Keeping an Oceanis in Greece - talk me out of this.

[Davy_S]

There is another route worth exploring, ok no good if you have to plan ahead but, last month flights were available from Gatwick to Kefalonia for £70, so even including taxi to Fiskardo, ferry to Lefkas and another taxi to boat, it still works out very cheap. If you do a last minute trip it can certainly be worth looking at all options.

 

[krevetka]

Have you looked at Turkey as an alternative? I looked at the Preveza marinas in Greece, and thought they were OK. But in the end went for Yalakivaki marina in Turkey, near Bodrum. Infinitely better quality for the same price. For me (bringing boat from Croatia) VAT was also an issue, but even without that the difference in quality would have persuaded me.

 

[LymingtonPugwash]

Ant... I'm slightly further south, but another Brit oppo of mine lives on Levkas and keeps his boat there, so he is worth talking to as he's there full time. I will PM his email address to you tomorrow, once I have warned him of what I'm doing!

If you want to consider Kalamata marina instead, there are a number of us Brits living here full time and you would have people to keep an eye on the boat..... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Davy_S]

Have you looked at Turkey as an alternative?

Alternatve to what, chicken? I live in Greece /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Zimbali]

I have had my boat at Lefkas for the last 2 seasons. We went for Lafkas marina in the summer but took her up to Cleopatra for the winter - much cheaper, although the work talked of in earlier posts seems to have ground to a halt.

You can keep costs down by using a good local firm to do any work you need, rather than relying on the marinas. Simon Trippier of Sivota Yacht Services did all my work and was excellent.

However, I have just moved the boat to Athens and plan to sail around the Saronic Sea this year. This is partly because I want to explore some new coast but mostly because I got really sick of trying to get flights. One of the real problems with the charters into Preveza and Kefalonia is that they only start running at the beginning of June. If you want to go any earlier in the season you have no choice but to do that drive from Athens (which has to be one of the most dangerous bits of road I have ever been on).

 

[Davy_S]

One of the real problems with the charters into Preveza and Kefalonia is that they only start running at the beginning of June

Just to correct you, the charters start at the first of May, you can fly into Athens at other times of the year and use the inter island planes (though not cheap, about 70 euros)

 

[ostra4]

Flights to Corfu from lots of local airports .Easy walk to ferries from airport if you have time to kill or 10 euro in taxi .Ferry to igoumonitsa -10 euro and and hour and half trip approx .If time to kill bus to Preveza is 3 hous and 25 euro approx or taxi to lefkas around 70 euro .No need to mess about going to Athens.Done it once and far to much hassle .Just booked flights out to Prveza in sept for £155 one way then back three weeks later from Corfu to eastmids which was £90.00 for two one way Total flights £240 plus taxi up from Nidri area is 100 euro .A very reasonable cost trip I think .Gatwick flights ussually cheaper and more frequent to Corfu . We flew to Preveza from Manchester on 6th May .£380 for two for three weeks.

 

[Appleyard]

Anyway Anthony.....having read all this,are you still keen on buying in Greece?

 

[jimbaerselman]

[ QUOTE ]
You are a teacher..this means longish holidays ..good..but July and August? Not good in Greece. It is murderously hot,very busy,polluted with flotillas ,and generally lacking decent winds.

[/ QUOTE ] I guess you've been stuck in the Ionian or the Saronic.

Some delightful (and very cheap) areas to keep a yacht are in the S Peloponese (Kalamata), the E Peloponese (cruise from Porto Heli) the Dodecanese (Kos marina). all these areas have few flotillas, plenty of wind and sheltered waters in high season.

28ft is a bit small for working the Aegean in high season - unless you don't mind a lot of bouncing around with big reefs in.

All these cruising areas have good transport links. Peloponese has six flights a day into Athens year round, followed by a four hour bus ride. Kos has loads of flights during the charter season from all over UK.

Annual marina/mooring charges for 9m at the places above are around €2,000 a year, with around €140 to €300 for lift out and re-launch.

There's far more detail on my website, inlcuding links to marina sites.

If you're goind to be out there more than six weeks a year, you'll love it. Less than that, consider charter . . . unless you enjoy the maintenance chores.

 

[Appleyard]

The original poster was asking about buying a boat in Levkas...this is in the Ionian. I assumed from the following posts that he intended to keep the boat in that area,hence my comments on overcrowding and flotillas. You are right though...there are many other areas in Greece where this is not the case.

 

[zyx]

The Ionian has got to be one of the nicest sailing areas in Greece, during the past twenty seven years we have sailed on all of the waters around Greece, and when it came time to retire we built a house and bought a 27ft Aloha yacht on the island of Lefkada.
Lefkada is yachting orientated you can expect no problems with keeping a yacht here, there are marinas with facilities on a par with the best that the UK can provide.
However I would advise that before you do anything as rash as making a capital investment in a boat that you will use for perhaps a maximum of say six weeks in a year that you think long and hard, personally I would recommend that you go along the path of chartering or flotilla holidaying for a year or two, there are many time share schemes operated by the larger yacht chartering company’s that may be worth your while investigating.
The subject of access to Lefkada island was raised, the nearest and only airport is Preveza about twenty kilos to the North this airport is open from May until October after which if you need to come here you are faced with a coach or car journey of some five or six hours from Athens.
John.