Mediterranean Cruising Season?

[Kenomac]

This will be our fourth European/Mediterranean cruising season. Over the past three summers, I was able to spend a continuous three months on the boat, but now with my new found freedom from a job where I needed to return by September 1st, my wife and I will be exploring the limits of the beautiful weather in the Med.

This year our home base will be Olbia, Sardinia, and we'll be exploring Sardinia, Corsica, parts of Southern France and possibly mainland Italy during the time between May 15 and October 15.

But looking ahead to 2016 and possibly this Fall 2015.... How long should we expect to be able to extend our stay without beginning to run into Winter weather? Is it realistic to begin cruising as early as April 1st and stay into November? There's no rush on my part to return to the US each year where I can work as much as I want, and the new job as an RN will always be waiting for me. No visa issues, we already have that figured out legally by obtaining a one year Italian tourist visa.

[Prairie Chicken]

Ken, does that 1-year Italian cruising visa exempt you from Schengen restrictions?

[Kenomac]

Yes, that's the reason for obtaining the extended tourist visa. I'll fly into an Italian airport, then fly back to the US via the same airport.


Tourist visa, NOT "cruising visa."


On this thread, I'd like to remain focused on the weather.

[monte]

No need to worry about flying in and out of Italy. So long as you have a visa the other EU countries won't care, unless you have spent over 3 months in that particular country. The weather in April and November is much more unstable than the months in between and marinas become the best option for most of the Spanish, French and Italian coasts, unless you are around the islands and can up anchor and move from a lee shore pretty quickly. The water temp starts getting a bit cool for swimming around the end of October. Days shorter and wet decks in the mornings from the dew. Weather reports become extremely unreliable and often change from 10K N to 30K S for the next 24 hrs. Anywhere the mistral blows is colder and windier. So depending where you overwinter your boat, I would want to be within a stones throw of there and expect to spend most of the time in a marina or all weather protected anchorage if you can find one. Cartegena would be ok, the Balearics, any coast hopping. Just don't expect to be basking in the sun or extended swimming in those months.

[Kenomac]

Thanks monte, that's kind of what I was thinking. We vacationed for three weeks in November and March two years ago in Menorca, and found the weather to be as you described. Tolerable, but not pleasant... and we were in a marina.

[Prairie Chicken]

In the Balearics we've always found summer hits (Literally! One day you know summer has arrived!) about one week into June. Before that the wx is unsettled, cool & damp at night. The rains in Sept normally signal the end of summer, and by the end of Oct you need to have a safe place to get to.

Ken, would you PM me more about your tourist visa please?

[Tomaz473]

If you will be in Adriatic (Croatia) it varies from year to year. Sometimes you can have very nice weather by end of October, even into November.
Same is for April and May. This year we had some nice days early April, but it is close to freezing now. In some years you can swim beg. of May, in some years it is to cold by mid June.
You will have a lot of moisture after sunset and short days in October/November.
If unlucky you can get a whole week of rain with no sun at all already in first week of October.
You can get strong winds, but you can always find a safe mooring or marina.
Weather forecast on VHF is reliable and available also in English.
You need heating on the boat to keep you warm at night.
Adriatic is way more protected area, so you can generally avoid large waves and swells, but you can experience strong winds.

[med]

Usually in our bit of the Med (South of France - Perpignan area), we reckon that the season goes at most from mid May to mid October. April can be definitely very nasty - cold, very wet and very windy. Some goes for November.

Winter here can get cold:-



And windy - for instance during "Klaus" in January 2009. Wind speeds reached 216 km/h. In my port they recorded 183 km/h! Not the moment to be cruising around Cap Bear (191 km/h recorded).

[Rapanui]

In mid Dalmatia in Croatia we have cruised every year in the last 4 from mid April to end October. While the weather is more variable in the April and October, it is still quite pleasant and swimming is good from May to October, although temperatures get progressivley colder as you go further north. I would say you need heating in April and second half of October onwards. The bonus, is that very few boats are around, on the minus side there are very few restaurants open, seasonal shops close and municipal harbours seem to cease operation by end October which can mean free mooring. You do need to keep aware of forecasts and local weather indications though as things can change very rapidly.

[arsenelupiga]

i did balearics towards end of june just before main season and water was kind of ok. I dont like cold water. For me, water ok from mid july to end august in med. Other months, concentrate on food and culture.

Little alpine crete goat bbq-ued on fire from local wooden roots comes to mind. Honey was special too.