New marina Halkidhiki, Sithonia

[jc1]

Has anyone been to what I believe is a new marina on the NE tip of the middle (Sithonia) finger of Halkidhiki? The location (from Google) is 40' 13.9"N 23' 44.4"E which is 0.4nm SE of the small town of Panagias (or Panayia), on the mainland NW of Nisos Dhiaporos.

The only comment in the latest Heikell is "There is also a new short pier on the E side of the bay". However I have scrutinised Google Earth and some of the Panaramio photos that have been added in 2010 (see links below). These show what looks like 3 pontoons running in an E-W direction. It is not clear from the photos if the most northerly (outside) of these is a wavebreaker. The Google earth satellite shot (dated 2008) also shows a substanial new access road and what looks like the stub of 2 concrete piers.

I an looking for somewhere to leave our 14m yacht in Halkidhiki for a few weeks next summer while we return to the UK (and I am not keen to pay Port Carras rates!). So any information on this possible marina (security, shelter, facilities, management contact details, fees, etc) would be much appreciated. Other berthing suggestions also most welcome!

Many thanks
John


http://www.panoramio.com/photo/33873656?source=wapi&referrer=kh.google.com

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/33873665?source=wapi&referrer=kh.google.com

 

[jc1]

Has no one been to this new marina??

 

[grumpygit]

Has no one been to this new marina??

We've been there in 2010, not on the pontoons though. We would not have got there if we followed your Lat and Long, but the Caribbean does look good though !!!

We anchored in the bay and also went along side on the town key. I think you can use the term marina very loosely and seem to remember (but I might be wrong) there was an issue with draft on the pontoons with only the seaward one for keeled boats. I would not leave my yacht there unattended.

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[vyv_cox]

Has no one been to this new marina??

We berthed there for one night in 2009. The road was being tarmaced at the time, which led us to believe that the marina was on the point of becoming active but we saw no officials. Town quay was full of fishing boats by day and tripper boats at night, but we got water there.

First pic shows inner two pontoons and office(?), second pic shows outer pontoon.

 

[jc1]

Thank you both for your information and especially the great photos. Do you have any views on shelter? Is that SE corner exposed from the north?

 

[grumpygit]

Thank you both for your information and especially the great photos. Do you have any views on shelter? Is that SE corner exposed from the north?

There are some new(ish) pontoons at Pygadikia and you might get a place along side on the seaward side. Some do anchor and leave yachts on the west side of Nisida Diaporos.
I can't think of a marina in that area, apart from Alexandroupolis (Thessalonika) which is not handy for where you want to be, but very good for the airport.
I personally would not leave my yacht anywhere without trusted guardianship, or may be this is just me.
Sorry I can't give you any more info, I'm in the UK at the moment so I can't check back to the cruising notes or guides.

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[jc1]

Thanks for the suggestions. We will take a look at Nisos Diaporos (Ormos Kriftos at the north end looks to be land locked).

I agree to not leaving her totally unattended. However we have so far had a good experience (perhaps lucky!) of finding a friendly and knowledgable local (or family) to keep an eye on things while we are away. We always agree pay a little on our return to encourage them for their efforts. Google Earth, pilots and forums are great planning tools but if we arrive and are not happy with shelter and security we move on to plan B. We have also an onboard alarm which communicates to my mobile phone via GSM if any of these 3 events occurs: the GPS guard zone is broken, the automatic bilge pump comes on or a PIR sensor in the saloon is triggered. If the alarm is sent we alert the guardian by his mobile that there may be a problem and so far they have promptly run down to take a look, intervene if necessary and report back. Great for peace of mind!

In fact we have found over the years that we have had much less damage (knocks, scratches, etc) leaving her in quiet spots like this with one person taking responsibility, than from leaving her in so called 'full service' marinas where I believe many problems often go unnoticed and there are constantly yachts arriving (especially trying to squeeze in) and departing.

 

[grumpygit]

Thanks for the suggestions. We will take a look at Nisos Diaporos (Ormos Kriftos at the north end looks to be land locked).

From memory there a lot of shallows about the bays in that area. We did spend a couple of nights in the bay to the north east of Diaporos. It was quiet but the wind can whistle down from the north and a couple did drag although we held fine. The most disconcerting thing we had was the gps/c-map was way off and could not be used for navigation.

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