Sant Carles Marina?

SteveE

SteveE

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Too far from the sea....
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I have recently read reports on Sant Carles marina and seen pics on what looks like a lovely marina in a nice location, but the question that puzzles me, is why would MDL build a marina that is a 100 miles from the nearest really commercial airport? And the 2nd question why would UK boaters have their boats there when it will take at best it will take 9 hours of travelling to get to and from the boat?

I appreciate the UK has totally unpredictable weather, but surely a UK marina operator investing overseas would want a marina that is a lot more convenient? Or am i missing something?
 
My reasons:

1) Reus Airport is connected by an excellent motorway to Sant Carles marina - it takes just 45m from the airport.

2) The flight time is 2 hours and Ryanair flys there almost every other day from Luton.

3) Flights for the past three months have cost me £0 return plus taxes.

4) Flights can be booked on-line and if you go for on-line check-in too you just go straight through to security at departure lounge at both ends.

5) In summer flights are still very cheap. Try Ryanair now and see!

6) When in Torquay it took me 3.5-5hrs to get there depending on traffic, bad in summer. It takes me just 5 hours max and relaxed from door-to-door to Sant Carles - the flight often costs the same as the Petrol to get to TQ!

7) There is free and ample parking at Reus airport and at the marina.

8) The cost of berthing there is significantly cheaper and the marina is new and developing very well. Swimming pool should be completed soon.

9) Season lasts a good 8-10 months - I last left there on 3rd December (could have gone out that day, calm/flat). Although colder I was wearing a T-Shirt when I left. However, allow for say Mar-Oct. TQ lots of frustrated visits, often visited the boat and sat on her due to adverse conditions!

10) In October cruised over to Majorca and spent two great weeks in Pollenca, Alcudia and Soller. Will be hopping down to Denia and Ibiza this year!

11) I am not going to add that SWMBO loves the consistantly good weather - that would be unfair!

12) Ebre River/Delta, a huge nature reserve adjacent to the marina.

13) Mile upon mile of deep sandy beaches adjacent to the marina - beach next door has held a blue flag for years.

14) Long easy to access fuel berth almost complete and brand new crane/hoist facilities with lifts cheaper than the UK.

15) Huge boatyard with lots of space available.

16) Some very nice UK boats already out there.

17) English speaking marina manager - used to manage MDL TQ and Brixham!

18) The town is quaint and unspoiled with good restaurants, Lidl, Carrefour and lots of other facilities close by.

19) Lots of fun for the kids only an hour away - Salou (if you like that sort of thing).

20) Some very nice people already there and its own SCM Forum!

Must be other reasons - will let others have a go!

Don't get me wrong, I loved TQ/UK and trips up the Dart - but I must say, I am looking very much to this season!

Just booked today return flights, with priority boarding, with 9 Days Hertz air conditioned car (returned to a bay within 50 metres of departures) all for £140..... /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif.

This shot was taken in November:

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every picture i have ever seen , seems like very few boats on the pontoons? where is everyone?
 
With free and ample parking at both ends, what would be the logistics of having a car permanently out there? I guess it would have to be a spanish registered car. Could a Brit get insurance etc on a spanish car. Is car hire so cheap it really is worth it?
 
It's unlikely to work out cheaper to own a car than hire one, unless you spend a lot of time there, but it saves the hassle of queueing for the hire car when you arrive. This may not be a problem in Reus, but in Nice it can take well over an hour, so those of us with boats in Antibes have all bought cheapo cars instead.
 
I think you need a French address to own a French registered car. I used the berth address, and collect any papers from the Capitainnerie. Insurance was easy with Axa, and they are happy to send paperwork to UK address. I pay French road tax, and get the car CT'd (French MOT))

At the moment it's probably easier, and almost certainly cheaper, to buy a UK registered LHD car and drive it down, there are specialist dealers here. The only problem with that is in theory you would need to bring it back every year for an MOT. Most people with UK registered cars in France just don't bother with MOT's, and it seems French plod either can't do much about it, or can't be bothered. Without an MOT you can't pay UK road tax, so I guess they don't bother with that either.

Don't know if it's the same or different in Spain
 
"Cheapo"? My lovely Antibes piece of auto exotica? How dare you!

