Anyone been into Santorini Marina in 2013?

[Palarran]

Originally Posted by Palarran

Well, here I am tied up at Vlikadha Marina. Dales description is quite accurate. It's a real hell hole. At least 8 boats have hit the sand bar at the entrance. One big motor yacht had to be towed off. The sand has caked my boat completely inside and outside and the water is horrible. Even brushing my teeth with it makes me gag. I'm on the outer quay and there is basically no water under my keel. I'm not bumping ground (anymore) so that's good. There is a fairly good surge here which is making all three boats on this wall dance constantly. The marina wanted to tie up a 55' mono to me yesterday and I asked it there would be a discount on my charges if they did. Then I basically said no. The stresses of this surge along with the predicted 40 knot winds today would be dangerous or damaging on my boat. We will be here for a total of 4 nights due to the weather and crew changes. The cost is 85 euro per night and includes the horrible water and about 12 amps of power. Any more and the breaker blows.

But, at least I have a safe spot for the next two days as the weather is supposed to be pretty bad. We will see. In retrospect, it would have been better to make the crew changes on another island even if it meant that they had to take planes and ferries to get there. The hassle for me is not worth it.

Boy, was I wrong about a few things here. First off, it's not a safe spot from the meltemi, and second, they put a boat on me anyway. We came back from dinner to find a 40' mono tied up to us and the wind built to a force 9 (according to the harbor master). I never saw anything above 35 knots but the surge was un-effen-believable. I have maybe 700 to 1000 euro of damage to my boat from broken cleats to rope burns in the gel coat to rub marks from my sidekick. Brand new 3/4" dock lines burned out on the bollards and all my fenders are really worn. The covers where of course the first thing to go. I've never seen a surge like this driving me into the quay. Early in the morning I told the mono he had to get off me or bad things where going to happen. The surge continued to build until all the mobo skippers in front of me where helping retie my springs and rigging like it was a hurricane. Nothing helped until I grabbed a Fortress FX35 and dropped it off my stern and a Fortress FX55 off my bow in the channel to keep me off the quay.

I'm tired now as it was a sleepless night. But I still have one worry in the form of a charter cat tied behind me. The guy is absolutely clueless. Didn't know how to tie a bowline, broke almost every dock line he had, he's using two of mine right now. All his fenders blew out while he went to Thira. The charter company has sent for someone to make the boat safe and I'm awaiting their arrival. If his springs break he will ram right up my stern. Everyone has been retying his crap on all day.

This harbor may be ok for a 40' or less mono hull as they put them further inside the harbor. Cats are on the outer breakwater wall and exposed to the surge. A better option is to anchor right outside the harbor. There is a Lagoon 500 there for the last two days and has been sitting pretty. I would have left to join him but it really is impossible. If I let loose my lines to get off the quay I'll either ram the boats in front or behind me due to the surge. It is calming down now so we are out of here tomorrow.

BTW, today is my birthday - probably the worst one in my life.

[noelex 77]

Sorry to hear about your problems .

Happy birthday anyway. I hope you get out of there soon. The wind here is now very calm.

I am just north of you in Samos and suspect the surge was from the weather system that we saw while at anchor. We had 4 tankers sheltering in our bay and it takes a lot of wind to stop them running.

The winter storms that occur in the Med are worse than the Meltemi. A lot of people express the view that anchoring out is not safe in these conditions, but I wonder with modern anchoring gear if it is not at least as safe as a marina, even a much more sheltered marina than Santorini.

We have a rather destroyed flag and a very salt encrusted boat (from the airborne spray).



This is a video of the conditions which might explain your surge.

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[beneteau-500]

We'll palarran I guess you can say you have been to santorini and will never sail there again yes marina is a S &£@!?" Ar,..();:/ of a place they have done nothing to improve that marina over the past 15 yrs it's still the same as 15 yrs ago it's a fishing port and the fisherman have never liked it being turned in to a marina if that's what you can call it, when you consider the 100's of millions of euros that pour into santorini every yr you would think they would spend some on infrastructure. But know all they want is the cruise ship money and ferry money and airport money and one thing I do know the local yachtsman/ charter boats would not help you one iota if you got into boat trouble there be it mechanical or what ever , if you want to see santorini yes by all means leave at 6 am sail down from IOS sail through caldera and sail right back to IOS again in a day

[beneteau-500]

Palarran, You havent been back to that Dump of a marina in santorini again as i just seen you on ASI on a heading of 228 at 6.8 knots coming out of there

[AngeW]

Whew sorry to hear you had such a bad time Palarran. We had a similar night tied up in Preveza when the wind came from an unforecast direction. It's such hard work trying to protect your boat from surge when it's tied alongside. Fenders pop out etc. Much worse with another boat pushing you in. Hope repairs ok.

[Palarran]

Originally Posted by beneteau-500

Palarran, You havent been back to that Dump of a marina in santorini again as i just seen you on ASI on a heading of 228 at 6.8 knots coming out of there

Yes, Dale, I'm a glutton for punishment.

Before I left this year I'd arranged to do two crew changes in Santorini. Obviously I've learned my lesson but had to do the last one. This time we anchored outside the marina and used the tender though so it wasn't bad except the dust. No water of course!!

Just pulling into Monemvasia from a windless night. We will start to work our way around the Peloponnese towards Messolonghi this week.