Specific Recommendations - Med Charter

[Weyalan]

Next year, my wonderful fiance and I are getting married (yay), and our honeymoon might include a week or so chartering a yacht, out of Greece or Turket or Croatia, or wherever really (Corsica?).

Any personal recommendations for particular charter outfits that you have dealt with that you thought did a good job?

Thanks

[DEVADASI]

Hi,

I know I am replying a little bit late, but if you are still interested in sailing, I can
recommend Croatia, so send me pm to give you more details.

[goboatingnow]

Croatia is now quite an expensive destination, even Greece is cheaper. Turkey in my view is the cheapest and niceest.

Sunsail are everywhere and generally OK , in my experience, make sure everything is working and that you get the boat you expect. ALso good are Ecker Yachting and Top Yacht

Dave

[DEVADASI]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Croatia is now quite an expensive destination, even Greece is cheaper. Turkey in my view is the cheapest and niceest.

Sunsail are everywhere and generally OK , in my experience, make sure everything is working and that you get the boat you expect. ALso good are Ecker Yachting and Top Yacht

Dave

I wouldn't agree totally with you Dave. Croatia is quite after October, but next year, in June, there is a lot to offer. Maybe Turkey is the cheapest, but again, they will be on honeymoon, and I expect they would like to have peace and intimicy which you can not get in Turkey as well as you can in Croatia.

I would prefer Croatia with beutiful sea, and food.... I can say companies like SailCroatia, Ultra Sailing, Croatia Yachting are there to offer good service...

[swagman]

Congratulations Weyalan,
I'm sure the debate on where is best will run all year but as suggested already - you'll find Sunsail in both Croatia AND Turkey. If you want suggestions on either for a weeks lazy cruising pm me.
JOHN

[goboatingnow]

and I expect they would like to have peace and intimicy which you can not get in Turkey as well as you can in Croatia.

Huh why's that

Dave

[DEVADASI]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Huh why's that

Dave

He he, well, they don't be, but girls always wants it...you know, privacy, hugging and kisssing with new husband

I guess there is no point debating, all of these countries are beutiful, I have been sailing in Greece, Turkey many time..but, croatian girl, I guess my favourite is always mine coast...

[goboatingnow]

no I meant why wouldnt they get that in Turkey rather then Croatia.

[yeloya]

When it comes to girls, I am pretty sure croatians girls are prettier.. Nonetheless, the interest in honeymoon should not be "external" girls..
Both Croatia and Turkey are beatifull. I would add Greece (Dodocanese island in particular)

I haven't been in Croatia but but I've heard the food is as expensive as Greece if not even more.. Turkey is by far the best both in quality and price on this..
The problem with Croatia is that either there is no wind or too much wind (bora..) whereas Greece and Turkey are enjoying steady 15-20 kts of meltemi from April until December..Sea water and air temperature also are more favorable in Turkey and in Greece. (avoid mid June-mid August period, it is too hot and humide..)
Charter companies I've seen in Greece are very high on list prices but you can get tons of discount, bargain well.. However most of their boats are in terrible situation and the service mentality in Greece is very poor..
I don't know elsewhere but I wouldn't recommend Sunsail in Turkey. Sun Charter (german) EGG in Göçek and Offshore Sailing (Marmaris) are rated the best, althought they might be slightly more expensive than Sunsail.

Cheers

Yeloya

[sobriyah]

If I can add my two cents to this debate, having sailed in all three locations, four or five years ago:

Croatia in summer can be crowded with bareboats, around 1500 of them when I was there, and as they are mostly all on similar itineraries from half a dozen major bases, expect to have plenty of company. The sailing can be great, as are the anchorages, and the old towns. The further north you go the better the food ashore gets.

In Greece when the meltemi blows in the summer months, the Central Aegean can be a handful, particularly in the Cyclades, in which case you really need to plan your route, but the Dodecanese are mostly on the edge of any meltemi, and the Ionian islands have more gentle afternoon sea breezes. There is a fair amount of flotilla sailing in Greece, and if you want to avoid them, you need to find out their itineraries.

