after your business so on arrival you will have lots of attention, just have to sort out the ones with moorings nearest to the town.
 
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DavidJ said:
I don’t but referring back to my post #57 the pontoons are run by individuals. I think the harbour is still owned by the Navy and they allow locals to run pontoons rather than the being run as a whole marina. Hence I believe the reference to “concession“
The link by Clancy Moped looks hood if your boat will fit Aquatica Alghero Marina Sardinia
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From the home page there concession runs from the blue sail boat round to the old style motor boat, the L shaped glass building is the office, bar, and rather nice resto....
 
DavidJ said:
I think the harbour is still owned by the Navy and they allow locals to run pontoons rather than the being run as a whole marina.
Hence I believe the reference to “concession“
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It doesn't really matter from a practical viewpoint, but the term "concession" actually applies to every marina, and it's driven by the fact that all coastal waters are considered (in Italy, anyway) as unalieniable State property.
 
DavidJ said:
Also I remember some fabulous white cliffs, I think it was Ponza Island.
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that might have been Cala di luna, on the opposite side of the island,
its a fairly popular bay / anchorage for the locals aswell for visitors
10y ago for me, but still some memory's :)
 
Chris H said:
may try over West sof for a season,
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Not sure how far west you were, but starting from st tropez,
Les porquerolles are interesting
Sanary sur mer is lovely
Cassis one of my all time favourites (homeberth for six months)
Les quallenques, must be on your bucket list
And the islands en route to Marseille have some nice anchorages.
Entering Marseille harbour is special
Further west, in the estuari of Le Rhone,
AVOID port saint louis ! Mosquitos will kill you
And further west don’t know, no experience but never heard of any mobo going There.
 
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