Liveaboard in Finike, Turkey

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Does anyone have any recent experience of this marina for overwintering. We'll be living on our yacht through the winter, so we'd like to know what sort of activities are going on e.g. walking, tours to other parts of Turkey, sports facilities, Turkish lessons, cultural interactions? Can you find engineers and fabricators or is everything based around Marmaris?
 
It's 4 years since my boat was based in Finike but, at that time, there were about 30 winter liveaboards there with a busy social calendar. There are excellent engineering facilities around, both within the marina complex and locally (it's a busy agricultural town).
We didn't over winter there (just left the boat ashore) but regard the marina and staff to be the best that we have experienced.
 
I have not wintered myself in Finike but I have many friends who has and their description is still very much the same as HenryB's. There are two groups of liveaboards in Turkey; the first group is the ones that stay in Marmaris (I am one of them). It is massive, both in terms of number of liveaboards (+400 last winter), social activities and every boat service you can imagine (and then some). The second group are the people who think this is somewhat too big and go for the smaller places like Finike, Bodrum, Yalikavak, Turgutreis or Fethiye. It is a matter of personal choice really; do you want small and personal or super service? Both are good and valid choices.
 
Lady Jessie - which marina would you recommend in Marmaris? Is there winter berthing availability? what are the likely costs for a 11.8 metre boat. We thought Lagos was good but 400+ livaboards must allow a very wide range of activities to be improvised.
 
It is difficult to recommend any one. There are two main marinas in Marmaris and they are very different.

Netsel Marina is the 'in-town' marina. It is one of the most beautiful marinas I know of in the world and it has a very nice selection of bars, restaurants and shops. There are many liveaboards here that are very happy with their choice. My personal negative comment about Netsel is that due to the multiple restaurants and bars; there is not one single 'yottie bar' point to meet other yotties. You are on your own. In addition, it is very hot, dusty and noisy in the summer. And it is about three times as expensive as MYM. Bar that; it is still probably one of the best marinas in the world.

Marmaris Yacht Marina is three miles outside of town and it is huge. Here you will find the largest hard-standing area I have ever seen and every boat service imaginable. The marina swimming pool can easily compete with Byblos Hotel in St Tropez. The restaurant is cordon bleu and service is very friendly. The bar is the natural meeting point for sailors from all points of the globe and can get extremely interesting around happy hours, any time of the year. Add to this that the charges are some of the lowest in the western hemisphere and I think you understand that MYM has a winning concept. Negative sides are that you can get somewhat isolated as it is a distance to town and it is huge so you will get crowds and you need a bicycle to get around. However, if you can live with that; it is not easy to beat in value for money, anywhere in the world.
 
We've pals in Fineke and visited several times in recent years.
IMHO excellent maintenance faclities, and apparently reasonable expat social calendar. The latter is possibly better along the cooast 40 miles in Kemer.
We've always been told the only two good exat groups are the Marmaris Mob or the Kemer Krew, but I am sure there are others of merit.
We too have many pals who've wintered in Y. Marin Marmaris but we were told last winter the local authorities almost closed the place due to planning 'differences'.
Maybe someone resident now can advise if this has been sorted OK?
JOHN
 
[ QUOTE ]
we were told last winter the local authorities almost closed the place due to planning 'differences'. Maybe someone resident now can advise if this has been sorted OK?

[/ QUOTE ]No, it was not MYM. It was Netsel that had serious 'planning' difficulties. They have now changed ownership and the problems with the local authorities seems to be sorted.

Believe me, nobody dares to mess with MYM management. Enough said.... It will stay open.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
we were told last winter the local authorities almost closed the place due to planning 'differences'. Maybe someone resident now can advise if this has been sorted OK?

[/ QUOTE ]No, it was not MYM. It was Netsel that had serious 'planning' difficulties. They have now changed ownership and the problems with the local authorities seems to be sorted.

Believe me, nobody dares to mess with MYM management. Enough said.... It will stay open.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm now more worried.....
We were told this tale whilst we were parked short term in Netsel June 07, by some good American cruiser pals who we bumped into in town.
Their boat was in Y. Marin for the 06/07 winter during the period they claimed this local authority action was started.
They even referred to other shared pals also parked in Y.Marin who formed a human chain to keep the machinery out!
As I've said, we were not there so my view is only third hand - which is why I asked if the issue was sorted.
Clearly not if the story being put about is that it happened in Netsel......
JOHN
 
LadyJessie seems to own shares in Marmaris Yat Marina as there are a number of items of disinformation in his/her comments i.e

1. Yat Marina ia 8 Kilometres from Marmaris centre, not 3 miles. Local dolmus (mini-bus) every 20 minutes in summer but less frequent in winter. Last bus around 2200/2300 hours. Cost around £1 each way.

