Palma, Mallorca

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simon

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I have all but decided to move my boat to Palma this year. I have started contacting a number of berth agencies ( with a view to renting) and the first question I am being asked is which Marina in Palma. I have stayed as a visitor at Club de Mar last year, but have not visited any others, any comments pros and cons would be appreciated.

Also, if anyone knows what the anual rental costs direct with any of the Palma Marinas is for a 13m berth it would useful as offers I get will be private rentals.

Thanks Simon
 
Simon, I berth my boat in Club de Mar on a rental basis and we like it there because there are on site facilities including shop, chandlery, bar and restaurant. Also the security is good, the staff are helpful and on most berths you can park right next to your boat. However it is the furthest from Palma old town

There are 3 other major marinas in Palma

Marina Port de Mallorca
Real Club Nautico
Pier 46

Marina Port de Mallorca is a new marina. The security is good but there are no on site facilities other than toilets. I believe there may be the possibility of renting a berth here. I dont know much about Real Club Nautico other than it is an older marina with a superb club house but when I asked, there were no berths available. Pier 46 is the closest to the old town part of Palma and is therefore v convenient for restaurants but it seems to be very dirty and a bit run down. The Palma boat show is held there every year and you have to vacate your berth for 1 month
I would not limit your enquiries to agencies. They will charge you a large commission for the service. Go and visit the marina offices yourself and ask for a berth. It is probable they will say they are full especially as summer approaches but at least start up a relationship with them and then keep in contact. The other way to get a berth is to simply turn up with your boat and stay for a few days. Pay the charges promptly, be nice and then ask if you can stay longer but this tactic works best during low season when there may be more berths available. We pitched up in Club de Mar in October 2004 from Denia on the mainland, planning to stay for a week and we never left!

I pay about €12000 pa for a 15m x 5m berth but that includes the Palma port charges which are quite substantial and also includes water/leccy

If you draw a blank in Palma, there may be spaces in Pollenca or Alcudia which are now more accessible due to the new motorway being built
 
Thanks for that Mike. I have been in contact with Club de Mar and they have told me to contact again in a couple of weeks, so I'll keep at them. We are paid up in Denia until Mid August so we can hang on a bit if needed. I suppose I could pay Denia an extra month or so and then head over after the July/August rush and just turn up as you did.
Have you found the costs worthwhile and do you intend staying on?
Simon
 
Yes we intend staying on in Palma if we can. There are many advantages compared to Denia. Firstly there are more flights to Palma than to Alicante and I got really pissed off with the 1 - 1 1/2 hr car journey from Alicante to Denia whereas Club de Mar is only 15 mins from the airport. Next and most importantly for us, Mallorca and the Balearics in general is a much better cruising ground. From Denia, you could either go left or right, well basically right only because there was nothing to the left and then in an onshore wind, there are virtually no sheltered anchorages along that coast. The Balearics have loads of superb anchorages and because they're islands you can usually find somewhere sheltered from any wind.
Then the weather is better IMHO. I always felt that Denia had its own little micro climate; if it was going to rain anywhere, it would be in Denia and then I found it often very windy and choppy along that coast. I remember a couple of times returning from Ibiza, leaving in a flat calm and then arriving in Denia in half a gale
Then Denia itself is not great IMHO. The marina is good but Denia town is dead in winter and heaving in summer and we only found 1 good restaurant there. In contrast, Palma is an attractive city with a lively old town and much to do and see. Mallorca itself is also v attractive particularly the mountainous west side which is spectacular
I could go on but I won't. Is it worth paying a bit extra to be in Palma. For us, absolutely
 
Whoops, what have I done? Anyway we'd be pleased to meet you for a beer. There are a few forumites in Mallorca and they're usually pleased as well if somebody buys them beer /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
How long have you been in Denia? What do you think of it?
 
This will be our 4th year in Denia. I like the Marina, although I do find the people in the office trying to say the least! We have just received 3 x G5's one for a boat we owned 2 years ago.

Your comments on the weather and when you leave the marina you turn right struck a nerve with me. It seems the only decent cruising we do now is when we go over to the islands, which given that we usually try to get over for 5 - 6 days at a time is not often enough. We also like the idea of Palma the city being there as we do go all year round.

Do you have a contact for guardinage and if so what are the prices like?
Simon
 
I have a contact for guardiennage but she charges me €15/hour which is a bit steep but she does a good job. I'm currently investigating another person to do the job but the jury's still out on him at the moment so I would hesitate to recommend him
 
Its a Med thing for absent boat owners like me who live hundreds of miles from our boats and can't visit our boats regularly to check lines or keep them clean. A guardiennage service is supposed to mean that some bloke visits your boat regularly to check lines, wash the boat down and maybe start engines and gennie occasionly. In practice what happens is that the boat is completely ignored until about 2hrs before the owner arrives when a couple of blokes will descend on it in a panic and give it quick rinse. For this you pay €300-400 per month for a 15m boat
 
Not so with my Guardienage Mike, monthly fee includes, daily and I mean daily, check on warps & fenders, two wash/wax per month and running up of engines plus battery/charger check once month. Have two guys cleaning boats five days a week.
 
Clive, how about opening a branch in Mallorca? I'll be your first customer
 
Good on you Clive but from my observations I think Mike description is nearer the norm.

It occured to me a few visits ago that I have never seen anyone clearly performing guardienage in our marina. Whenever I see a boat being cleaned or checked over, invariably the boat is occupied within a few hours.

I can certainly say that I have NEVER seen anyone checking anyone's lines or running up engines.

Actually that is not quite true about checking ropes, I have seen warps being adjusted on several ocassions - by the marinero's! In our marina they are a great group of guys.

I would certainly not pay for guardienage.

Martyn
 
Hi there,

I'm really interested that you settled on Palma. I settled Alcudia, on the grounds that taxis go faster than boats, so the north east corner of Mallorca is much quieter than Palma Bay.

But I'm building a website covering all the main cruising grounds in the Balearics and would love to hear your thoughts, either here or on my site, about which marinas, calas and anchorages I should cover. I've circumnavigated Mallorca a couple of times, but inevitably you shoot past some of the nicest spots.

Any suggestions would be welcome at www.sailinmallorca.com

Many thanks

Nicholas
 
You must be in the wrong marina then!
At least 3 guardiennage firms operate in Santa Ponsa marina with possibly more than 6 people at any one time cleaning boats and starting them around the marina. The people work at least five days a week and I know of at least one firm whose owner has gone down in a storm at 2 am to check the boats! And they do NOT just wash when the owner is coming down. The boats are washed on a monthly or weekly basis as per contract and if the red rain has come down after the contract wash they do it AGAIN if the owner is arriving!
 
Mallorca Yacht Care/Berths

Hi Simon,
Have read your message regarding berths and care for yachts in Mallorca. I run a successfull guardiennage business. I have clients in Club De Mar and Club Nautico, both of which i can get berths in. My view to lots of guardiennage companies is much the same, I dont have set prices, I have found the prefered way is to ask the owner for their budget, that they want to spend on their boat per month. My yachts get checked daily, and washed weekly.

PYC
 
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