The Joy (or not) of sailing in the Mediterranean

[BurnitBlue]

For my style of sailing I consider the Eastern side of the MED to be better than the Western side. However it is definitely not perfect. Not even close.

The sailing season is actually shorter than the Baltic sailing season. In the Ionian, for instance, many cruisers start the season in May, haul-out in June to avoid the heat and crowds, re-launch in September then haul out for the winter in October. I tend to start in June, stay afloat for summer, then haul in October.

Quick summary of my negative thoughts.

Very crowded with no safe anchorages for the Greek Katabatic winds. Most damage from other dragging boats than from the shore.

GENERALLY ... Winds are non existent until past noon then it blows F5 or F6 in the afternoon, calm at night.

Heat.

Thirst. No squash to dilute the 'orrible hard water from the tap. Buy bottled water.

Poor choice of groceries (outside Lidl).

Harbours and anchorages a disgrace with abandoned boats.

Very few dinghy landing places for elderly creakies.

Polluted "muddy" water I would never swim in. If you have sailed in Bahamas you know what I mean.

That's enough negative for now.

Advantages. Civilized, free anchorages, lots of stuff to moan about (delightful when you get talking to a fellow moaner). Eye opening, wide eyed disbelief when you hear someone say he enjoyed a full day sailing with all sail up and no engine on.

How about that Vic.

 

[truscott]

We''ve been based in Turkey for the last 5 years and resemble the OP's comments quite a lot (apart from the moaning part, of course). Having come from the South Pacific we are enjoying the millennia of history that are quite literally sat right off the stern in most anchorages. Beats yet another coral sand beach hands down in my opinion. It's not all champagne sailing (and there isn't usually any on our boat anyway) but we do get enough magic days of long, long passages where there is nothing but the sound of wind and water to make up for the many more days of endless motoring to get into a harbour before the hoardes. Or the hours and hours of wind on the nose beating for the privilege of finding all the best spots in the anchorage have gone. Or opting to moor to the restaurant's jetty or mooring ball for the privilege of paying through the nose for a ghastly bottle of wine to go with the meal. Hopefully if we feature all the 'orrible stuff enough everyone else will b*gger off!

Did I mention that I'm not one for moaning?

Back on board in the morning. This time for good.

PT.

 

[sailaboutvic]

Well done but I think you left your self open to being attack , for a start complaint about Greece on YBW is a no no , most of the people who write on this forum sail in Greece , love Greece , won't have a bad word said about it and know no better.
The MED is one hell of a place there some great place , lovely anchorages and good winds to sail by you just have not be be in an hurry .
If you talk to the sailor from the U.S. They will tell you how lucky we all are that we have all these different country to sail to , all this history with in days of each other .
Flights Back home no matter what country you come from are cheap and readily available from tons of places .
Just to take a few of your point and no I am not attacking you I leave that to others .
Your season start in June and ends in Oct , MAN what you doing some of the best time are from March till June and oct till Dec your missing the best parts .
Crowed anchorage ? I bet I know where your sailing is done , Ionian ?
Polluted and muddy water , I think you spent too much time in Vlikho bay . Go a few hundred miles north to Croatia you will find some of the crystal clears waters in the Med and if you want wind you find that too , go East and again to Turkey and as long as you keep away from the gullets the seas are clean and the anchorage are wonderful go to South of France Sardinia and sail almost every day or you could just stay in the Ionian and put up with what you have discribe .

 

[jimbaerselman]

Vic's got it in one. Get out of the Ionian and Vlicho bay. It doesn't suit you!

It does, however, suit a large number of people, especially families, who have little experience of sailing and want to be "in charge of a boat" to see what it's like. They're stuck with high summer, don't mind calm mornings, love a mid-day swim, the challenge of raising a sail to use wind in the afternoon, and the help of some shepherds to moor up in the evening. Welcome to flotilla country!

Instead, sample the S and E Peloponnese, the Aegean, and above all, the Dodecanese and islands to the north - up to Lesvos.

A form of Darwinian selection sorts out those whose anchors usually drag when it's F4 or more . . . they don't come back, talk about gales, and warn others not to visit.

So, yes, I agree. Go east.

Vic's gone north. He'll regale us later with stories about thunderstorms and typhoons to die for as autumn closes in during September - when the rest of us are still enjoying sun and lighter winds in the Aegean.

 

[sailaboutvic]

Not this year Jim , we gone East , Turkey is our cruising ground for at less the next few month , then our autum sails this year will be the Aegaen and northern Greece and ending the year off Southern Peloponnese and back west to Sicily .
Enjoying every min of every day .

