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Old 08-06-2015, 22:45   #1
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Where to Live While Cat Shopping

HI Everyone,
The family and I are planning to head to the Med in 2016 and buy a Cat.

We are looking at getting there early (maybe Jan) and basing ourselves somewhere like Greece so we can do some touristy stuff in between looking for a Cat.

What I am looking for is advise from the lovely people on the forum on where would be a good place to base ourselves from.

Considerations are:
1) accessibility for travel to places to look at potential cats (currently tracking "For Sales" all over the Med.)
2) somewhere that isn't a ghost town in winter.
3) Cost of living
4) Friendliness
5) Open for input from the forum

The plan is a work in progress so am open to advise, recommendations and constructive feedback.

Look forward to hearing from you.
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My wife has been nagging me to get a kitten, as a compromise I said I would by a Cat in the Med next year. Hopefully she wont realise the difference until its to late.
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Old 09-06-2015, 04:00   #2
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Re: WHERE TO LIVE WHILE CAT SHOPPING

Croatia has availability of low cost apartments, easy access, friendly people and lots of catamarans for sale. For great food and great living, but not low cost, try the east coast of Italy.
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Old 09-06-2015, 14:51   #3
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Re: WHERE TO LIVE WHILE CAT SHOPPING

Thanks l2ridehd, any specific towns that you would suggest?
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Old 09-06-2015, 15:06   #4
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Re: WHERE TO LIVE WHILE CAT SHOPPING

Keep in mind that they have winter there. It can be pissing rain and very cool for days on end. Certainly not the best time to sight see although for boat shopping weather doesn't really matter but the family may not be loving it. Anywhere there is a big charter business there are always lots of boats for sale, including Cats. You might give Lefkas a look in Greece although if I was shopping for a Cat I might be tempted to be looking in the Caribbean as while we spent 2 years cruising the Med I saw more Cats in the first 60 days in the Caribbean than I did in 2 years in the Med.
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Old 09-06-2015, 15:27   #5
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Re: WHERE TO LIVE WHILE CAT SHOPPING

If I were you, I'd get a great agent, like Jeff Jones of the Multihull Company, and look around with him. No matter where the boat is, he'll be able to tell you it's history, and probably have someone with local knowledge in place. If you do get to the survey point, he'll be there with you, no matter where the boat is. I've heard of a several people who spent way more money than they had to searching themselves.

Now if you just want to be in Europe for a while, far be it for me to discourage you. We lived in Europe for many years and loved it.

Maje
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Old 09-06-2015, 15:29   #6
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Re: WHERE TO LIVE WHILE CAT SHOPPING

Gman, fill us in a bit more on where you're from and what you're looking for. It can make a big difference, ie shenghan issues etc
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Old 09-06-2015, 20:30   #7
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Re: WHERE TO LIVE WHILE CAT SHOPPING

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Gman, fill us in a bit more on where you're from and what you're looking for. It can make a big difference, ie shenghan issues etc
Hi Monte,
I am from Oz, (wife has an English passport) We are looking to take a year off and would like to purchase a CAT in the Med for the season ideally going east to west. (hopefully that will be long enough to convince the wife of doing a second year )

currently tracking cats from 38-43 foot. Most likely aim for 40. Front runners at the moment are the lagoons as they seem to be better head room for me at 6'3" and living space. Although I am open for suggestions.

Cheers
G
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Old 10-06-2015, 05:44   #8
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Re: Where to Live While Cat Shopping

