Marinas in southern France/Spain

[boatmike]

Planning to take Apella (33ft Aquastar motor boat) down to the med next year through the French canals. Will want to have her hauled out for the winter of 2016/17 and come home. Obviously a marina near to an airport would be handy but the main consideration will be value for money. Thinking that perhaps somewhere in Southern Spain would be a good alternative to France as we might want to cruise around there a bit before hauling out and trekking down to the Ionian in 2017. Anyone got any recommendations?

 

[houldsworth]

Some ideas in South West France would be appreciated for 36' sailing yacht when any of you reply.

 

[Mrnotming]

http://www.portfocus.com/france/zz_marinas_french_mediterranean/index.html

http://www.portfocus.com/spain/zz_marinas_in_catalonia/index.html

http://www.portfocus.com/italy/zz_marinas/index.html

 

[blampied]

Hi BoatMike
As you know I have identical Aquastar.
Winter
South of France, yes too cold, leave boat go home for winter,
try ShipShop in la Grand Motte they do a good deal lifted out, even have facilities to store inside.
Or the two boat yards at Port st Louis both have plenty of room to take you out on the hard.
budget €250 to €300 per month

Spain anywhere south of Barcelona
Forget going home, it's warm enough to keep boating.
Everything slows down but winter temperatures are not much different from summer back home and the sea is calm many more days than its not.
You will find winter price contracts in most Spanish marinas between €250 & €330
We're currently in Cartagena.
Lovely place good community of liveaboards, weekly BBQs etc.
We're booked in based ourselves here for the so called winter until about Easter. (€300 per month)
plenty of nearby ports to cruise to, even Gibraltar is only 3 days cruise away

 

[jimbaerselman]

The Spanish mainland coast isn't a great cruising area - it's more a coast of transit. But it does have some excellent wintering spots, either staying afloat, or hauling out.

The choice depends what you value:

• Great Cities. Barcelona, Valencia, Cartagena - all lively, and great tourist destinations
• Winter Sun Costa del Sol, Almeria and a few tens of miles each side, the sunniest winters in Europe
• Live aboard communities Scattered around - often cheap, but if so, also distant from airports!

For more detailed comparisons of these popular winter destinations (and more), see [url]http://www.jimbsail.info/mediterranean/west-med/south-med-spain[/URL], which also has links to relevant web sites.

 

[boatmike]

Thanks Paul, but we will almost certainly want to go home in October and return in June. Hope to see you sometime though!
Thanks also to Jim. Awesome website! Lots of good info there....

 

[blampied]

If you want to go into Spain but not too far south try el-Masnou
8 miles north of Barcelona
Very friendly, cheep (about 8euro a night on monthly rate) secure, Leo's bar for good beer and tapas, plenty of restaurants within the Marina complex. The Barcelona underground rain line stops at the Marina every few minutes and is only 2 euro to go to centre Barcelona (good because local town is not much spread out built along the side of the bill)

 

[vyv_cox]

We overwintered ashore at Port Leucate in 2005/6 http://www.noonsite.com/Countries/France/Port-Leucate Excellent facilities at Chantier du Golfe and good boat handling ashore. At the time the cost was €10/metre/month: I checked about a year ago and it was still the same. Windy in winter, hence all boats are stored facing NW into the Tramontagne. About 45 minutes to Perpignan airport by taxi. We drove down in the winter, that's where I replaced my P-bracket, shown on the website.

 

[Carmel2]

We overwintered ashore at Port Leucate in 2005/6

My dear man and Jill, my heartfelt sympathies go out to you! Having sailed though those parts one February I can only feel your pain! On that whole coast we had an award system in place to soak up the boredom, a bit like the RAC rosette grade except we used shellsuits, and Port Leucate scored a stunning 11 out of 10................Gives me the shivers just thinking about those passages

 

[vyv_cox]

My dear man and Jill, my heartfelt sympathies go out to you! Having sailed though those parts one February I can only feel your pain! On that whole coast we had an award system in place to soak up the boredom, a bit like the RAC rosette grade except we used shellsuits, and Port Leucate scored a stunning 11 out of 10................Gives me the shivers just thinking about those passages

When I say 'we' I meant that the boat overwintered there while we came home! I agree, it is a tedious coast to sail with the prospect of not being able to get into any of the ports if the swell from the NE is more than about a metre. Leucate itself is very quiet in winter but there are a few shops that stay open.

 

[Carmel2]

Vyv, we went to the Tourist Office and they gave us directions to the only open attraction, which I have to say they were a little over exited about..........It was Lidl........sad face