 

[RichardS]

I've never been into Vlicho Bay but have sailed past it. However, it looks idyllic on the chart so have always intended to visit one day but with the muddy water and the terrible localised storm a few years ago, I seem to be going off the idea.

Does anyone still think it is worth visiting?

Richard

 

[sailaboutvic]

Richard , Vicky in the yacht club doesn't a great Sunday dinner and is very welcoming , But I am sorry to say that about it for us . The quay has been high jack by the charter company , the water is very polluted , the holding isn't that great in places and the wind can come from now where at time , not as good as it looks on the chart .
Sorry. Vlicho fans .

Edit .
Oh yes and the whole of the road side quay is used up by abandon boats , some fit only for the scap yard .
A place where old sailors and old sailing boats go to retire

 

[Bertramdriver]

Richard , Vicky in the yacht club doesn't a great Sunday dinner and is very welcoming , But I am sorry to say that about it for us . The quay has been high jack by the charter company , the water is very polluted , the holding isn't that great in places and the wind can come from now where at time , not as good as it looks on the chart .
Sorry. Vlicho fans .

Drove past the quay last week. It looked like the last resting place of immigrant transport. Dreadful. Also very depressed by Nidri. Blackpool looks classy by comparison. The best of the Ionian is definitely on the hook

 

[OldBawley]

For us the Med was all we wanted.
I had been a liveaboard cruiser for more than a decade before leaving, knew exactly what I wanted.
We attended a “sell up and leave” gathering organised by a Dutch sailing magazine, and most guys there just giggled a bit when they heard my intention.
Only the Med, phoe. And with such an old small yacht, giggle.

I could have bought a bigger yacht, but I love my boat and knew that as a sailor and liveaboard boat for just two the boat would do fine. In fact better than a new plastic yacht.
So I started with a looooot of more playing money then those Newbie´s who had to spend most of their budget on a boat.

What was even less incomprehensible for the other “want to leave” sailors was that I had no plan. No spreadsheet. No timing. Jeeesh.
Although years in advance those guys could point out on the day exact when they would pass the Panama canal. Yeah, it was on their spreadsheet.....

Sixteen years ( Summer and winter ) on the go now, and still a lot of the Med we have not seen. Spain and the African north coast is still not visited. Met a lot of sailors who had been further, all of them said the Med is challenging and culturally interesting.
Not to mention safe. I mean safe in a way of violence.

BTW, I am pretty sure we are the only ones from that meeting still cruising.
And enjoying the Med.

 

[BurnitBlue]

All of you who pointed out that I should stay away from Vlicho Bay hit the nail on the head. Guilty.

We all carry emotional baggage. This is my Third session with the cruising life. The first was transatlantic to Caribbean Bahamas and the USA. That was for six fantastic years. The second session was in the Eastern MED. This session lasted 5 years of cruising from "Yugoslavia" to Cyprus via Greece and Turkey. Then we sailed back to Sweden for a fifteen year break.

The first time I anchored in Vlicho bay many years ago there were only two boats there. Me and a German. I could see the bottom on a moonlit night and the stars were brilliant. I used to sail around the bay to experiment with various sail combinations.

On this latest session I was totally shocked at the state of Vlicho Bay. Polluted water, street lamps blanking the stars, noise from continuous mopeds etc from the road. But above all I counted over 200 yachts at anchor before I gave up.

I have been literally afraid to go further afield for fear of destroying my remaining memories. This is why I now want to leave the MED.

I deliberately delayed my launch this year so that I could prepare the boat for long distance.

I intend to spend a few weeks on sailing trials to check that my "improvements" made to my Moody are effective because I find this boat very skittish and difficult to sail single handed.

Thanks for your input. Not sure it was wise to declare my disappointment. I was challenged by Vic. I bet he is sorry he asked.

 

[sailaboutvic]

[QUOTE}

Thanks for your input. Not sure it was wise to declare my disappointment. I was challenged by Vic. I bet he is sorry he asked.[/QUOTE]
No way , it a public forum everyone Is intited to there opinion , it up to the rest of us to put them right only joking . I too can remember them days but thing have chance every where and not for the better , the charter market have make buying. Yacht a lot cheaper which means now there much too many boats about , anchorge are over crowed , seas polluied and prices for my thing to do with boats have shot through the roof . But there still thousnds of good places to visit and sail , it just the middle part of the Ionian isn't one of them well at less not between May and Oct after that it get hundreds of times better .
One last thing belive it or not Vlicho bay waa almost clear last time we was there , Nov 2014 , it Had time to recover from the summer by then .

