rpgoodm
New member
Anyone know of Thomas Maestre Marina La Manga Spain?
Buying a 12x4m berth??
Good points, bad points?
Roy
Buying a 12x4m berth??
Good points, bad points?
Roy
Thomas Maestre Marina La Manga Spain
- Thread starter rpgoodm
- Start date
BoyBlue49
Active member
Hi Roy, I was there 3 years ago, lots of bars and an expensive boutique chandlery. The Mar Menor is a small shallow inland sea accessed through a canal from the sea with a lifting bridge. Several small towns around the shore line. Main airport to Murcia at Ribera. Lots of golf courses and night life around La Manga.
As I understand it, you would be purchasing a lease on a mooring for a specified number of years, better to check how many years is left. There have been stories of people buying an expensive lease and finding there is only a couple of years left.
Good luck.
As I understand it, you would be purchasing a lease on a mooring for a specified number of years, better to check how many years is left. There have been stories of people buying an expensive lease and finding there is only a couple of years left.
Good luck.
chinita
Well-known member
Just a few random thoughts.
I bought three 12X4 berths there in 2003. I sold them, individually in 2007. In the intervening time they were rented out at €3k pa. Maintenance has to be added and paid direct to the marina (about €800pa from memory).
I bought them through a chap called Antonio, who was brokering them on behalf of the marina. At the time I enquired there were sixty new 12m berths. By the time I had finished the deal six weeks later FIFTY of them had been bought by a fellow in Barcelona and there were only seven left!
Antonio also sold them for me.
Check the lease - I think there are only about seven years remaining. I was never able to ascertain what was going to happen when the lease expired.
Make sure you get a proper contract with your berth number illustrated on the marina plan. You should also have the deal notarised in San Javier. The process is a bit of a joke with seller and buyer sitting opposite each other and the notary reading out aloud the entire contract in Spanish and making a great show of signing each page with a theatrical flourish; however, this is the proper way to do it.
I know of several people who did not do this and merely had the old berth owners name crossed out and theirs inserted in a shabby old book in the marina office. Not the way I like to do business.
I have not been back for several years but the place was developing quite well when I left. I rather suspect that things have slowed down a bit now. Even though the place was pretty open, I don't recall security being an issue. They may have gated pontoons now, I don't know.
The marina was always very busy in July and August but a bit of a ghost town - as is the whole of the La Manga Strip - for the remainder of the year. Bars and restaurants were ok but, as I say, things may have changed. There are regular buses to Cabo de Palos and Cartagena and car hire is very reasonable during the winter months.
The office was always very helpful; holding mail and that sort of thing. Marinieros again, are on the whole, ok. There is fairly large ex-pat community in the houses and apartments near the marina entrance; mainly Norwegians who seem to all come from Trondheim. They are great fun.
Of course, the place is completely safe in weather terms, even the Mar Menor is tenable for anchoring all year round. Sailing to Formentera or Ibiza is only 24 hours and easy and it is fun to hop around to Cartagena for a few days and change of scene.
There is a very, very, helpful guy called Raimund. A Phillipino who can turn his hand to anything. He is very good and very cheap - one of his previous customers was Admiral Sir Sandy Woodward! You can get hold of Raimund by just asking in one of the bars.
I guess the place can be summed up as not being the prettiest but has the attraction of not being full of yobs. Cartagena and Murcia are nice and there are regular cheopo flights from San Javier. We enjoyed it, as do all the other berth holders and owners we knew at the time.
PM me if you need any more.
I bought three 12X4 berths there in 2003. I sold them, individually in 2007. In the intervening time they were rented out at €3k pa. Maintenance has to be added and paid direct to the marina (about €800pa from memory).
I bought them through a chap called Antonio, who was brokering them on behalf of the marina. At the time I enquired there were sixty new 12m berths. By the time I had finished the deal six weeks later FIFTY of them had been bought by a fellow in Barcelona and there were only seven left!
Antonio also sold them for me.
Check the lease - I think there are only about seven years remaining. I was never able to ascertain what was going to happen when the lease expired.
Make sure you get a proper contract with your berth number illustrated on the marina plan. You should also have the deal notarised in San Javier. The process is a bit of a joke with seller and buyer sitting opposite each other and the notary reading out aloud the entire contract in Spanish and making a great show of signing each page with a theatrical flourish; however, this is the proper way to do it.
I know of several people who did not do this and merely had the old berth owners name crossed out and theirs inserted in a shabby old book in the marina office. Not the way I like to do business.
I have not been back for several years but the place was developing quite well when I left. I rather suspect that things have slowed down a bit now. Even though the place was pretty open, I don't recall security being an issue. They may have gated pontoons now, I don't know.
The marina was always very busy in July and August but a bit of a ghost town - as is the whole of the La Manga Strip - for the remainder of the year. Bars and restaurants were ok but, as I say, things may have changed. There are regular buses to Cabo de Palos and Cartagena and car hire is very reasonable during the winter months.
The office was always very helpful; holding mail and that sort of thing. Marinieros again, are on the whole, ok. There is fairly large ex-pat community in the houses and apartments near the marina entrance; mainly Norwegians who seem to all come from Trondheim. They are great fun.
Of course, the place is completely safe in weather terms, even the Mar Menor is tenable for anchoring all year round. Sailing to Formentera or Ibiza is only 24 hours and easy and it is fun to hop around to Cartagena for a few days and change of scene.
There is a very, very, helpful guy called Raimund. A Phillipino who can turn his hand to anything. He is very good and very cheap - one of his previous customers was Admiral Sir Sandy Woodward! You can get hold of Raimund by just asking in one of the bars.
I guess the place can be summed up as not being the prettiest but has the attraction of not being full of yobs. Cartagena and Murcia are nice and there are regular cheopo flights from San Javier. We enjoyed it, as do all the other berth holders and owners we knew at the time.
PM me if you need any more.
beserksail
New member
Last year lots of new pontoons were being fitted out across the canal next to the boatyard, could these be for sale.
nauticalnomad
Member
Anyone have any updated information on this marina?
Contest1
Member
No info on the marina. Was there in the March and had to contend with what appeared to be circular floating fish traps all around the entrance inside the lifting bridge. Realy made the sailing difficult and saw one chap inadvertently moored to one!
longjohnsilver
Well-known member
I stayed in a house by the canal to the marina. Someone mentions the pontoons attached to the boatyard which we also overlooked. There were some very strong winds in Feb/March this year and the boats on those pontoons looked to be getting quite a pounding whereas the marina was definitely more sheltered.
There is a security fence all the way around the marina with a gated entrance to each pontoon. The marina looked to be pretty full and well maintained. As already mentioned there was very little life back then with most of the bars and restaurants closed, although they were starting to re-open when we left towards Easter. The area felt very remote although there was a daily ferry across to one of the towns on the mainland.