Views of those who visited Alderney in the last 2 seasons?

Main reason for sailing to the Channel Islands

  • To enjoy the change of pace

    Votes: 25 32.1%

  • In pursuit of better weather

    Votes: 7 9.0%

  • VAT free shopping, wining & dining

    Votes: 1 1.3%

  • As the "other side" of a channel crossing passsage

    Votes: 28 35.9%

  • A Euro free break

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other (please describe)

    Votes: 17 21.8%
  • Total voters
    78
Only slightly muted praise

Almost totally a fan. Walking, birding and round-island trips are great. Mooring spacing no problem for sensibly-sized boats (unreasonable to spread them out for owners of 40ft+ boats - impose a length limit instead). Plenty of good anchoring anyway, which also provides more options for limiting the "Alderney roll". Please don't ruin its character by any moves towards a marina - it's one of the few unspoiled places left, and the very absence of a marina keeps most of the yahoos away.
Pubs and eateries rang from excellent to awful - don't they everywhere? I've not met unfriendlness from pubs apart from a couple of fairly seedy establishments in High St. Victoria St is a much better bet.
My only gripe is the breathtaking charge for the water taxi. The best solution would be a bit of healthy competition - maybe this is my retirement vocation?
 
dulcibella said:
Mooring spacing no problem for sensibly-sized boats (unreasonable to spread them out for owners of 40ft+ boats - impose a length limit instead).
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Our boat is 32ft, and we had boats swing into us. :(

The boat that swung into us was 32ft as well, so it wasn't like we were two 40 footers coming together :mad:

And in my pic above is an Etap 28 with the mooring behind just a couple of foot astern

Unless everyone turns up in 15ft boats they need to do something about the mooring spacing
 
dulcibella said:
My only gripe is the breathtaking charge for the water taxi.
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The current price of £1.50 per person each way is set by the government here, after much (I do mean much) deliberation about the need to balance affordable use with a business which can still be running next season.

I am not sure how the water taxi price compares to other harbours?
 
"I am not sure how the water taxi price compares to other harbours?"

Some pontoons in France not connected to the shore have a free water taxi, (price is hidden into the nightly berthing fee), water taxi runs continuously and you can have as many trips ashore as you like. It also discourages people from being tempted to pump solid waste through the heads. Look at this way, £3 to use the shore toilet could work out expensive!.
 
Malthouse said:
All of the excellent points raised will be discussed at a meeting soon, the purpose of this thread is to get just such views and I am really glad they have come up.
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In view of the outstanding response (serious vote of confidence in the island) that this thread has had please don’t forget to keep us posted as to the result of the deliberations. Even if its status quo 'cos of finance.
When is the meeting?
 
Sounds like a general tidy up is no.1, then a sign on the dinghy pontoon (many folks genuinely don't know).........toilets / showers - amazing how often in the tourist / visitor market around the world that these get overlooked, even at places which put big effort / money into the rest of their business :rolleyes: In a market where a SWMBO is a big (the big?) factor you really really can't ignore the clean khasi factor. In an ideal world the facilities would be designed around easy cleaning 2 or 3 times a day with a power washer. I would also go for a keypad entry, even if only changed monthly or less.

But being a bloke not so fussy about the facilities ashore - for me the "Seedy Establishments" in the high street sound enticing and a reason to visit :D
 
doris said:
In view of the outstanding response (serious vote of confidence in the island) that this thread has had please don’t forget to keep us posted as to the result of the deliberations. Even if its status quo 'cos of finance.
When is the meeting?
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Yes indeed, you are quite right - the responses have been great and I am really pleased to see how many forumites are also Aldernites. :)

The meeting was due to be in December but has been moved back to January, I will indeed report back and I very much look forward to the meeting.

This thread shows that some of the problems are actually easily solved, it also matches nicely with our own understanding of what matters. It is easy to get caught up with major undertakings, only to overlook the important issues which reside in the detail.
 
We visit the CIs for their own sake. It used to help that they were on the way to Britanny from the Solent, but now we're based in the SW, we can get there and back direct if we want.

However I guess their major attraction from a cruising viewpoint are geographical ie they are relatively close together, we can expand or contract the itinery according to time and weather and they are all naturally delightful destinations in their own right. And they are all (save perhaps Jersey?) a single day/night passage away from the English S coast.

Alderney always used to be our favoured first port of call on a summer cruise from the Solent. Key attraction - mooring off a superb natural beach. Never rated the shore facilities very highly but that didn't matter, we'd be in St Peter Port in a day or two. However had a memorable breakfast at the hotel on the beach one year after a rough crossing, and with one exception in 20 yrs have enjoyed other meals ashore. And exploring the island is always a joy.

Sadly haven't called at Alderney for the last few years - mainly due to weather/time limitations for return to SW. Maybe we'll try harder next time!
 
BTW Malthouse do you have any idea if the webcam will stay after the quay project has finished , I find it interesting seeing waves flying over the sea wall and comparing tides and weather predictions , also the comings and goings from the quay .
 
Thats a good idea, we look to see the progress of the wall once a week and see the sea conditions, yes please ask that it be kept.

Pete
 
bamboleo said:
BTW Malthouse do you have any idea if the webcam will stay after the quay project has finished.
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Lots of people have asked for at least one to be kept, but they are owned by the architects so it is entirely up to them. I will add you guys to the petition as it were.

If it does go we will fit one of our own, with a view down the breakwater and western moorings. I doubt we can afford the weather data though.
 
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