Med Marina Suggestions/Costs

Paul_S123

Paul_S123

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Gravitating towards a Fairline Phantom 50...per my other post.

Any good marina suggestions and approx costs for a 50' boat on an annual contract.

Would like some facilities like pool, nice cruising grounds etc.

The boat I am leaning towards is in Denia at the moment.

Thanks
 
As Mark says, cost and value differ wildly.

Suitability depends on your usage.

If you want to get the a PM flight on a friday, be on the boat for dinner and at your desk again mid morning on the monday you need somewhere super well connected and close /easy access to the airport.
If you want to do this all year avoid holiday only destinations.

If you intend to go for a week or more at a time a 2 hour drive from the airport becomes less of a bind and you can find little gems for not much money.
 
I'm sure people on here will expect me to offer Sant Carles as a suggestion.
Just over 100 miles from Denia - has its own boatyard - good British community - marina managed by MDL - lovely swimming pool - large lagoon (7 miles by 1.5 miles) right outside the marina.
Also 100 miles from the Balearics - some of the best cruising in the world.
But most of all, it is one of the lowest cost marinas around.

Here is the promotional video:-

 
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Where does the phrase “ you pay for what you get “ fit with SCM ?
Why is it so cheap ?
Why is there not a waiting list ? —- if it’s that good , market forces and all that ?
 
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Paul_S123 said:
Video looks great, What kind of money would you expect to pay for a 50 footer
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It depends.
If you rent directly off the marina, it costs more that looking for a private berth to rent.
There are some advantages to renting directly from the marina - free car parking, cheaper black tank pump outs etc (5 euros a time) - fuel discount etc.

The rental system is based on a "nominal" berth size.
You are allowed 10% extra on the length as long as you allow 3% in the beam for fenders.
Berths are 8m, 10m, 12m, 15m, 20m and 30m.
A 15m berth has a nominal width of 4.7m

For example for a 15m berth, you are allowed a 16.5m (15 + 10%) boat with a beam of 4.559m (4.7 - 3%)
I had a quick look at a couple of adverts for a Phantom 50
Both adverts indicate that the Phantom 50 would fit into one of the 15m berths using the Sant Carles formula.

Whitelighter has a 15m berth, maybe he will comment on the costs.
All prices (either direct off the marina or via a private rental will include electricity, water and WiFi)
I'm not sure of the exact prices but you could expect to pay around £3500 to £4000 pa for a private berth and (I would think) about £5000 direct off the marina.
There are two styles of berths - Med (stern to) style or the nicer UK style pontoon berths.
The Med style ones are cheaper.

EDIT
If you would like more information, you could sign up to the Sant Carles Marina Forum.
Free to join and use - a general discussion forum (like this one) run by berth holders for berth holders.
Just browse to www.scmchat.com and register - registrations are approved manually so you might have to wait an hour or so before getting access.
 
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Having spent a season in Denia ourselves I wouldnt necessarily recommend it as a place to keep a boat especially if you intend to visit your boat for short periods like long weekends rather than extended periods. First it is more than 1hr's hard drive from Alicante airport which is the last thing you need after a delayed flight and possibly with kids in tow. Second the cruising area isnt that interesting. If you go north there's bugger all for miles and if you go south there are a few nice ports like Moraira and Calpe but few if any protected anchorages. Third, the area seems to have its own micro climate which often meant thunder showers when the rest of the coast was dry. But the main weather factor is the wind; the prevailing wind is from the east which gets magnified in the afternoons by the sea breeze effect and that can set up some pretty boisterous sea conditions off the mostly steep-to coastline. We would often leave the Balearics in a flat calm and arrive off Denia in half a gale.

Pretty soon we found ourselves cruising the 60nm regularly to Ibiza and on to Majorca rather than staying around Denia. At the end of our season in Denia during October half term we cruised to Majorca for a week and moored in Club de Mar, Palma. By chance I visited the port office and asked vaguely whether they had a berth for the winter. To my surprise they said yes and we never went back to Denia and ended up staying in Club de Mar for 5yrs. Sure it was more expensive than Denia but we werent spending £'000s on fuel commuting from Denia.

In fact I would recommend Club de Mar as an excellent Med base. Full service marina with nice pool (but minimum age limit). 15mins taxi ride from airport with many flights from UK. Close to Palma which is actually a lovely city with a cool old town. Many other attractions on Majorca. Excellent cruising ground with usable anchorages in virtually any wind conditions. Loads of boat services available, many run by Brits or English speaking people. Downsides are heavy sterngear fouling and occasional swell entering marina but thats about it
 
Deleted User said:
In fact I would recommend Club de Mar as an excellent Med base. Full service marina with nice pool (but minimum age limit). 15mins taxi ride from airport with many flights from UK. Close to Palma which is actually a lovely city with a cool old town. Many other attractions on Majorca. Excellent cruising ground with usable anchorages in virtually any wind conditions. Loads of boat services available, many run by Brits or English speaking people. Downsides are heavy sterngear fouling and occasional swell entering marina but thats about it
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We have spent the odd night in Palma and used Club de Mar and the Club Nautico (RCNP).
On balance, I think I prefer Club Nautico - as a short stay visitor, they are much the same - I think Club Nautic might be slightly nearer Palma.

As I say, we are "short stay" visitors - making a HUGE saving by keeping our boat on the mainland and running the 100 miles or so over when we want to.
 