2. Yat Marina definitely has/had planning permission problems last year when the authorities blocked the entrance. The intention of the authorities was serious enough for the marina to organize a human chain to prevent any action being taken by blocking the road with cars, heavy equipment and people for an afternoon. The end result was the destruction of a sea wall but rumours are still circulating to the effect that no title deed exists for the land on which Yat Marina is built as it is a causeway. Planning permission disputs take many years to resolve although in most cases the owners will find the right palm to grease before effective action is taken. Admittedly any one in Yat marina will be very old before any action taken will affect them.

3. A single bar/restaurant in a marina is not a positive point as this allows the owner to raise the prices at will as happened at Yat Marina last spring. Of course this led to many clients boycotting the establishment forcing them to travel into Marmaris for a night out. Clients in Yat Marina are at the mercy of the marina or leaseholders as there is no competition.

4. "In addition, it is very hot, dusty and noisy in the summer. And it is about three times as expensive as MYM. Bar that; it is still probably one of the best marinas in the world." - this quote is only partially true in that Netsel is a good marina but it is no hotter then any place else in the Marmaris bay nor is it dustry (where in heck would the dust come from?). Netsel and half of the population of Marmaris suffers from the loud music (???) from bar street.

5. Netsel certainly is NOT three times as expensive. I know of several people who have compared prices and discovered that Netsel was actually cheaper when the cost of electricity, water and transportation costs (dolmus) were included in the calculations. It is difficult to get anyone from Yat Marina to reveal the amount they paid for water and electicity over the winter leading me to believe that they are embarassed at having paid so much. Have heard that the rate is three times that of the rate paid by house owners.

6. Yat Marina is not really a marina - it is a boat yard with pontoons. Please note there is only a small breakwater for those lucky enough to get a berth behind it - the others are stuck on open pontoons with no protection from the wind or waves when the north wind blows - it can get hairy enough for the marina to forbid their staff from going on the pontoon at times.

Having said all that, I would use Yat Marina if I lived else where and used my yacht for a short time during the summer. I would have her put ashore which is the safest place for her. The extra cost for water, electricity and transportation would not bother me as I would away cruising after a few days.

Cheers
 
[ QUOTE ]
LadyJessie seems to own shares in Marmaris Yat Marina as there are a number of items of disinformation in his/her comments

[/ QUOTE ]I wish I owned shares in Marmaris Yacht Marina. Unfortunately, it is not the case.

There surely seems to be a lot of disinformation on this issue and I will not prolong this thread with responding to your issues with MYM. You clearly prefer Netsel and that is OK, it is a good marina. That does not make your issues with MYM real.

We clearly have a very different recollection of 'planning issues'. Your 'human chain' story is not something I have heard of or experienced. I could have missed it, but your description sounds so dramatic that I would have thought it should be very difficult not to notice.

In contrast; I was present in Netsel in April of last year when a whole regiment of 'Gendarmes' turned up to demolish buildings that had allegedly been put up without planning permission. It was a very tense situation as this was at the very high-season for maintenance and these were all the contractors' workshops. The management solved the situation, but only after some very tense moments. The buildings were indeed taken down later in the year but in a more controlled fashion.

In the end, none of this actually affects the yotties. The Turkish people are smart enough to ensure that business continues, but it can seem pretty dramatic to a bystander.
 
We arrived at MYM on the 14th July hoping to book a place for the the winter after having heard good reports about it. We were told that the marina was full and the only space was on the hard. Not only were they full but they had boats outside at anchor waiting to come in, and these were people that had contracts. It seems to me that they are taking money for more than the number of berths that they have got. As you can expect the contract holders outside were not best pleased about the situation. After being initially disapointed we started to see the negative side of the place, we then hired a car and went to see Kemmer and Finike and we liked the look of Finike and were offered a good price for a one year contract (1350 euros 38ft boat) provided that we left a 50% deposit which we did. We have just arrived in the last hour and are looking forward to spending the winter here
 
Thanks for all your comments. It was interesting to read all about Marmaris, even though we didn't ask about it, it was our second choice! We've paid our deposit for Finike, so only want to hear good things about it now. When we factored the cost of haul out and electricity and water,buses to town and the airport, there was not much to choose price-wise. We prefer smaller and personal and we like to go to the bars where there might be some interaction with local people so Finike was the better option for us. BTW we are quoted €0.22 per kW in Finike, €0.31 per kW in MYM and last year in Italy we paid €0.26 per kW. We don't use much power but in the colder months it does make a difference. We'll stop off in MYM on the way to see what we're missing!
The quote from MYM was only last week, they didn't mention that they might be full!
 
"Your 'human chain' story is not something I have heard of or experienced. I could have missed it, but your description sounds so dramatic that I would have thought it should be very difficult not to notice."

If Lady Jess, you were indeed there at the time, which I suspect you weren't.
Don't mean to suggest you might be misrepresenting anything, but the guys who told us this tale (whilst we were all sharing a drink at Netsel in June 2007) were talking about events over the 2006/7 winter.
Bob and Sue are off the US flagged 'Meg' who might still be at the marina - so why not ask around and track it back?
Maybe both facilities have broken planning rules? Suspect neither would be a first.
JOHN
 
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