OK, What do we do now?

[bobnewbury]

First season of retirement cruise successfully accomplished - tick. (Except for the minor detail of breaking two of Liz's fingers mooring up in Cascais. Could happen to anybody.) Now overwintering in Lagos in the Algarve.

We're now in a bit of a quandary as to what to do next year. The medium term aim (2-3 years) is to make our way to the Eastern Med. We want to avoid long passages as far as possible (Biscay bored the backsides off us both). Ideally we want to take our time and soak in all the places on the way, but the problem seems to be the Western Med, especially the Spanish coast.

We've heard horror stories of overcrowding, full marinas and astronomical prices along the SW coast of Spain, and the Balearics. Do we shoot through these areas like a cork from a bottle and winter somewhere like Sardinia or Malta, or do we take it easy, potter around the Balearics and then winter either there or somewhere like Barcelona. Then the next year we could quickly retrace our steps via the Balearics and go on further East.

Anyone out there able to offer advice, experience, local knowledge on the Western Med we can use to inform our decision, especially regarding anchorage availability (seems to be getting less), marina availability and pricing, and availability of winter space in the water?

 

[Trevor_Smith]

Cheaper Marinas do exist, I went for Barbate (near Cape Trafalgar) followed by Almerimar (Almeria).
Some Forum users have not liked Barbate but we found the people extremely friendly, helpful and their are some superb places to visit inland (Vejer de la Frontera for one)
You will find a lot of good things said about Almerimar on the Forum check their website:
http://www.marina-almerimar.com/

Trevor Smith

 

[Grehan]

Spain

On the eastern coast of Spain anchorages are not plentiful, especially from Almeria westwards. But they do exist -we anchored in a couple of excellent places - Cala Sardinera and San Jose - and there are more, check out the Imray pilot books.
Plenty of people have anchored in the Balearics (we haven't been there yet) but marina prices are reported to be ultra expensive in the season.
Some marinas are expensive, very expensive up north along the Costa Brava (so it seemed to us) and we found Alicante to be the most expensive of all (= one night and then get moving). We've always been able to get in everywhere we wanted to, so not enormous overcrowding - but not empty marinas either. Almerimar is not the quiet cheap haven it once used to be. Others on this forum have more experience there than us, though.
The Junta de Andalucia marinas are - in our experience - pretty good, modern and good value (for Spain). Marbella's Bajadilla harbour is excellent (we were there 18 months) but the marineros are always waving away visitors - you have to be lucky and/or persistent.
If you want (relatively) quiet and cheap and empty consider MarinaSmir on Morocco's east coast.

 

[lawrie]

hi, i was recently down in the balearics and found marina fees were quite variable from 23e to 48e per night and not always priced on appearance, if you know what i mean!

 

[vyv_cox]

Outside July and August many Spanish east coast marinas are not prohibitively expensive. I can only speak of the coast north of Barcelona but some were very reasonably priced. The Balearics have the overwhelming advantage that all the islands abound with excellent anchorages. In two months cruising all four main islands we spent a total of five nights in marinas, mainly so that we could get our laundry done on board. Anchorages on the mainland are less frequent but they do exist - it's a matter of spending time scrutinising the charts and pilots.

So far as overwintering is concerned we found that the Balearics marinas will not commit themselves until about October. We were told at a number of places that there would be berths available but we could not book them. 'Come back in October and we will have a place for you'. We could not live with this, so left the boat ashore in France at a very reasonable rate.

However, we understand that overwintering aboard in Barcelona is a pleasant experience at not too great a cost but is now so popular that spaces fill very quickly. You could usefully try Roses, which we found to be very pleasant and not terribly expensive. Almerimar is the place most frequently mentioned, I have two friends, one a liveaboard, with boats there.

Otherwise, I would suggest you don't dash to Sardinia and beyond. We cruised the French coast and right around the Gulf of Genoa this season. Despite advice to the contrary we found Italy to be excellent, extremely friendly people, plenty of free berthing at Porto Communales and fabulous scenery. Then moved on to Elba and Corsica: superb from every point of view, although marinas were mostly not cheap. Again, plenty of anchorages available, often in very dramatic surroundings.

 

[Silverado]

Basically I have to agree with the comments that the Western Med is particularly expensive in July and August having cruised from St. Tropez to Rome this year. Its not unusual to find prices around Eur100 per night depending on the size of your boat.

However there is one good side to it. We found that in general for the expensive months (July & August) being on the marina was a) too hot and we couldn'd sleep, b) we suffered from mozzie bites and c) they were noisy and uncomfortable. We preferred to stay outside at anchor where there was air to breath, no mozzies and no mooring hassle. We fuelled up and watered up as we needed and saved quite a lot of money.

 

[DanTribe]

Friends of mine are doing a similiar trip, about a year or so ahead of you. A look at their website may give you some clues about where to visit or avoid.
www.matapan.com
Anne-Marie does the human interest bit and Geoff follows with technical stuff and costs.
Dan

 

[jeremyshaw]

Malta is a good place to winter, as are Barcelona, Rome and Tunisia. Thing to remember is that none of these distances are very great, and practically every hop can be done in a day. So I'd just take it as it comes.

