Chartering in the Med Info Please

[Skabeeb]

We have been chartering in the BVI for the past couple of years and absolutely love it. We want to experience chartering somewhere else and were thinking about the Mediterranean.

Can anyone give us some ideas on where to start? What companies are good? Is it line of sight navigation like the BVI?

Thanks

[dlymn]

First choose your sailing field. Choose from Croatia, Greece or Turkey. The rest have exposed coastlines with very few anchorages or can be expensive.
Each country has pluses and minuses.
Read up about the cost of marinas and anchoring in Croatia. read up about the Meltemi in the Aegean.

As you might guess, we sail around the Ionian Islands. Between the Islands and the mainland is sheltered with predictable NW winds in the afternoons. Very few marinas but, plenty of village ports and anchorages. Mooring fees are trivial outside of the marinas. Plenty to see and do. The Islands cover only 100 miles and so not a million places to go to.

All line of sight sailing with a days sail between 4-40 miles with most 8 miles. Some very pleasant places to go to: Kassiopi, Agni, Plataria, Syvota, Lakka, Gaios, Parga, Preveza, Lefkas, Paleros, Meganisi, Nidri and dozens more. Plenty of charter companies. Sunsail at Vounaki is well set up but there are some very reasonable places such as Carayachts in Plataria. You can sail in a flotilla or on your own.

Scooters cost 10-15 euros a day, make sure that you have a bike licence. Cars start at 30. The islands have sealed roads, but take your time. Thessaloniki is 4 hours away by bus, Ionnina 1 1/2, Patras 4 hours, Athens 7 hours. Some archeology, including Olympus, plenty of history and legends. English spoken everywhere. Restaurant food is quite reasonable. Pork yiros 2.5 euros, fish platter big enough for two to live on 14 euros, Amstel 500ml beer 2.5 euros. We have found many like minded sailors in every port and really enjoy the hospitality of the locals.

[malaka11]

Turkey is great. Bodrum, Marmaris and Fethiye offer plenty of options and the indented coastline plenty of sheltered anchorages. If you sailed from Bodrum to Antalya you would see ancient sites, glorious scenery, crystal clear water and great food. Along the coast is very tourist friendly, good English spoken and very safe.
I lived in the Cyclades for many years and they offer great little anchorages and welcoming small harbours. Good food, charming little villages and lively tavernas. But the Meltemi can leave you harbour bound for days on end in the middle of summer. That's ok if you have no timetable to keep but is a problem if you have to get the boat back.
Croatia is designed for boatied as there is a paucity of decent sandy beaches. As an Aussie I wouldn't go there for the beaches but the sailing is safe and easy. Different architecture to the Cyclades and Turkey, good food, shorter summer to Cyclades and southern Turkey. Haven't been there since 2010 but have heard prices have risen dramatically.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by dlymn

....read up about the Meltemi in the Aegean.

Don't dismiss the entire Aegean on this basis. The meltemi primarily sweeps down the centre in summer, leaving the edges significantly less affected.

Cruising doesn't get much better than the Aegean Dodecanese region (Greek islands near Turkey) in summer. There are dozens of islands with the choice of secluded anchorages (that it is still possible to have to yourself even in peak season - try saying that about anywhere in the Ionian ), and small harbours with night life.

Sorry, I have no charter companies to recommend.

[HeikkiR]

As said meltemi don’t affect all Agean sea as central and southern parts. E.g Saronic gulf and northern Agean are not affected so much by this wind. It is also question of timing as meltemi is more typical for late summer months. If you like more about mild winds then it might be better to choose Ionian sea or Croatia. Personally I like a lot of Ionian as islands there are more lush than in Aegean.
Good information scource is sailingissues.com site, there is some wind statistics and even recommendations available about chartering firms. There are lot of small charterers operating in Croatia, Greece and Turkey, they may have good offerings. Some of them are okay some are definitely not, so if using them try to get recommendations from somewhere. Big charter firms (Sunsail or Moorings) are clearly more expensive but you can better count on their fleet and service quality.
Rod Heikell’s cruising guides is also one place to start. They have a lot of detailed information about places and cruising conditions. Actually I would highly recommend having one prior to sailing holiday because it helps a lot on planning and to understand what to expect.

[chuckr]

We did not charter as we own our own boat. But we did sail Croatia, Montenegro, Albania last summer and had a great time. Croatia has so many places you can sail you can spend quite a while there and Montenegro is not that far away.

As for a charter company as i said we did not charter but we had our Jeanneau repaired by EuroMarine in Dubrovnik and they have a well maintained charter fleet. Give them a look.

[sailingforfun]

We just did a charter in Croatia departing from Split. Before this trip it was all BVI's. It reminded me a lot of the BVI's with short day sails to the next port, line of site sailing, English language is very common.

I actually enjoyed it a lot more than BVI's. Instead of beach bar destinations, every port is a historic town. We did Milna, Hvar, Korcula, Vis, Palmizano and Stalin Grad. Love them all.

