MDL Sant Carles Marina

[andrewbarker]

Can anybody help me get any sense out of MDL?
I am thinking about moving my boat from Cowes to the Med as I'm getting fed up with the weather here.
I wanted an annual berthing quote for Sant Carles Marina, mainly due to the good reports here. With MDL, you have to fill in a form, so I did. Nothing. No reply at all. I filled in another form. Same again - nothing. I sent a comment form saying what's going on. Nothing.
So I phoned MDL HQ in Southampton. They can't quote me for Sant Carles. They can't even tell Sant Carles to quote me.
My boat is a 13M x 4M Carver, so it's a reasonable earner for a marina. I just don't get business now.

 

[Anibal]

Why not trying calling Sant Carles directly? My case is different but when I moved from MDL Chatham to MDL Penton Hook, I gave the PH office a call and they provided me a quote in principle and invited me to come around and choose a pontoon of my liking from the ones they had vacant.

 

[Tranona]

Many berths in San Carles are privately owned and for rent as the marina was partly financed by selling long leases for berths mainly to UK based people. There is an active bertholders group and might be worth contacting Hurricane who posts here and has a berth there.

 

[andrewbarker]

Why not trying calling Sant Carles directly? My case is different but when I moved from MDL Chatham to MDL Penton Hook, I gave the PH office a call and they provided me a quote in principle and invited me to come around and choose a pontoon of my liking from the ones they had vacant.

I agree - the times I've dealt with Penton Hook they could not have been more helpful. (Same with MDL Mercury on the Hamble).
The niggle with Sant Carles is that you are instructed to use their form - not phone them, and the HQ peeps repeated this in quite a peremptory way. What really grated, after months of silence, was that it was my birthday on Saturday and I got a fulsome message, "Happy Birthday from all at MDL, have a lovely season" etc, etc.

 

[andrewbarker]

Many berths in San Carles are privately owned and for rent as the marina was partly financed by selling long leases for berths mainly to UK based people. There is an active bertholders group and might be worth contacting Hurricane who posts here and has a berth there.

That's useful to know, thanks. I was unaware that this "Spanish" arrangement was active at Sant Carles. I had a similar arrangement when I had a boat down at Torrevieja where it was more useful to know the agents and wheeler dealers than the marina management.

 

[Hurricane]

I have been berthing in Sant Carles since it opened 18 years ago so, maybe, I can help.
I suggest that firstly, you sigh up to our forum.
It is called SCMCHAT - run by Sant Carles berth holders for Sant Carles berth holders.
The web address is www.scmchat.com - just register and sign in - all free.

AFAIK, Sant Carles Marina is owned by a company called Sant Carles Marina SA which is 50% owned by MDL and 50% owned by a consortium of 3 other marinas between Sant Carles and Barcelona.

You say that your boat is 13m x 4m.
Sant Carles operate berths of nominal lengths.
These lengths are 8m, 10m, 12m, 15m, 20m and 30m
Berths are either Med style (stern to) or UK style pontoon style.
Pontoon berths are usually a little more expensive than the Med style ones.

As with all Med berthing, the beam of the boat is important.
8m berths are 3.10m wide
10m berths are 3.62m wide
12m berths are 4.10m wide
15m berths are 4.7m wide
20m berths are 5.25m wide
30m berths are 7.5m wide

So you buy/rent and pay for a berth - not the size of your boat.
You are allowed to put a boat of length 10% longer than the nominal size of the berth as long as you allow 3% of the width for fenders.
So this means that you would have to have a 15m berth.

With all that out of the way, you can either rent directly off the marina - just give them a call - they all speak English in the office.
You can buy your berth for the duration of the marina's lease (about 10 years left).
If you buy, you will then only pay service charges.
Contact numbers are on the QRP (Quick Reference Page) on SCMCHAT
Alternatively, you can rent privately from someone who already owns a berth.
Renting privately can be very cost effective - as little as £4000 per year including electricity and water etc for a 15m berth (the berth owner pays the marina the service charge) if you rent, your rental charge includes any service charges. The only major disadvantage of renting privately is that rental berths don't come with a car parking space whereas if you buy/rent directly off the marina, car parking is included. If you rent privately, the marina will charge you 200 euros for annual car parking.

As I say, we have been there 18 years and love the place. The town of Sant Carles is walking distance and very Spanish. Think of it as a family Spanish seaside resort. You won't find may night clubs but there are lots of Spanish events going on - Fiestas etc.

