Med Marina Suggestions/Costs

[Whitelighter]

To answer mike, we pay €4500 for a private berth including electricity and water
I believe Mari a berths are €7,000 but I also think they will negotiate down to around €5500/6000.

As we do more boating and less holiday apartmebting we may revue how we berth as fuel discount and free nights at other ports might be beneficial.

I teally like SCM but we have specific requirements. We generally go for two weeks or more at a time and can’t do long weekends so the drive isn’t an issue - in act we often drive all the way rather than fly

 

[NGM]

I've mentioned Alicante before, I don't berth there so no bias.

If you can't stomach the cost of the Balearics but want relatively close access (80m to Ibiza) I think it's a good option.
If you plan to visit your boat off season it has the benefits of v frequent flights from all UK airports with just a 10 minute transfer time. It's also a genuine year round town/city. Marina Alicante has finger berths up to 15m but no pool. It's 5 min walk to the old town. There are numerous bars and restaurants around the marina however in July/August they are very noisy until very late, not great if you have a close berth. Not familiar with Real Club, it's on the quieter side with stern to moorings.

The downsides are the limited cruising grounds and likely not as cost effective as SCM or Torrevieja, albiet very competitive flight costs and no need for car hire.

 

[kashurst]

To answer mike, we pay €4500 for a private berth including electricity and water
I believe Mari a berths are €7,000 but I also think they will negotiate down to around €5500/6000.

As we do more boating and less holiday apartmebting we may revue how we berth as fuel discount and free nights at other ports might be beneficial.

I teally like SCM but we have specific requirements. We generally go for two weeks or more at a time and can’t do long weekends so the drive isn’t an issue - in act we often drive all the way rather than fly

Do you drive all the way in the Tesla? If so which way do you go?

 

[Whitelighter]

Do you drive all the way in the Tesla? If so which way do you go?

Yes we take the tesla.

Eurotunnel then through Paris, past Clemont-Ferrand (excuse spelling) down to the coast in France then cross the boarderabd travck down past Barcelona

We stop in a lovely boutique French hotel with spa and good restaurant which also happens to have tesla chargers.
We’ll charge at the eurotunnel, stop once on day 1, hotel and charge again on day 2

It’s 1000 miles and in summer temps 250 miles between charges is easy least.
We usually combine it with lunch.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Yes we take the tesla.

Just out of interest do the French autoroutes give you any discount on their tolls for being an EV? Its damned expensive these days to drive from the top to the bottom of France on autoroutes. And are chargers readily available on the whole of the autoroute system?

 

[petem]

Just out of interest do the French autoroutes give you any discount on their tolls for being an EV? Its damned expensive these days to drive from the top to the bottom of France on autoroutes. And are chargers readily available on the whole of the autoroute system?

Ooooh Jez, Mike is wavering .

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Ooooh Jez, Mike is wavering .

Well Pete the prospect of saving £300 or so in tolls every time I drive to my boat in SoF in my retirement might even persuade this unreconstructed petrolhead

 

[mcanderson]

Mike, we are driving down tomorrow. Some of the people at work keep mentioning average speed recordings between the toll booths on the motorway - do you know if this is fact or urban myth? The flat beetle is comfortable at slightly above 130 kph.

 

[petem]

Mike, we are driving down tomorrow. Some of the people at work keep mentioning average speed recordings between the toll booths on the motorway - do you know if this is fact or urban myth? The flat beetle is comfortable at slightly above 130 kph.

Dunno about France but I managed to get two speeding tickets within 15 mins in Spain, which is more than the previous 35 years of my driving career!

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Mike, we are driving down tomorrow. Some of the people at work keep mentioning average speed recordings between the toll booths on the motorway - do you know if this is fact or urban myth? The flat beetle is comfortable at slightly above 130 kph.

