Rose & Brian Cruising the Mediterranean

[bjvarley]

We left Holyhead at the end of June and have been sailing south and east ever since, meeting quite a few fellow travellers on the way - all seeking the sun! Currently in the Balearics, but hoping to move on shortly to Sardinia and then possibly Tunisia. After that who knows? Eventually Greece and Turkey.
We keep trying to find information on actually sailing in the Med in winter, so if anyone out there can advise on likely conditions that would help. Otherwise we are looking at the Windfinder weather stats for our likely destinations.
We bought Alixora in March and this is our first boat. The only other Oceanis 390 we have seen was in Almerimar, and no-one on board. We should have left a message.
The story of our voyage is being published in Sailers.co.uk - latest news if anyone is interested

[James S]

Welcome to the forum Rose and Brian

[MarkJ]

Hi!

We will be in the Med in a few months


Might see you around

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha and Welcome aboard!
Good to have you here.
regards,

[feelsgood]

Hi Folks and Welcome. We have spent quite a lot of time in the med and found that the best weather forcast to watch was weatheronline.co.uk over a 5 year period we found it to be the most accurate. Even in 2005 when NObody got it right they were on the ball.
Good luck Tunisia a great place for the winter.
Regards Pete and Sally

[Jad]

Hello,
We are currently in Sardinia, living on board of our Ovni. In terms of weather forecasts we use Passage weather, Buoyweather, Widfinder, Windguru, etc. But more specicically for this zone we use the <local> ones:
EuroMETEO - Tempo e previsioni meteo per Italia ed Europa
ARPAS - Dipartimento Specialistico Regionale IdroMeteoClimatico
MeteoAM.it! Il portale Italiano della Meteorologia
Note also that the forecasts of MeteoFrance.com are quite good.
In fact we will spend the winter in Palau, that is the North zone of Sardinia. It is just in front of the beautiful islands of La Maddelena, and close to Corsica. We choose Palau because when you have good weather you can sail around. We are also very close to the Smeralda coast, that is also worth to discover, even in the winter.
We also choose Palau because the village is still active during the winter. The 4000 souls of the population and the ongoing tourists to the Maddalenas, justify that a good part of shops, restaurants, rent a car, etc. stay open during winter months. Another reason is the cost. The marina charge us around 5€ per day! Compared to Alghero (300€ per month) or 450€ in Mahon in Minorca. At some stage we also considered Tunisia, it is warmer, but we feel here more <integrated> with the locals. I hate that feeling to live like an <expat>, in an <expats> community. I am chocked as example that in the marina of Lagos (Portugal), the staff of the bars do not even speak Portuguese. It is maybe personal as my wife is Portuguese but some times those <expats> do not behave properly. Having said that I enjoyed to find in Majorca English grocery to find...Marmite!
If you are interested you will find in our site www.ovnijad.com comments on the places we visited (sorry only in French) and lots of pictures.
If we can be of further help do not hesitate to contact us .
Hoping to meet you soon.
Philippe (JAD)