Hurricane said:
As I say, we are "short stay" visitors - making a HUGE saving by keeping our boat on the mainland and running the 100 miles or so over when we want to.
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In your position, M, with plenty of time to go boating, SCM makes a great base but if youve got less time, like most of the rest of us, you need a marina which is close to an airport, has a choice of daily flights and is close to good cruising grounds
 
Deleted User said:
In your position, M, with plenty of time to go boating, SCM makes a great base but if youve got less time, like most of the rest of us, you need a marina which is close to an airport, has a choice of daily flights and is close to good cruising grounds
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Yep - I agree with that.
Sant Carles is about a 2 hour drive from Barcelona.
There are two other local airports around an hour from the marina (Castellion and Reus) but with fewer flights in and out.
 
have a look south of Denia - as Deleted User said it gets the wind

The costa blanca sometimes gets a Levante wind - proper wind , from the NE, quite unusual though but all marinas have a southern entrance to protect them. A wind from the south is very rare. As the weather gets hotter in July, August you get a sea breeze everyday from @ 3 to @ 7 pm, @ F4 sea usually flat again by morning. April, May, June, September, October, November, December, January, its often pretty flat, light breezes. February March it rains - a lot.

these are all @ 1 to 11/2 hours from Alicante and @ 60 miles to Ibiza etc
Javea - lovely sheltered bays, no pool
Moraira - lovely, expensive and full, - waiting list last time I asked, no pool but the bay is crystal clear
Campomanes - pretty, - in a big bay so one end or the other is usually sheltered
Altea - one of my favourites - very big pool, 5 minute walk into the old town

Further south
Villa Joyosia - small, pretty town, (bit like Tobermory) sheltered from NE winds, no pool
Alicante - 10 mins in a taxi from the Airport, right in the town, lots of entertainment ashore, 2 marinas, I think the royal yacht club has a pool.

Bit further south and 30 - 40 mins from airport, @ 100 miles to Ibiza
Santa Pola - nice marina but oddly very expensive and not full at all. no pool
Guardamar - I don't think you can moor a 15m boat in there, it was a squeeze getting one in for fuel.
Torrevieja - 3 marinas, all similar prices to San Carles. The international Marina (nice but out on a limb past the fishing docks ) has a pool now, the Royal Yacht Club marina has a pool. The international marina no pool, but right next to a beach. Very big, sheltered harbour, lots of people anchor out in it if the wind gets up. Really easy to boat from if you don't speak spanish. 2 big boat yards with english people running them, main volvo service centre here too ( he does Cat stuff too) - dutch guy, Oscar Marine, very good. The town has smartened up a lot over the last 15 years.
Campomar - small, sheltered, 15m might be too big. Nice bay to anchor in.

A lot further south - 2 hours from Alicante
Thomas Maestre - very big, mostly full, just in the Mar Menor - very cheap, lots of very big boats that winter over then disappear in July/August. Mar Menor is always flat even in a gale as its only 6 miles long by 4 wide. Unfortunately outside of july/august its pretty dead, everything shuts.
Cartegena - big marina, very interesting town but a long way from anywhere.
 
There is only one marina in Altea at the south end of the bay. - from Javea down, its a lovely cruise from SCM. Only place that is a bit limited mooring wise is Moraira - if you arrive before 3-00pm you are usually OK, but July August give them a call @ 9-30 am to reserve a spot.
 
Portofino said:
Where does the phrase “ you pay for what you get “ fit with SCM ?
Why is it so cheap ?
Why is there not a waiting list ? —- if it’s that good , market forces and all that ?
Click to expand...

I went there for a look … as in the video, nice marina. As not​ in the video, the town and the surrounding area. Also the airport problem and the fact that, apart from anchoring in the lagoon with not much to look at there's nowhere interesting to visit within 100 miles!
 
NGM said:
There is a second marina in the Altea bay to the north. I've not been but apparently v nice albiet no pool and 10 mins taxi into Altea.
http://www.marinagreenwich.com/
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sorry my post wasn't clear, within Altea Town there is just one marina, but as NGM said, there is also Greenwich Marina (its smack on the Greenwich meridian), at the north end of the bay which used to be called Campomanes. I've been, nice place, don't think there is a pool. Some seriously big boats in there. (Navigaring around here is really easy - its either North or South.)
 
Portofino said:
Where does the phrase “ you pay for what you get “ fit with SCM ?
Why is it so cheap ?
Why is there not a waiting list ? —- if it’s that good , market forces and all that ?
Click to expand...

I'd score the marina 10/10 and the support services (VP dealer and anti-fouling / polishing guys ) 10/10 too. We have a 12m mooring and a permanently empty neighbouring berth so have the best part of 10 meters to shoe horn the boat into :). And of course it's dead cheap (c. £3k p.a. all in).

The town is OK but is a 10 min walk from the marina and does lack some holiday feeling. Quality of food is good but the variety is a bit limited. Call me a pleb but I quite like a Spanish holiday resort, English brekkies, decent bars, a bit of live music perhaps, people watching, etc. Having a pool isn't actually as beneficial as I was expecting (we don't spend a lot of time there, preferring to hang around on the boat).

As for Cruising grounds, as long as you're not too fussy about crystal clear water and don't mind the odd ugly industrial building along the coast (like the "Scooby Doo" factory outside SCM") there are some quite nice ports to visit. I know Hurricane often goes across to "the Islands" but 100 miles, that's OK if you're in a 60ft boat but it's quite a way in 34ft boat. I think a crossing to Ibiza would be less scary if it was only 50 miles, as it is from Denia.

Access transfer time is going to be the thing that makes me want to move on. Throughout this summer there has been two flights from Birmingham (60 min drive for us) that fly into Reus that work well for a 4 night stay and week. The two hour schlepp from Barcelona would be a killer for me if RA stop flying to Reus. As it is, this service is for the summer only so if we want to visit the boat from November to March we'll have to drive to Stansted or get a Birmingham to Barcelona flight.

We'll certainly enjoy the rest of the summer in SCM but I do think we'll review whether we stay there or move down the coast or across to the islands.

Compromises eh?
 
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