long term planning ahead for next winter

[Ariadne]

Has anybody spent a winter in Crete?

We are thinking about wintering in Aghios Nikolaos for 2008/09. The climate, at first glance doesn't seem to bad, and the marina appears to be pretty decent with good facilities etc. Anybody out there got any 1st hand experience of Crete, or wintering there?

Thanks in advance

Dave

 

[jimbaerselman]

I've spent time there in winter, visiting the marinas but not aboard a boat, and cruised there two summers ago.

Crete wintering: first choice Agios Nikolaos, usually good live-aboard community there; second choice Chania, a town which I prefer, but fewer live aboards.

Climate, usually quite a lot of settled weather, but so far this winter a string of depressions has been rolling through with not too much settled weather . . .

 

[castlevar]

Hi was there Agios Nikolaos winter 2004 -2005 really great place winter weather mild but you do get a lot of wind all year.
When we were there there was a great live aboard community
charges reasonable can really recomend it.

 

[Ariadne]

Sounds good to me. We looked the web site for Agios Nikolaos, it looks very organised and freindly, but haven't found a web site for any marina in Chania yet, any chance of posting the web address if anybody has it?

What sort of wind speeds are you talking about (not been keeping an eye on that end of the Med over the winter), we sort of like 15-20kts to get our boat moving at any decent speed! Any more than that and SWMBO + Kids want to go home. They seem to have this iea that in the Med' means upright sailing and blue skys!

thanks again

 

[jimbaerselman]

Crete's not a brilliant sailing area; not a lot of places to go to. And often quite a swell in summer when the meltemi is blowing further north. When the meltemi is in, it doesn't blow home onto the windward shore, but the northerlies around the ends of the island pitch in with a good 30kts.

My site gives more detail.

Chania is, I think, a municipally run marina, not very commercially oriented, and rather dis-organised but very cheap when I stayed (2004) - 12m for 10€ a night high season! My assessment of it was that you need a certain DIY approach to winter there comfortably - checking the mooring tackle for yourself, for instance, and laying a cobweb of lines (when big northerlies are blowing) to handle the surge.