Owning a car out there is easy Neale. 2 choices: Get a UK (or home country) car, keep UK plated, insure in UK. Probably breaking rules about registeringing it in Fr or Spain after 6 months but no-one seems to care. One of my neighbours had has a UK plated car in Antibes since 2003. I wouldn't recommend though: technically illegal, possibily dodgy insurance status, and most of all you have to drive the thing to Fr or Spain which is 1000miles - no thanks

Other choice is buy a car locally. Newer is better so hardly any trips to garage to discuss maintenance in a foreign language (my vocab doesn't stretch to new lip seal on the hydraulic clutch slave cylinder). Uk insurers wont insure a foreign plated car in my exp so you need local insurance but that's easy cos the large expat communities means the big local insuarnace companies have an English speaker. Axa in Nice has a v helpful English lady who does the car insurance over the phone/cr card in English

As Nick says, it is much easier to have own car than stand in the rental queue. And get the crewperson/stewardess girl to drive it, so can meet you/drop off at airport, so no taxi fees/booking hassle
 
That's a convincing case john123456, and i wouldn't argue with any of it. also if a drive to Torquay or wherever takes 4 hours and a plane trip takes 5, I'll take the plane everytime cos someone else is driving so I can use the time productively or to snooze, instead of staring at a blimmin motorway

That said, i think your formula only works if your MO is to set trip dates well in advance and stick to the dates. Reus only have one flight every second day or whatever. If you prefer to book at last minute (say the day before you go) or if you want friday night/sunday night, or if you want the ability to log on sunday afternoon and change your sunday night flight to monday night cos you're having such a good time, you have to berth your boat in reach of an airport like Nice, Palma or Barcelona, cos they have loads more flights (to London I mean)
 
Hi Nick_h,

How myuch does it cost you to leave the cat at Nice Airport ?

I am interested in doing the same after years of using rental cars from Nice.

Thanks

Wakeup
 
Neither Nick nor I leave the car there - crew girls drive. The short stay has gone up quite a bit lately, but long stay is €250/month. Long stay is very near the airport, as you know. Not like UK airports where it's in the next county

Rates card here

€€€ wise, you're generally better hiring someone to drive your car and then take it back to your house, than leaving it at airport though. All Fr car insuarance AFAIK is "any driver" basis
 
A friend of mine, who kept his boat in Bonaire, Pollensa Bay, bought an old VW Polo in the UK for £200, drove it down to Barcelona and across to Mallorca on the ferry. When he returns to the UK he parks it in a back street in Palma near the airport bus stop and gets the bus to the airport. When he returns he just gets the bus from the airport and picks up the car.

He has been doing this for three years now, he has reregisted it and it is taxed and insured, and no-one has ever touched the car even though its is left for weeks at a time - as he says its a right hand drive "banger" no-one wants one of them. He is not worried about it being stolen or towed away because it only cost him £200 and he has saved that many times over.

On the other hand I paid just €23 for a hire car last weekend, the biggest hassle is the queue at the hiredesk
 
If you have a guardiennage arrangement, you can maybe get them to include driving you to/from the airport in your own car, then park it up back in the marina.
 
Hi you forgot to mention complimentory transport by marina to and from the airport Sant Carles I love it going back soon.
 
Thanks JFm and Nick H

No not got a berth yet but have a house down there, will do one day though and will shift my boat down there soonish. I think the ROI is stacking up to buy a 'local' car and keep it down there on my drive, just need to find someone who will always be available to do the aeroport run for us.

There is now no road tax as far as I am told just a bi-annual control technic (French MOT) and insurance, I am told that insurance is generally cheaper in France, is that right??

JFM I agree also a good idea to have a local plate as you don't stand out from the crowd with a rental 60 plate which says come and mug me to all the scooter driving yoof.
 
Interesting comments. I'm just thinking about getting a car to keep at our place in SoF. The family have had the house for about 40 years but, in the past, everyone has tended to drive from UK - because usually carting heavy or bulky stuff. But now people want to fly and spend a couple of months at a time there, so I was debating whether it was better to get a UK or French registered car to keep permanently there. Probably taxi from Nice airport and then use the car while staying at the house.

Prior to reading this thread I was leaning to a UK car: right hand drive, sticks in the right place etc plus bring it back to UK for servicing. Now I think it'll be a French registered southpaw.
 
Hi Benjenbav, we are a bit further down the coast than Nice so a taxi ride either way costs as much as a rental car for the weekend. I need to find a local who is always available and willing to do it for say €20 each way cash in hand to make it stack up.
 
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