Western Med Passage Plan for Newbies

[gstent]

Hi Everyone,

We have just returned to Sydney for a few months and have had an awesome adventure buying our boat in the Med.
Many lessons learned:
1. the need to be totally on top of weather prediction before becoming caught up in the purchase process. We weren't and were caught out by the Mistral on our first passage Port Napoleon to Toulon. 55knots / triple reef / wife first offshore passage - could have ben a disaster but worked out OK - again my lesson be on top of weather prediction in foreign waters and don't underestimate the Gulf of Lion (Pocket Grib was slavishly used for rest trip)
2. Cruised the Balerics for a month which was awesome - fantastic weather Mid Oct to mid Nov
3. Boat now in Cartegena - cheap / great city / welcoming community of other sailors / beautiful weather in Novemeber - recommend to anyone

Now planning Western Med adventure for 2016.

Thank again for your advice and encouragement

[monte]

Well done ! Yeah Cartagena is great and cat friendly enjoy

[chuckr]

Cartagena is a great city and we wish we could have wintered over there - the western med is great and full of places to sail and see. We spent 2 years and did not touch parts of it and hope to make it on our way out.

NOW - you said something very disturbing - you did not check the weather - I am astonished that a kiwi sailor did not look at the weather. Hopefully you learned a valuable lesson. Not sure what you are using for weather but we have ssb and download gribs but only if we do not have internet coverage. We get a dongle for each country we visited and it paid huge dividends. By the way we use windfinder and a uk model and a long range forecast model from noaa and just learned about windyty and playing with it now as it gives us a great view of stuff a long way away as we do our planning.

Have a great time planning as there is a lot to see and do.

[monte]

Well the Med does look like it's just a pretty big lake on the world map. What could go wrong
We also used and found pockets rib ok but mostly used this site which was mostly spot on.
http://www.myweather2.com/Marine/Coa...?sday=0&eday=7
We now use the weather4d pro app on iPad which is also excellent.
Is also recommend the sim for each country for wifi, usually around $20/gig/month.

[sirfer]

Can anyone recommend a good marina in Cartagena? I'm expecting to leave my cat there for a month or so next June/ July prior to cruising the Balearics.
Thanks.


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[monte]

http://www.yachtportcartagena.com/en/
Cat prices the same as monos 🐱

[sirfer]

Thanks Monte
Will be on it like a car bonnet!


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[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by gstent

don't underestimate the Gulf of Lion

Now planning Western Med adventure for 2016.

Gulfe du Lion can be a cracker...

My advice, and only because I will be doing the same in 2016, is Caribbean to South of France: St Tropez to Monaco and back (with a quickly to Porto fino).
All cheap or free anchorage or affordable anyway.

SofF rocks