So what are my options ?

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Gilbo

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Question if I may for the serious cruisers that are generous with their wisdom and experience.

I’m shortly expecting to undertake my first serious cruise (for at least for me) and keen to understand a few practicalilites.

Let’s paint a hypothetical situation. Home birth is say Palma in Mallorca. I’ve planned a five day trip calling in at 5 marinas around the Balearics. It’s a very busy time of year say July but I’ve managed just to secure a birth in each for 5 consecutive days. Some in Mallorca and some in Ibiza. I did say it’s hypothetical !

Day 1 is fine and I move from home birth to the first marina. I’m booked for 1 night but the weather turns foul and I don’t want to leave the birth. Will the marina force you out ? Sorry sir we are fully booked for tonight ? What should you do about your other bookings ? Will they still charge if you don’t pitch up ?

How do you plan when the beautiful weather that was forecast turns out to be Less so and you need to get into a marina in a hurry ? Have you ever found a marina full and been sent out into weather you would rather not face ?

Keen to understand the practicalities of this hypothetical situation.
 
It depends.

There are two types of marina. Those that take bookings those that don’t.

In Mallorca it is more common that that don’t. In that case generally they come round at 10am ish and ask if you are leaving

As such within limits you can stay as long as you like

Those that take bookings may let you stay if they have Space. Some call you on he day ( soller for example ) to see if you are still coming so they have a better idea of no show rate.

In Mallorca you will always find somewhere ( you won’t in Ibiza) and if the weather is that bad then there will be no shows

Truly terrible weather in the summer months happens ( we had 40knots of wind on anchor in Ibiza the first week of he season ) but is ( a ) forecast and ( b) rare

Don’t over plan. It is a lovely place and I am on anchor now in palma nova having just taken the kids water skiing.

Time for a margarita
 
Marina hopping in high season with any degree of certainty of getting a space is near on impossible.

You can do it by getting on the VHF at 11.00am and trying your luck, you'll likely get asked to call back several times. It can be a waste of your day and prove stressful. The Ibiza marinas and some of the prime Mallorca ones will take advance booking but usually for a minimum of 5-7 days and you pay in advance (Andratx an exception, you can book by the day in advance)

We did a similar trip to what you described, 3 weeks with a mixture of Marina's, buoys and anchorage. We were very lucky 1. that we only missed one planned stop due to weather 2. we managed to get into our marinas of choice either by pre booking or calling on the day.

I'm not sure I would chance my luck with so many stops again, unless it was predominantly an anchor/buoy combo .
 
In Mallorca, what do ports generally think of berth swapping? ie we wanted to go Cala D'Or for a couple of nights and someone there fancied a night in Portals.
 
It will depend on the port. If you own the berth then Probably ok if you tell the marina.

I have borrowed berths before.

If you rent from marina or from the owner then generally probably not, but each have their own rules ( which are probably not obvious and if they say no it’s no

Will also depend on how well you know the marina. I have borrowed Cala Dor berths before
 
Thanks for the responses. Have you ever been refused entry to a marina when you’ve tried to get in to avoid bad weather or been asked to leave a birth into bad weather ?
 
If there is no space there is no space. Don’t over plan. The weather is good if not that’s what the forecast is for. Perfect ? Prob not. Grossly wrong? Not in my experience.

Ibiza is a challenge if the weather turns but the island is small and you can head to their other side
 
Gilbo said:
Day 1 is fine and I move from home birth to the first marina. I’m booked for 1 night but the weather turns foul and I don’t want to leave the birth. Will the marina force you out ?
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Very possibly. It happened to us one August some years ago in Botafoch in Ibiza. We had booked for 1 night and limped into the marina with what turned out to be a faulty alternator on the s/b engine which was causing the engine start batteries to drain completely and for that engine to shut down (most engine stop solenoids are positively energised btw). On berthing I immediately told the marina office that we had mechanical problems and that we may need to stay more than one night and they said they would see what they could do. In the morning, we were still waiting for the Cat engineer to turn up when a marina official turned up to tell us to move no later than 14.00 because the berth was booked for another visitor. I protested and told him that we were disabled and it was unsafe for us to go to sea. He said it didnt matter and if necessary they would tow us out of the marina. At 14.00 the Cat engineer still hadnt turned up and sure enough the marina dory pitched up and towed us out of the marina despite my protests. Luckily we still had the port engine so we motored over to the new breakwater and dropped the anchor in its lee (which I later found it was illegal and could attract a very large fine). When the Cat engineer eventually pitched up, I had to collect him from the shore in our tender. He (wrongly) diagnosed faulty engine batteries and he and I had to lug them to the boat in the tender after which he presented me with a large bill which I had to pay in cash
 