For boating, we have a huge lagoon right outside the marina - 7 miles long, a mile and a half wine and 6m deep - ideal to pop out, drop the hook and (say) watch the sun set over the local Montsia mountains.
Here's a short video of our usual anchorage

Over the years, we have used SCM as a base to explore the rest of the Western Med
The cost of keeping a boat in SCM is WAY cheaper than in the Balearic Islands which are only 100 miles away.
Here's an example of one of our late season cruises.

Finally, this is one of the early promotion videos.

If you would like to know more, I will be please to help

 

[Anibal]

Very nice videos and lovely boat you have there.

 

[andrewbarker]

I have been berthing in Sant Carles since it opened 18 years ago so, maybe, I can help.
I suggest that firstly, you sigh up to our forum.
It is called SCMCHAT - run by Sant Carles berth holders for Sant Carles berth holders.
The web address is www.scmchat.com - just register and sign in - all free.

AFAIK, Sant Carles Marina is owned by a company called Sant Carles Marina SA which is 50% owned by MDL and 50% owned by a consortium of 3 other marinas between Sant Carles and Barcelona.

You say that your boat is 13m x 4m.
Sant Carles operate berths of nominal lengths.
These lengths are 8m, 10m, 12m, 15m, 20m and 30m
Berths are either Med style (stern to) or UK style pontoon style.
Pontoon berths are usually a little more expensive than the Med style ones.

As with all Med berthing, the beam of the boat is important.
8m berths are 3.10m wide
10m berths are 3.62m wide
12m berths are 4.10m wide
15m berths are 4.7m wide
20m berths are 5.25m wide
30m berths are 7.5m wide

So you buy/rent and pay for a berth - not the size of your boat.
You are allowed to put a boat of length 10% longer than the nominal size of the berth as long as you allow 3% of the width for fenders.
So this means that you would have to have a 15m berth.

With all that out of the way, you can either rent directly off the marina - just give them a call - they all speak English in the office.
You can buy your berth for the duration of the marina's lease (about 10 years left).
If you buy, you will then only pay service charges.
Contact numbers are on the QRP (Quick Reference Page) on SCMCHAT
Alternatively, you can rent privately from someone who already owns a berth.
Renting privately can be very cost effective - as little as £4000 per year including electricity and water etc for a 15m berth (the berth owner pays the marina the service charge) if you rent, your rental charge includes any service charges. The only major disadvantage of renting privately is that rental berths don't come with a car parking space whereas if you buy/rent directly off the marina, car parking is included. If you rent privately, the marina will charge you 200 euros for annual car parking.

As I say, we have been there 18 years and love the place. The town of Sant Carles is walking distance and very Spanish. Think of it as a family Spanish seaside resort. You won't find may night clubs but there are lots of Spanish events going on - Fiestas etc.

For boating, we have a huge lagoon right outside the marina - 7 miles long, a mile and a half wine and 6m deep - ideal to pop out, drop the hook and (say) watch the sun set over the local Montsia mountains.
Here's a short video of our usual anchorage

Over the years, we have used SCM as a base to explore the rest of the Western Med
The cost of keeping a boat in SCM is WAY cheaper than in the Balearic Islands which are only 100 miles away.
Here's an example of one of our late season cruises.

Finally, this is one of the early promotion videos.

If you would like to know more, I will be please to help

Hurricane thanks for your full & comprehensive reply. Really kind. I've got a much better picture now of the set up at Sant Carles.
I'll sign up to the forum and I think we'll have to have a trip down to the locality to see first hand.

 

[John100156]

I sold my P45 17m ago but spent around 16 years in SCM. We moved a boat there that was initially berthed in MDL Torquay and we intended to move around the Med, but it was such a nice clean marina with pool and good services, great value for money, English speaking marina staffs, easy to get to and more importantly friendly and helpful berth holders, we never moved on.... It' still a quiet peaceful town but in 4-5 hours you can hop over to Ibiza/Mallorca in a motor yacht......

 

[Hurricane]

I sold my P45 17m ago but spent around 16 years in SCM. We moved a boat there that was initially berthed in MDL Torquay and we intended to move around the Med, but it was such a nice clean marina with pool and good services, great value for money, English speaking marina staffs, easy to get to and more importantly friendly and helpful berth holders, we never moved on.... It' still a quiet peaceful town but in 4-5 hours you can hop over to Ibiza/Mallorca in a motor yacht......

Hi John

Remember this - one of many raft parties

 

[jrudge]

The Marina is only cost effective if you rent from an owner. The price quotes by the Marina are not competitive given its location. Hurricane is your man.