 

[bobnewbury]

Thanks very much to all who replied. You've been a great help in clarifying our thinking (such as it is).

 

[samwise]

Bob We face a similar dilemma in working out our cruising plan for next year and I was about to post a similar question, but you beat me to it. Maybe we can compare notes next year when we rejoin Kalessin.

 

[franky]

Hi Bob Thanks for posting my question. I am now wintering in Puerto Santa Maria near Cadiz.(£1.49 each way to Jerez with Ryanair) I am also starting to think about next seasons Med cruise so maybe a separate Med forum would be useful.
PM me to make contact and compare plans.

 

[jimbaerselman]

Lots of good advice above.

I skimmed E Spain (difficult to enter some marinas), jumped to the Balearics (2 months pottering, many anchorages so not necessarily pricy), loved Corsica (month's circuit, many anchorages again), otherwise skipped France (too smart/expensive for my scruffy taste), couple of weeks N Sardinia (v expensive marinas, easily avoided), month in Sicily (great cruising, especially including the Aeolian islands), otherwise skipped Italy (too long spent in Sicily!) then hit Greece/Turkey (kicking myself for not doing a season in Croatia).

4 years in Greece/Turkey was my reward; I still haven't done S Crete and the area north of Evoiia/Lesvos. The results and our findings of this period are all on my website once you get round to planning the Greek bit.

 

[davidbains]

For what it's worth I spent one winter in Almerimar, two winters in Porto Colom Majorca, two winters in Campoloro Corsica, and then about six winters in Preveza Marine Greece.
Now it's my third winter in Monfalcone at the top of the Adriatic.
With a multi I needed lots of anchorages so did not hang around in Med Spain.
My experience is that the further you sail east the easier it gets!!

 

[Mrnotming]

Wonder where you are now Babylon? We are in Fiumicino Canal, with two other Irish boats, and a Dutch and an American.Will be there checking out our craft(laid up ashore now) early Nov 2006

 

[shogun]

Hi guys, We have been on the south cost of spain for the past three years. (leaving for balearics and italy next year) and overall found that the marinas are very good, if you can get in. In general you have to 'be there' to get a berth. This means arriving when, or soon after, all the other transients are leaving at around midday . Unfortunately this also means that you will (certainly in the summer months) have to motor from marina to marina. (This is because the wind only comes up at the time you are arriving) Most marinas will not accept a booking or reservation over the phone unless you are almost in sight of the marina. They are simply too full at that time of year. In the three years we have only been actually turned away once, for lack of space.

Prices vary throughout, we are 40ft and have paid as much as 70E and as little as 5E for the nightly berth. Generally speaking the average is about 23E which we found was reasonable.

There would appear to be very little opportunity for water berths for the winter. However there are very good yards for hard standing at Puerto Sherry (Cadiz), Benalmadena, and just above Valencia at Pobla. all reasonably priced. Again, however you have to lift out early. We have generally done it in early September.

hope this helps

regards

dermot

 

[tcm]

depends on how much time you have - loads?

Have a look if you can get up to sevile tho dunno if you have to drop masts tho.

Gibraltar - main attraction is the approach from the sea and cheap fuel.

Secretly, quite a few of the so-called godawful pklaces are ok. Carthagena quietish, Alicante big city.

plenty of anchorages al along the french coast, and inded plenty around balearix too, tho probly less actuall culture stuff in balearics. Marseilles, Nice proper towns worth investigation.

Big anchorages like Glfe de st tropez holds some yoties for a month or more, likewise vilefranche.

I hear (from here) that Rome has good overwintering community and twd be a shame to rush through. But depends if you have years, or a year.

 

[rpthomas]

The Balearics are well worth visiting, and I particularly like Mallorca. You often find that there is a 'public' mole near the Club Nautico marinas. I have often moored overnight on the public mole for a few euros, whilst the neighbours were tied up to the Club Nautico pontoons. Check on the Pilot - often, the public mole is marked.

And anchoring is wonderful - there are masses of small calas you can anchor in overnight - if you can find a spot - they do get crowded.

Last May I dropped the hook next to a 50' New Zealander in a tiny little cala north of Puerto Pollensa. She had overnighted there for free.

 

[Sea Devil]

It seems such a pity to shoot through the Western Med without going to North Africa - Morocco, Tunisia..

The real problem time in Spain and Balearics is during the school holidays. From Gibraltar there are marinas (and some anchorages depending on your skill) all the way to Denia opposite the Balearics.. shame to miss them.. Just avoid the 'high Season...

If you find them too overcrowded there is the choice of a day night day from Solier to Barcelona and from the to the French Med and Corsica or direct to Sciliy... Unless you want to haul for the winter you will not find it too hard to find winter berths anywhere.. If you want to haul it's a problem but Malta is good and inexpensive...

It's worth going to most places and having a look... after all if you hate it you can just move on - it's called cruising

Michael