Mediterranean Cruise with Family. Any ideas for route?

[SD Sailing]

Hi there,

We are planning on a 6 month cruise of the Med starting around next March/April. Does anyone out there have a suggested route? Any suggestions will be welcomed!

Cheers,

Matt

[Joefloki]

Originally Posted by SD Sailing

Hi there,

We are planning on a 6 month cruise of the Med starting around next March/April. Does anyone out there have a suggested route? Any suggestions will be welcomed!

Cheers,

Matt

It is impossible to give an answer to your question, more informations are needed:
Where to start from ?
Charter ? of own boat ?
How many persons ?
Age of children ?
which season ?
which distance you want to make, or rather stay in an area ?
.............

[jckb]

The Mediterranean is a big sea which engages many people for three years or more, and in that time they only see the half of it.

For starters, I suggest you read The Mediterranean | JimB Sail , which compares the major regions by highlighting diffrences between them of such things as yacht support, general expence, how crowded etc. There's a big difference between N Africa and S France!

After that, further pages describe some 25 or more regions, each of which could occupy 2 weeks or more of your cruising time.

JimB

[Buena Vista]

I would also endorse the JimB site, excellent reference material.

If you would also like to see something more touristy with lots of pictures, you can also have a look at www.myselene59.com

[SD Sailing]

Many thanks to Buena Vista and jckb. I will definitely look at those. Thanks!

Where to start from ? Dont know. Depends on where the boat is.
Charter ? of own boat ? Hopefully own boat but charter if not.
How many persons ? 6 - 2 adults and 4 children
Age of children ? 12, 10, 2, 6mths
which season ? Start March/April
which distance you want to make, or rather stay in an area ? Needs to be an interesting, non-scary cruise.

[Roaring Girl]

Jim's site is great!

Given what you've said, I would suggest Greece, or Croatia or Southern France/Balearics/Sardinia. You will want to start April rather than March, and May rather than April as it is still quite cold till then. The water's certainly cold.

Does 'interesting' mean empty anchorages, swimming, fishing, kayaking. Or historic ports, cafes and sites. Of course you'll want a mixture but which matters most.

Also what's your experience level? If you are chartering you may be restricted to daylight sailing only, which would certainly influence you in favour of Corsica/Sardinia or Croatia, and specific parts of Greece. You will also presumably need to finish where you started If you are owning, are you comfortable with the occasional longer sail eg Sardinia to Sicily or Porquerolles to Corsica?

[goboatingnow]

March is way too early in my experience, it can be very cold, especially the nights.

You have a very challenging set of circumstances, with kids that young. I suspect you will want to marina hop, I hope you have the funds for that.

I wouldn't recommend Corsica /Sardinia firstly it can be very windy there ( so can the Balearics) secondly its expensive , eg costa semerlda it's a nice two -three weeks place to visit.

Of you mean interesting and non scary as in your a culture vulture and you want to avoid bad weather. I'd consider baseing yourself in a set of centres for a few (. 3-6) weeks at a time and day sailing/overnighting from that.

The big issue in the western med is marina places are scare. You could spend a lot of time on the hook and that mightn't suit such a young crew. ( or allow you off the boat !!) alternatively you could seek out long term marinas places further west I turkey or Greece and base your sailing from them , doing day or overnight sails and returning to your base after a week or so, this gives you recuperating time, hire a car etc , see the sights. You could spend 2months in the porquelles alone.

What's your experience level like. With a crew that young , your unlikely to do much night sailing I'd consider bringing a third person. With two one of you will be tied up managing the young ones.

If you are chartering I presume you have access to a long term charter. I haven't seen many of these about.



Dave

[Roaring Girl]

Dave's right about the windiness of Corsica, though southern france be wonderful easy sailing with nice anchorages and things to do. It might not keep you amused for six months though!

It depends on your experience and where/whether you buy!

[Palarran]

Dave's always right.

We just got done with a 3 month tour of the West Med with 6 to 10 people aboard and will start on the East next year. From the amount of info you have given, I would suggest staying in the Aegean and Adriatic seas. They are substantually easier to sail and IMO about 30% cheaper. The people are very friendly and will make you feel at home, like a part of their community, compared to France, where your a low life peice of trash. We are staying in the Adriatic only this next summer so if you actually do this, keep an eye open for Palarran.

I'm sure you know this but if your going to buy a boat, the time clock has accelerated to 5x speed right now. Paperwork usually takes two months alone.

Charter will probably be the best route.

[Buena Vista]

Originally Posted by Palarran

Dave's always right.

We just got done with a 3 month tour of the West Med with 6 to 10 people aboard and will start on the East next year. From the amount of info you have given, I would suggest staying in the Aegean and Adriatic seas. They are substantually easier to sail and IMO about 30% cheaper. The people are very friendly and will make you feel at home, like a part of their community, compared to France, where your a low life peice of trash. We are staying in the Adriatic only this next summer so if you actually do this, keep an eye open for Palarran.

I'm sure you know this but if your going to buy a boat, the time clock has accelerated to 5x speed right now. Paperwork usually takes two months alone.

Charter will probably be the best route.

For my two pence worth:

Goboatingnow is right about marina availability in France and Italy so you do need to be careful there with such a young family, he is also right about Corsica/Sardinia.

Don't be scared off by Palarran's comments like "..... compared to France, where your a low life peice of trash". You get treated the way you treat others, we loved France & Italy and had no problems at all.

Also with such a young family, I would do your research on the Aegean carefully, it is very windy over summer, particularly the Cyclades.

We spent the second half of this cruising season in Turkey and this IMO, would be a perfect cruising ground for a young family, lots of places, lots of shelter, very friendly and safe environment, lots of exploring opportunities and also easy access to Greek Islands if you want a change.

[yeloya]

March-April-May is way too early.. Forget about swimming and be prepared to F7-8 winds, Med is very unpredictable in this season. Gulf of Lion, Croatia , Sardegna and Baleirics are definately to be avoided.
The only option I can see is the South of Turkey (Marmaris-Göcek-Kas) and or Dodocanese islands in Greece. For chartering the prices in Greece are generally a bit cheaper than in Turkey, the marinas (if you can find one) are much cheaper and there are quite a bit of protected bays in Turkish coast. Strong Southerlies in this season are the only concern for this area, but if you stay around Göcek there are plenty of bays closed to every weather..

Cheers

Yeloya

[Jacques2]

Hi !
We use to sail from mid april in Med, (Greece/Turkey these 6 last years and from Corsica between 1990 and 2006) and It can be very pleasant. I sailed twice from Corsica to Greece (By Messina straight) at this period (april/May) and it was very pleasant too. It depends on what you like and how ready you, your boat and your crew (my wife and I as we are concerned) are...
Enjoy it !