Where to go in Greece #2 - what about Turkey?

[nigelmercier]

Following on from this thread I wondered if access to the Eastern islands would be easier if one was based in Turkey.

Any thoughts on flights and marinas there?

 

[retsina]

Go to Greece and sail in the Aegian sea; plenty of islands to visit form the Greek side all the way to the East; no need to go to Turkey (I have to say this; I am Greek!!)

 

[Norman_E]

There are some excellent marinas in Turkey. Be aware however that there is some bureaucracy to deal with if you go back and forth between Turkey & Greece. Every time you leave Turkey your transit log expires and you have to buy a new one on return, stay within Turkey and they last a year. Even more annoying is that the Greek authorities charge you to enter Greece from Turkey, even though you are EU citizens on an EU registered boat. They know full well that it is a breach of EU law, but do it anyway.

 

[cmedsailor]

Sailing in Turkey will be from coast to coast. However, sailing in the agean there are lots of Greek islands to stop and lots of different choices. If you like long trips you could even sail to Rodos, Kastellorizo (60 miles from Rodos) or even Cyprus (160 miles from Kastellorizo).

 

[jimbaerselman]

For the OP, see my website for a lot of detail about places to sail to in Greek waters.

[ QUOTE ]
Even more annoying is that the Greek authorities charge you to enter Greece from Turkey, even though you are EU citizens on an EU registered boat. They know full well that it is a breach of EU law, but do it anyway.


[/ QUOTE ] Where did you get that piece of information from? In 2006 the Greek entry charge was abolished for EU boats, together with the 'cruising tax' and transit log. Are you saying this tax has been re-imposed?

 

[Norman_E]

I was charged in 2007 at Simi, despite protesting the illegality.
It was claimed that the charge was because I entered from Turkey. Cruising Log was stamped by harbourmaster, who levied the charge. Port Police were thoroughly unpleasant over entry proceedures. I understand that many sailors coming from Turkey do not bother to check in to Greek ports unless challenged to do so.

 

[DirkJ]

[ QUOTE ]
I was charged in 2007 at Simi, despite protesting the illegality.
It was claimed that the charge was because I entered from Turkey. Cruising Log was stamped by harbourmaster, who levied the charge. Port Police were thoroughly unpleasant over entry proceedures. I understand that many sailors coming from Turkey do not bother to check in to Greek ports unless challenged to do so.

[/ QUOTE ]

Which flag?

 

[Norman_E]

Red Ensign in my case. (and that of some friends who do not bother to check in.)

 

[nigelmercier]

[ QUOTE ]
For the OP, see my website for a lot of detail about places to sail to in Greek waters.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, I've already had a look there, thank you.

My quest is to find a marina from which I can sail in the (non-Saronic) Aegean, but also easy & cheap to get to from the UK.

 

[hrsailor]

Hi Jim I wrote a private e mail to you the other day re the Greek transit log. Ive no doubt that the procedures used by the Greek authorities are against EU rules, but they do still happen. Im not clear what redress we have.

Brian

 

[jimbaerselman]

One difficulty about paperwork in Greece arises because the port police staff fall into three categories: old boys who are approaching their pension date and don't keep up to date with changes; keen young career lads who know all the rules and try to apply them, be they nonsense or not; and national service conscripts who don't know what's going on.

It is quite clear that entry from Turkey should be treated by the port pollice in exactly the same way as entry from any other non-EU country. For EU flags, this only requires purchase of a traffic document (DEKRA) which has space for 60 entry/exit stamps. This document is retained by the yacht when it leaves Greece (ie, for Turkey) and on return to Greece you do not have to buy another. The old one remains valid.

Non EU yachts suffer more complex rules, and have to buy a 'transit log' (a permit to cruise Greek waters) usually valid for 6 months and extendable to 18, which also requires a 3 monthly payment of (not very onerous) circulation fees.

Confusions sometimes occur because all vessels entering from non EU countries also have to clear immigration, and if the clearance is outside immigration working hours (which are surprisingly restricted in some places) then an overtime charge of around €80 is levied (I'm not up to date on the current charge rates). This is an immigration overtime charge, not to be confused with port police charges.

That should have muddied the waters a bit . . . however, I do spend a lot of time tracking these matters, and I will always be interested in reports from people who feel they've been unfairly treated on entry (pm, or open forum. As much detail as possible: flag, date and time, place, ideally a copy of the receipt).

As you can see from the above, the first step is trying to find out exactly what any unusual charge was for - not always easy across a language barrier.