[heywoodp]

I have chartered extensively in Greece and can recommend it. Croatia can be very expensive in Marinas. Turkey, I've not sailed at all. Greece has several areas. The Ionian and Saronic on the left hand side (Adriatic ). The Ionian has fairly gentle winds, generally f3/4 in afternoon. The Saronic is further down near Athens and this is generally f3 to 6 all day. On the right hand side of Greece ( Aegean ), as others have already said, this can be an issue with the Meltemi wind during July/August but this can usually be avoided by using the edges of the Aegean.
The Sporades area is up near the top of the Aegean, parts of which are very much oldie world Greece. The Cyclades sit in the middle of the Aegean further down and comprise of a lot of smaller islands, Myknonos, Santorini etc. And finally out towards Turkey is the Dodecanese. Again lots of smaller islands, Kos etc.

Charter companies are variable but one I can recommend is Omegasail. They have bases in most of these areas

[LTDsailing]

Be sure to check on license requirements for the area you decide to charter. Several of the areas in the Med require sailing certification. If you already have your ASA Bareboat Cruising (104) certification) it is easy to get your International Proficiency Certificate which will cover you for areas requiring certification.

Have fun!

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by LTDsailing

Be sure to check on license requirements for the area you decide to charter. Several of the areas in the Med require sailing certification. If you already have your ASA Bareboat Cruising (104) certification) it is easy to get your International Proficiency Certificate which will cover you for areas requiring certification.

Have fun!

Least we raise that old chestnut, the only country that legally requires it is Croatia, NOTE Croatia will accept the ASA 104 directly there is no need to acquire an ICC. Greece requires some form of certification, but will accept a temporary cert from the charter company , it helps to have some form of competency cert.


PS: dont forget to bring your FCC VHF operators license

There is Nowhere in Europe that specifically requires an ICC per say.

[sigmasailor]

We just returned from a two week charter in the Fethye - Kas area (Turkey). We have also been to Greece and Croatia but much prefer Turkey (nice people and a lot cheaper). Some excellent sailing and much more to see and do than in the BVI's (if you like hiking and some ancient culture); also far less crowded. Snorkeling is boring when compared to the Carieb (and a lot cooler). We simply chartered with Sunsail (Moorings is also present as there are lots of other options). All sailing is simply line of sight. If you like you can go further offshore.

[bluewaterbill]

I just spent 10 years in the Med, from Gib to Eastern Turkey. Great cruising are and hard to leave!

since your recent experience was in BVI, I would highly recommend Croatia: navigation is easy, cruising areas are delightful, getting there is reasonable and costs are fair. Depending upon the available time, you can start by flying to Split, chartering from Sunsail, and (even) do a one-way charter south to Dubrovnik ... about 130 nm. A nice 10-14 day cruise. If you have more time, you can head north from Split and (then) followed the coast south. great stops along the way; marinas are plentiful and, in many areas, restaurants offer free dockage/moorings is you have dinner with them. If not, anchor out and dinghy in. After Croatia, I would also rank Ionian islands second, followed by Turkish coast from Finike in SW to Marmaris or Bodrum on mid coast. The "emerald coast" of Turkey is beautiful. Prices in Turkey for everything from dockage to boat labor is very inexpensive vs US/Carib prices. The Aegean can be more challenging, when it comes to weather and longer passages. Make that your 3rd or 4th trip to the Med area. The cruising guides from Ron Heikel are a good way to familiarize yourself with harbors and destinations. You can cruise croatia from April through October. Things really quiet down from Nov to March throughout the Med/Aegean. Prices may be cheaper but you will enjoy it less. Turkey can be VERY hot in mid summer. And forget about rain! we rarely saw clouds in the sky in the summer months. The biggest surprise was water temps: most of the Eastern Med and Adriatic has water temps in 60s! You get that when water depth is 500-1000 feet. Even shallow "beach" areas are much cooler than you would expect. But for food, wine, culture and history ... it cant be beat! Do it .. you won't regret it.

[chuckr]

If you do come, for most of the Med Rod Hiekell does a good job from what we have seen so far but have not gone to the Greek Islands yet.

HOWEVER, Trevor Thompson's Adriatic Pilot put out by Imay is a piece of junk. We found major errors and just flat wrong information.

If you do go to Croatia get 777 guide that is brand new, very up to date and accurate.

[SwissMocha]

Originally Posted by tricycle

Been cruising Croatia for the last two years, never heard of "Stalin Grad" (even the Russians do not have one any more).

I know for Stari Grad on the Hvar Island

Yes, and there is Novigrad and Biograd, all very nice locations

[SailBeat]

I'm going to make some comparisons between the BVI's so you understand the differences. First if your looking for nice easy line of sight sailing look more over the the East side of the Med. Most of the time it's line of sight, good winds during the day and generally settles down at night. Croatia can be windier than your used to, Greece can be flat calm and Turkeys generally good all round the season. The beaches and snorkelling don't compare to the BVIs but the culture and historic nature of many of the towns and villages you can visit more than makes up for this.

I would personally choose between the Ionians in Greece or Gocek in Turkey both have excellent airport connections, good facilities and more importantly great sailing and places to visit.