 

[vyv_cox]

If you want peace and tranquility the Ionian is no longer the place. I suggest you transfer to the Aegean. In the past few days we spent three in Levitha, one of the most remote islands in Greece. There are 13 moorings in a very secure bay there. On the first night there was one free. On the second only 3 were occupied, on the third 5. We left early and sailed 27 miles to Amorgos, seeing two or three yachts on the way.. Anchored in a bay behind an island, another very secure place, four other boats there over about half a mile. Didn't like the look of the forecast so sailed to Koufonisia, another 14 miles, to a nice harbour with lazy lines, secure in almost any weather. Total voyage over 50 miles, most close hauled or a close reach, a little under engine in the middle of the day. All waters crystal clear. Few other boats anywhere.

 

[TonyMS]

We're in our second season in the Ionian and loving it. Am writing this in Aberlike bay, with perhaps another 10 yachts at anchor or tied back to the shore. Total silence; no light pollution. Yesterday had bagged a good spot in Kioni by turning up mid - morning. Quiet and fairly dark in the evening. Afternoon lots of entertainment watching yachts trying to berth in the stiff cross-wind. We've had anchorages to ourselves, or almost, for instance Limin Petela. Even Vliko was quiet, and I thought the water OK for a swim - we were a long way from the club.

Some other comments from the OP. The provisioning is excellent. In the bigger towns there are excellent greengrocers and/markets. Everywhere has a good bakery. And you can get good beef and lamb for roasting for around 10 euro a kilo. As for the lack of squash, I drink 10% grapefruit juice with fizzy water as a thirst quencher.

We've been lucky this season with some nice morning winds. And the afternoons here usually bring F4 or 5, only F6 if you go west outside. With smooth seas, sailing to windward is a pleasure.

 

[BurnitBlue]

I would like to see the Aegean again as part of my "improvement" test. Desperado Bay, Amorgos, (the monestary glued to the cliff face), and many other places.

I have assumed up to now that the rest of Greece was as overcrowded as the Ionian. From descriptions given on this thread is seems I was mistaken. Must get the Pilot book out. I launch in four days on Saturday.

Incidentally, there was a scene of disruption in the office this morning. A Belgian Yacht skipper was giving the staff a good talking to. This is connected to overcrowding. Ionian Marine have doubled capacity in the last eighteen month with a new field but no increase in services One travel lift and four workers. They start at 0800 and finish launching just after 1500. It is now necessary to book almost two weeks in advance for a launch or haul-out.

The Belgium skipper was irate as he arrived for a sailing holiday and has to eat boatyard dust for (in his case ten days).

He took off in a real temper into a hotel to wait it out. Greece wins in mooring fee and extra hotel income. win win for Greece.

 

[sailaboutvic]

I would like to see the Aegean again as part of my "improvement" test. Desperado Bay, Amorgos, (the monestary glued to the cliff face), and many other places.

I have assumed up to now that the rest of Greece was as overcrowded as the Ionian. From descriptions given on this thread is seems I was mistaken. Must get the Pilot book out. I launch in four days on Saturday.

Incidentally, there was a scene of disruption in the office this morning. A Belgian Yacht skipper was giving the staff a good talking to. This is connected to overcrowding. Ionian Marine have doubled capacity in the last eighteen month with a new field but no increase in services One travel lift and four workers. They start at 0800 and finish launching just after 1500. It is now necessary to book almost two weeks in advance for a launch or haul-out.

The Belgium skipper was irate as he arrived for a sailing holiday and has to eat boatyard dust for (in his case ten days).

He took off in a real temper into a hotel to wait it out. Greece wins in mooring fee and extra hotel income. win win for Greece.

Stop Assumed and go and give it a go I think you be surprise the different the Agean is to the Ionian has Vyv and others have said , when we past thought the Cyclades Islands in the spring there where almost empty and the winds where to die for althought looking at the weather now it started to blow a bit , Turkey where we are now is wonderful because there are so many anchorage if feels like there not many boats about , the only problem is that some gullets think they have to right to empty out tanks while leaving the bay's , taken that in concidaration it surprising how clean the seas are .
maybe it time someone start a site of taken photo of them emptying with the name of the gullets name and shame , mind you being Turks it prob wouldn't bother them .

PS
Tony MS , you swam in Vhilo ?? My god didn't expect you to be that brave , hope Ann keeping a close eye on you for when you start to go green ? Haha