Llanca (Costa Brava) AVOID

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Lanca is horribly expensive - €130 for two nights for up to 15m (we are 12.75m). Many empty spaces. Surly office staff. Left stemming the fresh wind in the harbour for ten minutes with no reply on Ch9 and had to phone them. Town is nearly deserted despite being only a short time before the quatrorze. One Frenchman yachtie told me that this area is 'finished' for the French. Restaurants are 50% open and only with 10% full covers. Apartments are 90% closed down. Businesses show no signs of opening.
 
For those that don't know, Llanca is just over the border from France - the first possible place to berth up, David? Or maybe not . . .
We had a similar experience when we moored at Port Lligat a bit further on 'round the headland. Just off Snr Dali's place. Got moved on fairly smartly and moved round to Cadaques, rolly night, not much reason to stay there either, it seemed.
Costa Brava's not great for yotties, is it? Is it? Seemed expensive to us and not welcoming.
 
Jim, We put into Llanca only because we were in La Selva bay at anchor (lovely place) and the forecast was bad. We did not want to leave Spain until we'd fuelled and thought (foolishly) that we might as well put into Llanca as the pilots gave pretty good accounts of it.

At Port Ligat, now the entire cala is now taken up with moorings for locals - no visitors moorings that I could see - so we anchored in a small cala just outside Ligat and tendered over to Ligat from the anchorage. One of the best stops we have ever had in all respects but we had to move as strong southerlies were forecast. Do try the outside of Porto Ligat, it is really beautiful and you can walk over to Cadaques in just 15 minutes.

One of the problems in this part is that Spanish (Castilian) is very non-evident although they understand it, I imagine, much better than they let on. Political stuff, I suspect, and I don't want to know about their politics. Round here it seems better to speak in French - you upset them if you speak Spanish and who speaks Catelan?
 
Thanks for that, James. Some Canadians we have just met have highly recommended Port Argeles where they paid around €230 for seven nights fully inclusive - will check the price again with them. They said that they had a really good stay. Only 15nm from Llanca so might have a night or so.
 
Yes Argeles is quite pleasant. These French marinas usually have a rate for 1 week which is much cheaper than the daily one. When we were stuck there in a tramontana 4 years ago it only cost about 100€ for 10 metres for the week, but that was June.

A popular camping area with probably 100 campsites and a bit of a walk to the main shopping. Restaurants and very small food shops at the marina.
 
Be careful about using the Cadaques/Port Lligat alternatives suggested. We we there in June 2005 and the Cadaques bouys were all owned/managed by the Club Nautico, in the absence of any decent anchorage, they are eager to direct you to one; however, the charge was €30/night <10m, going up in stages until a 15m boat paid €50/night. In addition, when the weather got up SE F4/5, the boats were bouncing around badly, I’m glad we weren’t there to see them during the thunderstorm that subsequently blew through! Whilst there is indeed much better shelter in Port Lligat a ¾ mile walk across the headland, this whole area of coast (apart from Cadaques Bay) is designated as a Marine Reserve (no buoyage or signs ashore to advise of this), so all of the anchorages shown in the Pilot book, between here and Cabo Creus are prohibited. This prohibition seemed to apply most especially to Port Lligat, from where we along with a half-dozen other yachts were expelled by a National Parks Officer and two Policemen, during the onset of a thunderstorm! Whilst there were also 40 or 50 unoccupied and clearly very heavy duty mooring buoys in Port Lligat, these too were off-limits unless you had the requisite permit – I’ve no idea how you got one of those, but clearly not from him. I’ve no idea how often these restrictions are enforced, we'd been anchored for three days before we got booted out.
 
This seems to be the way of things now. Environmentalists (whoever they are) seem to rule.

When we lived on a narrowboat, we often visited the Montgomery canal, which has had much restoration. Sadly there was some sort of rare weed occupying much of the restored section, so it was closed and the lock gates padlocked.

Without the canal the weed would not have been there.

Politicians rule and listen to their own sorry kind, no doubt they also pay them large salaries.

Cadaques and port Lligat were once amongst our favourite places, but sadly we cannot say that any more.

Rant over!
 
Thank you for the warning. There is nothing in any of the literature that I have (three pilots, one Imray, one French and one Spanish) that suggests that though having been living in Spain for three years it does not surprise me one jot. What matters in Spain is not what the law actually says, but how the local enforcer(s) decide to enforce it. Port Ligat is now clearly marked on two buoys as being 'No Anchoring' and the buoys there are clearly marked with the matriculation number of the boat so if they are illegal then it is bizarre. In the surrounding calas (in that large inlet which Port Ligat abuts) there were quite a number of Spanish boats at anchor during the days. They all go off to their marinas at night, of course, that's the Spanish way.

I like to know that there is a risk of being turned away - while I might take a gamble another time I would not do so if I needed shelter. Thought presumably it would be illegal for anyone to force a vessel to go to sea if it was taking shelter from the wind under International Maritime Law? If not, it bloody well ought to!
 
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