Itinernery Suggestions med cruise 5 weeks

[Jobs_a_ good_ un]

Do any of you more experienced members have any suggestions for a cruise for 5 weeks family of 4 going down to majorca and back from port st louis france
I could do with suggested marinas so I can phone and book we like to stay in places usually only for a day or 2 then move on
any ideas would be appreciated weve never been to the med on a boat before apart from a few days around sete and port camargue

 

[tcm]

hm, sete and carmague is a bit poxy.

ACE PLACES

villefranche: incredible protected anchorage
antibes : ace town and harbour, brit friendly, good in fair and foul weather
st tropez: small place, safe "action"
Nice : old town, roller blading on the promendae des anglais - rent rollers for kids or just watch the loonies jump!
marseilles : real big city, views and the small fijord-like "calanques"
barcelona: the nou camp, that cathedral, vibrant city
palma: another BIG med city with history

doable :
menorca: Mahon biggest natural med harbour and a step-off to the eastern coats of W med

Missable:
corsica and sardinia, sorry
most of italy: ace boatbuilders, but rubbish at holiday resorts: much better pizza in most uk towns
deep south spain: a bit of a hack, and getting too far
southern italy, greece: er no: the plumbing doesn't work and agin, too hot, too far for a month.


sort out:
3nights st tropez 3 days in the town and ancored off around pamplone: do NOT go to voile rouge with kids, or indeed without high class stripper in tow. Club 55 is massive contrast. St troptown itself is lovely, fine top let small kids loose. 3 nights

3 nights port grimaud: a ready made small venice with waterways. the go-kart tracj is 2 miles inland but great fun: 2-3 nights

3 nights ste maxime: beach, little town, huge caffs, nice marina. a soft week.

1-2nights villefranche: at anchor: dead safe, fab swimming

1-3 night Nice - do this midweek : you will occupy Moorings berths which run sat-sat hence weekend a no-no. Old town, roller rental, the promende. Nice hold my record of me deciding to stay for lunch and staying er 5 nights

Cannes: great anchorage on thhe front, in sand, plus nice municipal marina

14th July : anwhere french for incredible fireworks.

er look, the best thing bout the uk is proximity to France, ok? Hang a left from the rhone, not a right and hang about there. That's about the best bit. I have friends who do three months there st trop - nice bumbling around every year, for last 20 years...

 

[BrendanS]

[ QUOTE ]
I have friends

[/ QUOTE ]

Really!? <gr&r>

 

[tcm]

Re: yes really

ooh yes, they pour gin and tonics, and have amusing stories, ask after my other boaty mates in the uk and don't taske the blimmin mickey all time! Weird eh?

 

[BrendanS]

Re: yes really

[ QUOTE ]
don't taske the blimmin mickey all time! Weird eh?

[/ QUOTE ]

Very!! <g>

Ps you coming to Mercury do this year, if I get time off as weather watcher, assume you will have time to attend too?

 

[DavidJ]

Following on from tcm. You will need to cross the Gulf of Lion which is 100 miles. We crossed last year and although forcast f3/4 we hit a real nasty f6/7 which is quite a common occurence so beware. You might be wise to go around the long way. Stop in Spain at Llanca, a small but smart marina near Puerto de la Selva. Nearby there is Port Llegat where you can stop off and visit Salvador Dali's house.
If you want restaurants, supermarkets and entertainment stop off at Empuriabrava (It's like Port Grimaud bit 100 times bigger.) At this stage you will be getting very short of time so suggest going around the coast a bit and go 115 miles direct to Minorca (missing out Barcelona unfortunately.)

To be honest I think you are biting off too much and not stopping to enjoy the fantastic places that you're zooming part.

Hope this helps
David

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Agree with DavidJ. You cant just 'do' the Western Med in 5 weeks. I also agree with tcm in that if you dont do the Cote d'Azur, you'll be missing something. Also, you could easily spend 5 weeks pottering around the Balearics alone. I strongly suggest that you plan on leaving your boat out there for at least a season and fly to/from the UK when you need to.
For a 5 week trip from Port St Louis, you can turn left as tcm suggests and you could easily get to Menton before turning round and retracing your steps. If you want to go the other way, you will have to be careful about the Golf de Lion as it has a bad reputation for rough seas. Estartit is a possible jumping off point for the Balearics. I would advise that you get yourself to the Balearics as soon as you can as its an excellent cruising area

 

[DavidJ]

<font color="blue"> I strongly suggest that you plan on leaving your boat out there for at least a season and fly to/from the UK when you need to. </font>

Deleted User's suggestion is good. You will however have one hell of a job in getting a whole season berth somewhere so start to get in touch with marinas now. We move around every year and it's a real pain.
David