Greece - weekly cruising costs

[Caroline Joan]

Before I started cruising Greece I had know idea what things cost and thought there may be others out there who where in the same boat.

I'm one of those people who keep a record of what I spend my money on. When you are on a tight cruising budget I feel you have to. We have a 50ft yacht and there are just the 2 of us onboard.

For the last 3 months I have been in Greece and my weekly costs in Euros were:

Food - 75
We eat well enough but not gourmet, just pasta Bolognese, rice meals etc

Water - 6
Bottled water for making tea as this season quay water had funny taste, never been a problem in last 4 years. Use 7 litres day bottled water.

Diesel - 33
We sailed 63% of the hours the yacht was underway. Would like this % to be higher but sometimes the wind just doesn't behave!

Eating out - 10
We hardly eat out as trying to lose weight so only go to restaurant if really nice setting - however most mains less than 10 euro and a couple can have a main each & a glass of wine for 20-30euro most of the time. Fish is expensive and charge by the kg and would be more like 20euro plus for a main.

Berth Fees - 12
We were charged for 12 nights at town quays during 3 months. We anchor most of the time and only go to town quays if we want to fill up with water/diesel, or the town is really nice. Nothing beats people watching. Places like Simi you really want to be right on the quay. We didn't stay at any marinas as there really aren't many in Cyclades & Dodecanese's and they are way too expensive! Who wants to be at a marina when you can be anchored and diving off the back of your boat!
There were also many town quays that we were never charged for on the islands of Tinos, Lipsi, Arki, Skhinousa, Nisiros, Patmos (do charge later in season)

We also paid in total
30 euro for transit log - this last 18 months 7 is for non-EU boats. Ours is New Zealand.

25 euro for each days car hire, plus around 10 euro for fuel each day

81 euro for sim card & 20gb data used over the 3 months.

5 euro each time to fill boat with water. We have 1000 litres and this lasts us 6 weeks. We have solar showers to save on water consumption.

14 euro to fill a 3kg Gas Bottle. We hardly use oven and 3kg of gas lasts us 22 days on average.

Hopefully this is of use to someone.

[bluenomads]

Thanks - we'd like to be doing the same in a few years and your post helps your larger island compatriots

[MartinR]

Thank you, good info, seems very reasonable. I will be heading there in August from Turkey for a year.

[ScubaTyke]

Thanks, this is very useful for my planning for next year.

[meirriba]

Seems 3kg gas bottles prices are sort of 'free for all' - we have paid €10, 5 weeks ago at the gas station adjacent to Kos marina and two days ago €8.5 in Ermioni (mainland near east end of Hydra).

[Caroline Joan]

I also use the 5kg GoGas bottles and they cost 14 euro to exchange at shell petrol stations (not available at all shell stations). I haven't tried to get them refilled as always been able to exchange so far. Not sure how i'll get on outside of Greece. I'm now in turkey so will try here to refill one.

[chuckr]

Originally Posted by Caroline Joan

I also use the 5kg GoGas bottles and they cost 14 euro to exchange at shell petrol stations (not available at all shell stations). I haven't tried to get them refilled as always been able to exchange so far. Not sure how i'll get on outside of Greece. I'm now in turkey so will try here to refill one.

Not sure where you are in Turkey but in some places you can get them refilled and in others not. We have a year contract with Setur so we get free for 30 days in Setur Marinas they have worked hard to get our tank refilled and sometimes it just can not be done. In others it can be - we refilled here in Antalya and you can refill in Marmaris and maybe Kusadasi but that last is iffy

[chuckr]

Interesting on the bottled water - we use water off the quay and have for 11 years except where we could not get it or were anchored out a lot and then we run our watermaker but that is rare in the Med.


The other reason is the terrible waste. All that plastic and carrying all that trash and the trash disposal on the Greek Islands that already has a trash problem - we just don't understand it - As the admiral just put it no one ever died from drinking quay water - all that plastic is an environmental disaster

[Lambretta]

The other reason is the terrible waste. All that plastic and carrying all that trash and the trash disposal on the Greek Islands that already has a trash problem - we just don't understand it - As the admiral just put it no one ever died from drinking quay water - all that plastic is an environmental disaster[/QUOTE]

+100

[Caroline Joan]

I agree plastic bottles are dreadful and I have never ever brought water in the past. But this year while water tastes ok to drink it just seems to have some kind of chemical reaction with tea.
May have to give up tea. I certainly hate having to deal with the plastic bottles, especially when you see the rubbish collection trucks put the plastic & Glass recycling bins into the same truck as general waste.

[meirriba]

Originally Posted by Caroline Joan

I agree plastic bottles are dreadful and I have never ever brought water in the past. But this year while water tastes ok to drink it just seems to have some kind of chemical reaction with tea.
May have to give up tea. I certainly hate having to deal with the plastic bottles, especially when you see the rubbish collection trucks put the plastic & Glass recycling bins into the same truck as general waste.