Deleted User said:
Very possibly. It happened to us one August some years ago in Botafoch in Ibiza. We had booked for 1 night and limped into the marina with what turned out to be a faulty alternator on the s/b engine which was causing the engine start batteries to drain completely and for that engine to shut down (most engine stop solenoids are positively energised btw). On berthing I immediately told the marina office that we had mechanical problems and that we may need to stay more than one night and they said they would see what they could do. In the morning, we were still waiting for the Cat engineer to turn up when a marina official turned up to tell us to move no later than 14.00 because the berth was booked for another visitor. I protested and told him that we were disabled and it was unsafe for us to go to sea. He said it didnt matter and if necessary they would tow us out of the marina. At 14.00 the Cat engineer still hadnt turned up and sure enough the marina dory pitched up and towed us out of the marina despite my protests. Luckily we still had the port engine so we motored over to the new breakwater and dropped the anchor in its lee (which I later found it was illegal and could attract a very large fine). When the Cat engineer eventually pitched up, I had to collect him from the shore in our tender. He (wrongly) diagnosed faulty engine batteries and he and I had to lug them to the boat in the tender after which he presented me with a large bill which I had to pay in cash
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Just as well you only stayed for one night, could have bankrupted you otherwise!
 
Deleted User said:
Very possibly. It happened to us one August some years ago in Botafoch in Ibiza. We had booked for 1 night and limped into the marina with what turned out to be a faulty alternator on the s/b engine which was causing the engine start batteries to drain completely and for that engine to shut down (most engine stop solenoids are positively energised btw). On berthing I immediately told the marina office that we had mechanical problems and that we may need to stay more than one night and they said they would see what they could do. In the morning, we were still waiting for the Cat engineer to turn up when a marina official turned up to tell us to move no later than 14.00 because the berth was booked for another visitor. I protested and told him that we were disabled and it was unsafe for us to go to sea. He said it didnt matter and if necessary they would tow us out of the marina. At 14.00 the Cat engineer still hadnt turned up and sure enough the marina dory pitched up and towed us out of the marina despite my protests. Luckily we still had the port engine so we motored over to the new breakwater and dropped the anchor in its lee (which I later found it was illegal and could attract a very large fine). When the Cat engineer eventually pitched up, I had to collect him from the shore in our tender. He (wrongly) diagnosed faulty engine batteries and he and I had to lug them to the boat in the tender after which he presented me with a large bill which I had to pay in cash
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The more I read about Med boating, the happier I am that I am in the UK. Being towed out of a harbour, against your wishes and with a broken boat is shocking. Has this ever happened to anyone in the UK? I have had some robust conversations with UK marinas/harbours about leaving when they had other boats booked in, but I have never been forced to leave against my wishes.
 
Bear in mind Ibiza has 3 marinas ( if you count Ibiza town as one - it is several ). Ibiza town is booked solid months in advance. You may get a berth on the day ( hey took pity on my in a storm as they were closing and allocated an emergency berth - euro 650

There is no flexibility at all. Full is full and someone else has booked it.

Anywhere else it would not happen, and if it did you would head to the next marina a mile or two away

If they could have solved it they would have. Would I like to have been in mikes position. No. Would I be pissed off. Yes. If I was the next boat who booked and was turned away I would not be happy - so the marina can’t win.

Just like a cancelled flight. The people booked he next day travel as normal. The displaced ones don’t.

Not great but tell me the options ?
 
CLB said:
The more I read about Med boating, the happier I am that I am in the UK. Being towed out of a harbour, against your wishes and with a broken boat is shocking. Has this ever happened to anyone in the UK? I have had some robust conversations with UK marinas/harbours about leaving when they had other boats booked in, but I have never been forced to leave against my wishes.
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Yeah but the sun was shining and the water was warm;)
 
jrudge said:
If they could have solved it they would have. Would I like to have been in mikes position. No. Would I be pissed off. Yes. If I was the next boat who booked and was turned away I would not be happy - so the marina can’t win.

Just like a cancelled flight. The people booked he next day travel as normal. The displaced ones don’t.

Not great but tell me the options ?
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I have to say that I tend to agree with that but you know as well as I do that money also talks in Med marinas so, in retrospect, maybe I should have found a way of quietly bunging the harbourmaster a drink
 
petem said:
And the totty is amazing!
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You can say that again. When we were in Ibiza Town, we witnessed the meat market parade on the superyacht quay with totty gathered on the quay and the superyacht skippers picking out those that best matched the owner's taste. Needless to say, my SWMBO was disgusted but I just thought I need a bigger boat;)
 
CLB said:
The more I read about Med boating, the happier I am that I am in the UK.
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Well, everything is relative. Of course Med boating ain't perfect - what in life is?
Otoh, I'd be happier to change hobby altogether, if the only alternative were UK boating.
Now, where did I leave my coat...? :rolleyes:
 
MapisM said:
Well, everything is relative. Of course Med boating ain't perfect - what in life is?
Otoh, I'd be happier to change hobby altogether, if the only alternative were UK boating.
Now, where did I leave my coat...? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

While UK boating can be 'challenging' at times, when you have a summer like we have just had there is little to beat it. And I say that having boated in the med, the US and the Carribean. It's just a shame it only happens about once every 10 years :D
 
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