The Aegean coast of Turkey has similar conditions to the Dodecanese, but the south coast can be much calmer, often with very little wind. My recollection is there were fewer bareboats in Turkey, but lots of gulets crowding out some of the anchorages.

They are all stunning places to go sailing, and the hospitality ashore in both Greece and Turkey was fabulous.

[Compass Rose]

Sobriyah (and others), I would love to hear more about your experiences in Turkey. Would you recommend a charter on the Aegean coast? Have you sailed in any other parts of Turkey? What were the highlights? How was the food?

I'm particularly interested in chartering in Turkey next spring and would really appreciate suggestions on where to go and chartering companies.

To address the original question, my husband and I got married in Croatia five years ago and spent two weeks sailing (bareboat) around the Dalmatian islands. We loved it, though the wind tended to kick up in the afternoons when we were already wherever we were headed that day. The small towns are beautiful and historic, and it wasn't that crowded when we were there, though I suspect that might have changed since 2005. I'd say the food was okay, but I've only sailed on the southern coast and other posters say the food is better the further north you go.

[sobriyah]

Compass Rose - we were in Turkey for about a month in August/September 2006, but not chartering. We did not get far up the Aegean coast, Bodrum was the furthest, mainly because the Meltemi was blowing strong that summer, and cruised the south coast instead, as far east as the Kekova Roads. Winds were very light on the south coast; no more than 10 knots most of the time, and it was hot. There are some beautiful towns; Bodrum, Gocek, Datcha, Fethiye, and stunning anchorages; in the Bozburun peninsula; bay of Gocek and the Kekova Roads particularly, but some of nicest spots fill-up late afternoon with gulets, running generators on deck most of the night. Many of the local restaurants have their own docks where you can tie up, provided you have an inexpensive meal or two there, but if you want to sample real Turkish cuisine, and it is delicious, you will need to get out into the backstreets of the towns. Most of the charterboats were out of Orhaniye or Gocek/Fethiye, and there were less of them the further east we went. Marmaris was a big disappointment, just another mass tourism resort with dreadful food, although the marina was good. Otherwise we had splendid hospitality just about everywhere we went.

I would definitely go back, but it would not be in midsummer, it really was too hot to do much exploring ashore, and would have preferred to get further north along the Aegean coast. We had spent more time in Greece than planned, very easily done, and it was all too soon to leave. Richard.

[sobriyah]

There are a few entries on our blog of the time we spent in the Med, but as I did not start it until the following year, they are all a bit brief and retrospective: Igor | sobriyah

[swagman]

Originally Posted by Compass Rose

Sobriyah (and others), I would love to hear more about your experiences in Turkey. Would you recommend a charter on the Aegean coast? Have you sailed in any other parts of Turkey? What were the highlights? How was the food?

I'm particularly interested in chartering in Turkey next spring and would really appreciate suggestions on where to go and chartering companies.

To address the original question, my husband and I got married in Croatia five years ago and spent two weeks sailing (bareboat) around the Dalmatian islands. We loved it, though the wind tended to kick up in the afternoons when we were already wherever we were headed that day. The small towns are beautiful and historic, and it wasn't that crowded when we were there, though I suspect that might have changed since 2005. I'd say the food was okay, but I've only sailed on the southern coast and other posters say the food is better the further north you go.

Hi again,
I think like most countries you could always expects to find both good and bad but as a rule the further you get from the tourist spots in Turkey, ie the more 'Turkish' the location, IMHO the better the food and all round enjoyment.
When we cruised Turkey through 2006 to 2007 we went from Ayvalik (not quite Istanbul) right down and around the whole coast ending up in Iskanderun (just above Syria) with the East Med Yacht Rally. On that route there would be 30 or more lovely marinas, literally thousands of secluded anchorages, and more incredible 'bones and stones' than you'd ever want to look at either on the coast or not far away.
I'm afraid they've lost the pictures but if you go to our old blog at www.yotblog.co.uk/swagman you can at least read about all the places we visited and if they interest you further, use google earth for photos.
Enjoy
JOHN

[Compass Rose]

Thanks so much for the input. We're definitely looking to get off the beaten path and experience real Turkey, and it sounds like there are many places to sail to where that's still possible.

I will check out both of your blogs. Thanks!