Apparently its fact. MYAG of this parish once told me that he viewed speeding fines from average speed cameras on French autoroutes as just another cost of boating but then he's loaded enough to think that Btw unlike the UK, I do not believe that there is any leeway on speeding in France. 1kph over the limit and youre done. Having said that 130kph seems like a fair limit to me unlike our 70mph

 

[mcanderson]

Message simply reads “bugger!”

 

[kashurst]

if you drive through Spain now be very careful, new portable, digital cameras about the size of an SLR camera so you can't see them. Big fines that will find you in the UK and I believe UK points now too. (Sunday Times travel section @ 3 weeks ago)

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Btw I forgot. The French pigs take a very dim view of speed camera warning devices, even GPS based ones which are legal in the UK

 

[adey]

The OP will have to decide what he wants. There's no good and bad marinas, just what's good or bad for him.
I absolutely hated SCM and love Alicante.
On my way to Bristol airport now for the Bonfires of St John (whatever that is?!)
We'll fly back early next week.
This was Alicante carnival a few months ago. Not for everyone but we enjoyed it
We're not pipe and slippers boaters!

 

[petem]

if you drive through Spain now be very careful, new portable, digital cameras about the size of an SLR camera so you can't see them. Big fines that will find you in the UK and I believe UK points now too. (Sunday Times travel section @ 3 weeks ago)

Anyone know any more about this?

 

[petem]

I absolutely hated SCM and love Alicante.

What was it that you disliked so much about SCM?

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Anyone know any more about this?

Pete I think its a fair bet that the one and only Brexit dividend will be the UK pulling out of any cooperation on sharing driver licence information with other EU countries and therefore I cannot see how speeding in Spain will end up with points on your UK licence in the future. Of course I could be wrong but this would be one Brexit dividend that surely the whole country could get behind save for a few safety nazis

 

[petem]

Pete I think its a fair bet that the one and only Brexit dividend will be the UK pulling out of any cooperation on sharing driver licence information with other EU countries and therefore I cannot see how speeding in Spain will end up with points on your UK licence in the future. Of course I could be wrong but this would be one Brexit dividend that surely the whole country could get behind save for a few safety nazis

Every cloud has a silver lining I suppose .

 

[Firefly625]

Mike, we are driving down tomorrow. Some of the people at work keep mentioning average speed recordings between the toll booths on the motorway - do you know if this is fact or urban myth? The flat beetle is comfortable at slightly above 130 kph.

best thing of having a company shell fuel card is free tolls...

I happened to be driving down to southern Brittany a few days before Le Mans and had some smart machinery pass us at high speed. At one of the main toll's there were 3 such cars pulled over just after the toll with multiple police in attendance so I assume they had been clocked on time between tolls... prior to that I thought it was an urban myth!

However I still believe its fines only..

 

[adey]

What was it that you disliked so much about SCM?

Cut n paste from a previous comment

Expensive for what it is if you pay the full price through the marina.
Mosquitos. Lots and lots of them! Made having breakfast or an evening meal/drink outside impossible.
It's miles from anywhere. Two hours in a hire car from Barcelona along a toll road. There's no train station in SCM (nearest one is a 30euro taxi ride away). There are summer flights twice a week to Castellon but it's still an hour's drive from there.
There are no decent restaurants in the town. In the winter you'll be hard pushed to find anywhere to eat out.
The water in the lagoon is so polluted you won't want to swim in it.
The fouling (linked to the agricultural pollution) is so bad you need to lift and scrub whenever you want to go anywhere.
No decent cruising locally.
Very few people in the town speak English.
Quite a high crime rate on the marina.
There's a nice pool but the locals use and abuse it so it's packed in the season.
The town either has a 'Spanish charm' or is a 'bit of a dump' depending on your point of view. Mine erred towards the latter.

Like I said, we land tonight in Alicante at 9:30 and by 10:30 we'll have dropped our bags at the boat and be half way through our first bucket of beers at the Coyote bar. We'll recover tomorrow with some sunbathing, anchored off the beach.
Everyone's different.