Ok G. Well you will need to be aware of schenghan visa laws and plan accordingly, either by spending most of your time in non schenghan countries, like turkey or Albania, or getting an extended visa for the family, which may be difficult. As far as the cat. We've bought a couple of lagoons ex factory and they were good deals in our eyes for a few reasons. One reason is that no vat is paid and most of the other yachts in Europe have vat paid, so the owners need to recoup an additional 20%. Have a chat with Javier at catamarans Barcelona if you're interested in going that route for competitive pricing and great service.
If you're set on secondhand, there's quite a few hubs where used cats are more prevalent and some areas where they're slim pickings. There's probably a range around Atlantic France, La Rochelle, then the next would be the Barcelona area, then Croatia, Greece and Turkey for mainly ex charter. There's a good local site that may have more private/non broker deals which might be worthwhile perusing as well because brokers tend to charge 10-15% on top of the sales price. This might be easier to swing a deal if it's in yours or the sellers pockets instead.
http://www.leboncoin.fr/nautisme/off...=1&q=Catamaran
Good luck, feel free to ask lots of questions!
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Old 10-06-2015, 08:27   #9
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Re: Where to Live While Cat Shopping

You definitely want to look into a short term or long term extended visa before making the decision to stay awhile. We put a deposit down in November, came to France to get her ready for cruising, and learned the hard way. We went back to the USA twice and even though it was a pain, and of course there were costs involved, it was worth it getting the extension.
Now we are cruising with no worries about having to find a port to escape the Schengen deadlines and our Aussies friends that did not get extended visas had to bolt, sometimes when the weather was not so nice. You should definitely look into the rules but basically you have 90 out of 180 days and the dates slide. And you have to get your visa extension in your country. And have an address to say you will be living in The country you apply for. Since we bought iour kitty in France we took a photo of our boat on the hard and used that as the address.
Winter here is still winter. Very few out on boats. But the summer? Better than we could have imagined. And we bought a used Catana. They are awesome. But the yard? That's another story. Although easy to fly in and out of Barcelona and drive. 2:15 hours. We also found boats here in better condition than the Caribbean. Meow!
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Old 10-06-2015, 08:30   #10
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Re: Where to Live While Cat Shopping

Hi, we have a 38ft Dean Catamaran for sale & we are based in Gibraltar. Coming from Austrailia shouldn't give you a problem staying here.
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Old 10-06-2015, 16:02   #11
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Re: Where to Live While Cat Shopping

Hi Gman, we are doing the same, let's link up.
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Old 16-06-2015, 05:47   #12
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Re: Where to Live While Cat Shopping

I gman

when we were looking for our cat a few years back France looked to have the best ex owner versions going - light usage of maybe 2 months a year vs the heavily used charter cats. I would personally start with the question of ex charter "bargain" and big fix up bill vs higher cost private owner versions.

If the former then base in turkey or greece where the winter is more friendly, if the later then focus on france like we did but bring the thermal gear.
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Old 16-06-2015, 23:03   #13
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Re: Where to Live While Cat Shopping

Thanks everyone for the responses. Looks like a big part of the plan needs to be managing the Schengen issue as I have a Aust passport and my wife has a Uk one. As we wanted to head to Europe several months before he actual sailing season, I am researching the below Options so any advice on them or other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Option 1 - Stay in Croatia in the beginning while looking and commute to look at boats.
Any advice on what travel from Croatia to Greece, Turkey, France etc is like.

Option 2 - Long stay visa for non eu partner of EU Citizen (not French)
Has anyone had any experience with this.

Option 3 - Same as Option 2 but in Italy.

Option 4 - Similar to 2 and 3 but for the UK. may be a little trickier.

Cheers
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Old 17-06-2015, 06:45   #14
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Re: Where to Live While Cat Shopping

Hi Gman, Croatia is part of schengen now so that's probably out. Montenegro and Albania and Turkey aren't. I've heard Greece is easier to get a Long stay visa. Maybe UK would be the best option?
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Old 18-06-2015, 18:19   #15
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Re: Where to Live While Cat Shopping

Quote:
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Hi Gman, Croatia is part of schengen now so that's probably out. Montenegro and Albania and Turkey aren't. I've heard Greece is easier to get a Long stay visa. Maybe UK would be the best option?
Hi Monte,
I thought that Croatia was part of EU but not part of Schengen yet. Has that changed as I cannot find reference to it.

Thanks for the advice.
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