where to keep a 40' cat in northern med coast Spain

[outforaduck]

Ah, so here it my first post. As a way of introducing myself let me just say thanks for all CF contributors that have helped us to date. N.B. please be gentle...

So some more detail. We are close to Bristol airport and have been advised by a friend of the Bristol - Girona flight and the Empuriabrava Marina.

I'm happy to go and "interview" prospective marinas and am beginning to assemble a prospective list but wanted to know if any could be recommended.

Accessibility, ease of sailing, local services and value for money are all considerations.

Thanks in anticipation.

[Jeannius]

Can't help I'm afraid. Just wanted to wish you good luck with your search. In my part of Spain ( Costa Blanca ) berths for cats are like gold dust but a lot harder to find!

[barnakiel]

When we sailed the W part we were told that the further E you go the more expensive it becomes. I hope it was just small envy local talk and you will find a couple of good spots.

Bear in mind that you may be limited by wx conditions - at times winter is way too harsh there.

b.

[Barra]

My recommendation is just over the french border in Cannet en Roussillon where i keep my 42 footer for now. You either fly to gerona or perpignon.

The BMS (boat management services) guys in the marina there are awesome and i have no hestitation in recommending their services. Its run by two brothers one who worked in the catana factory and the other was catanas delivery manager so they know plenty about cats.

[outforaduck]

This is brilliant guys thank you so much. I have added Cannet en Roussillon to our itinerary for our June visit to that area. I note the number of multihulls in the marina on Google Maps - I haven't seen that many in one place before!

I have also widened the potential area further south towards Alicante. We are, as previously admitted, novice "day skipper" sailors and are looking for our first home away from home. The cat, in all probability, will be a Lagoon 380.

Thanks.

[Jeannius]

Alicante is a good place. You just might get a berth there as it is pretty big and people are hurting. Denia is your other possibility if you are coming south.

[rabbi]

Originally Posted by Jeannius

Alicante is a good place. You just might get a berth there as it is pretty big and people are hurting. Denia is your other possibility if you are coming south.

Denia is very high $$, I bought my boat there and moved the next day.

We kept our Lagoon 410 in Marina Salinas / Torrevieja near Alicante for about 9 months before leaving for a longer trip. Dead cheap at just under 400 EUR per month.

A large marina operating at low capacity with some drawbacks. Ugly water, a long walk from a not really nice town. The worst: very loud oomp-oomp music inside the marina every night until 4am during high season but quite at other times. Overall not a marina to live in or enjoy some time but just a cheap place to store the boat.

Easy to reach with Alicante airport (Ryanair) and dead cheap rental cars in low season. Best price was 9 EUR per day for a VW Golf.

Their travellift can only accomodate a 6.7m if I remember correctly. We had to go to Alicante for liftout.

Edit: Unless they filled up quite abit after we left last year they have tons of space for many catamarans.
The 400 EUR included the inevitable G5 tax or how that shitty thing was called (amounted to almost 1/3 of the total cost)