Anchorages in the Med

[Charlie]

I read on a website that there is an organization in the UK that keeps track of anchorages in the Med. The guidebooks that have seem to gloss over anchoring and tell you about marinas. Does anyone know of this organization?

[swagman]

Sorry - I like to think I keep my eyes open but never heard of such a site. The Imray Pilot Books (there's a pilot for most sections of the Med) do show anchorages as well as marinas / ports.
JOHN

[boatman61]

You could try the CF Wiki Page... I can't remember the link but I'm sure someone will post it..
Basicaly its info provided by cruisers... pretty good..

[Charlie]

Thanks John:
I was told that the Cruising Association has an electronic list of anchorages. I don't know of the quality. I have Heikel's (sp?) book The Italian Water Pilot and there is not too much info on anchorages but quite a bit on mooring. Do you know anything about the Cruising Association? myCA

[Charlie]

Thanks Boatman I tried there but they don't have much in the way of anchorages there.

[Buena Vista]

To be honest Charlie, the reason there is not much on anchorages in the Italian Pilot is that there are few reliable ones (that we have found). We are currently in Elba and it is pretty good here, being an island you can move depending on weather.

On the mainland you can anchor almost anywhere when the weather is right, but if it blows up you really need a marina. The exception to that is behind Isola Palmaria at Porto Venere.

Others may have some different views.

Cheers
Brownie

[Charlie]

BV:
Thanks for the post. We found Le Grazie to be an excellent anchorage and good for all conditions and wind directions. This was listed in the Pilot. We also anchored in Lerichi. As you say the anchorages are good depending on conditions. Here is a list of anchorages that were used by a friend on his trip thru Italy. Med Anchorages It would be great if we could get people to enter where they anchored, what the conditions were, the depth and what type of ground tackle they had into a data base that would take the Lat and Long and show it on Open CPN or Google Earth. I'm not at all technology oriented so I don't know if such a thing is possible.

[swagman]

Hi Charlie,
I'm a member of the Cruising Association but that does not mean I know much about it.
We joined in 2005 as was then about to head off cruising and they had a lot of material and plenty of other members happy to share info / swop charts etc.
The annual subscription was not high, and so far we've had discounts in both chandlers and for annual berthing in Turkey that more than covered those subs.
Good luck and enjoy
JOHN

[Charlie]

Swag:
I am thinking of joining but since I am only in the Med for about 5 weeks a year I don't know if it is worth it. I'll be in Italy so I am going to study the limited area where we are going to travel on Google Earth.

[Jacques2]

Hi!
If you do speak french, Sailing the world (Bateaux autour du monde - Sail The World - L'Univers de la grande croisière en voilier - STW) has an evaluation of marinas and anchorages in the Med (and a lot more). Just go yo their site-web and click on the right site of the toolbar '"évaluation des marinas" (there are in fact a lot of moorings areas inside) and a map will appear, then you can select the country, then an area. There are a lot of informations, google maps, etc. You will find a flag on the toolbar in order to get the translation in englich, but in fact it is of the level of the google translator and not so good.
Well it is very helpful as Greece and Turkey are concerned. For Italy there are not a lot of moorings along the coast of the mainland (different in Sardinia and Sicily)...
Well, please try it and tell us back what you are thinking about tis web-site...
Jacques2

[Roaring Girl]

There's no such thing, because so many places are weather dependent. But really it's up to you to suss out depth, conditions, seabed etc from the avaialble info and make your own choices. After all - if anchoring's not forbidden it's prohibited so you don't only have to go where there's an anchor sign on some chart.

[goboatingnow]

One thing to be aware of in France it seems in recent years they have moved the swimming line buoys further out, making a lot of anchorages unusable. I found that pilot guides often recommended bays that turned out to be unsuitable in this regard

[Jacques2]

As I know the legal distance for buoys is 300 meters. And it has had no change for years.
In Corsica where I live half of the year, it is true there are more and more of these yellow buoys. The reason is (obvious) : there are more and more boats in high season ! Anchorages are full and over crowded .... And people on the beaches use to like swimming without being wounded by a propeller...
So you are right as high season (mid July - end of August) is concerned. More and more beaches are protected. The Mayors of the seaside cities have to do it because their responsibility is concerned
I suppose it is difficult for the editors of the Pilot guides to have information on this subject because the decision to install or not, here or not here, the buoys may be taken in May or June.
Could be of course a problem for the sailors.
In Greece or Turkey where I sail we have a quite similar problem with the fish farms..

[Roaring Girl]

To add to my comment above (and to agree about the swimming and posidonia protection reducing the available space), it is worth carrying plenty of rode, which is preferably all chain. This enables you to anchor securely in the really deep spots that are often the best shelter, as in Port Man, off the south of France. We have 80m, and in an emergency could add another 50m of rope.

I would of course support the CA as I'm not only a member for Regional Editor for Southern France and Corsica in their annual pilot updates. And with hat on - the info is fine but only as good as members and contributors make it.

If I'm going to a location I'm a little concerned about - not least because all my pilot books are years old - I look at the CA, I google the place for the best and most recent blogs, and I may go noonsite or cruiser wiki, but they're not that good for Europe. Then I turn up.