We have found in Marmaris market a Brita kettle.
We use it to somewhat purify/improve the water from quay taps.
It may be used as a filter only and also as kettle for boiling.

[Caroline Joan]

Just about finished making a water catcher so hopefully I can kiss plastic bottles goodbye. We have found that when we crudely caught rain water off the boom tent into a bucket that it tasted fine in our tea. Been quite a few thunderstorms here in Turkey so seems a shame to waste the rain. I run it through a 1micron filter. Should have it all up and running from today onwards. I'm going across Atlantic & Pacific so need to have a source of water!

[michaelchatzilias]

Originally Posted by Caroline Joan

Before I started cruising Greece I had know idea what things cost and thought there may be others out there who where in the same boat.

I'm one of those people who keep a record of what I spend my money on. When you are on a tight cruising budget I feel you have to. We have a 50ft yacht and there are just the 2 of us onboard.

For the last 3 months I have been in Greece and my weekly costs in Euros were:

Food - 75
We eat well enough but not gourmet, just pasta Bolognese, rice meals etc

Water - 6
Bottled water for making tea as this season quay water had funny taste, never been a problem in last 4 years. Use 7 litres day bottled water.

Diesel - 33
We sailed 63% of the hours the yacht was underway. Would like this % to be higher but sometimes the wind just doesn't behave!

Eating out - 10
We hardly eat out as trying to lose weight so only go to restaurant if really nice setting - however most mains less than 10 euro and a couple can have a main each & a glass of wine for 20-30euro most of the time. Fish is expensive and charge by the kg and would be more like 20euro plus for a main.

Berth Fees - 12
We were charged for 12 nights at town quays during 3 months. We anchor most of the time and only go to town quays if we want to fill up with water/diesel, or the town is really nice. Nothing beats people watching. Places like Simi you really want to be right on the quay. We didn't stay at any marinas as there really aren't many in Cyclades & Dodecanese's and they are way too expensive! Who wants to be at a marina when you can be anchored and diving off the back of your boat!
There were also many town quays that we were never charged for on the islands of Tinos, Lipsi, Arki, Skhinousa, Nisiros, Patmos (do charge later in season)

We also paid in total
30 euro for transit log - this last 18 months 7 is for non-EU boats. Ours is New Zealand.

25 euro for each days car hire, plus around 10 euro for fuel each day

81 euro for sim card & 20gb data used over the 3 months.

5 euro each time to fill boat with water. We have 1000 litres and this lasts us 6 weeks. We have solar showers to save on water consumption.

14 euro to fill a 3kg Gas Bottle. We hardly use oven and 3kg of gas lasts us 22 days on average.

Hopefully this is of use to someone.

Great info - thanks for sharing.

My name is Michael Chatzilias, and I am in boat renting services in Greece, although I can see that you sailed with a sailing yacht (rather than a motor cruiser).

Prices depend on which islands you go go: The farthest away islands (from Athens), such as Simi and Dodecanese, charge more overall (food, diesel, things to do, etc). Diesel tends to me much cheaper around Athens rather than at the islands where tankers have to transport fuel there. Water may taste different in some places due to the resources at the mountains (and scarcity at the islands at times during summer).

Although I am not involved in sailing yachts (I am involved renting motor boats), I would be more than happy to answer any questions you may need.

Places like the Ionian, Sporades, and specific islands at Dodecanese are wonderful to be in, at this time of season.

[michaelchatzilias]

Originally Posted by meirriba

Seems 3kg gas bottles prices are sort of 'free for all' - we have paid €10, 5 weeks ago at the gas station adjacent to Kos marina and two days ago €8.5 in Ermioni (mainland near east end of Hydra).

Yes, price vary on water packs too. Try to buy from supermarkets instead of marinas or gas stations: Whenever at sea, I always get them at one of my stops from the central supermarket at town.

Kos is expensive, as is Rodos, Simi and the rest very well known Dodecanese islands (my wife is from there).

Ermioni is fantastic, with prices still on the low side. Hydra of course, and Spetses tend to be quite high (especially Hydra) due to the high popularity. Many islands have water shortage during summer, and this raises the prices.

[Catapault]

Originally Posted by chuckr

Interesting on the bottled water - we use water off the quay and have for 11 years except where we could not get it or were anchored out a lot and then we run our watermaker but that is rare in the Med.


The other reason is the terrible waste. All that plastic and carrying all that trash and the trash disposal on the Greek Islands that already has a trash problem - we just don't understand it - As the admiral just put it no one ever died from drinking quay water - all that plastic is an environmental disaster

When filling from the Quay, we use a 2 stage filter on the filling hose, with a charcoal filter. This seems to remove a considerable amount of 'taste' and other nasties from the water. Not perfect I'm sure, but really helps.

Only downside is it takes much longer to fill up. (2 hours, instead of 20 mins).

I also hate plastic bottles, and refuse to buy them unless absolutely HAVE to.

Regards


Mark.