Where to? Looks like the Med…
OK, so we’re going to try living aboard a yacht. A number of questions come to mind: 1) Where should we base the yacht? 2) What type of yacht would be best? 3) Can we afford to do this? 4) Will we even enjoy this lifestyle?
Naturally, we decided to address all of these questions at once — initially looking for "deal killers" that might make us rethink the whole idea.
Regarding #1, we've been drawn to Europe. We find it fascinating, with its rich culture, history, and beauty. The Mediterranean
offers ample opportunities for coastal cruising, a relatively long summer season, plenty of ports for provisioning, and the ability to extend into the Adriatic and Aegean Seas. Other alternatives, given our lifestyle (we winter in Baja California) and geography, include the Pacific Northwest — beautiful, but with a very short cruising season; the Caribbean — pretty hot in the summer months; and Cabo and the Sea of Cortez — limited in terms of ports and cultural variety. We’ve decided to focus on the Mediterranean. That said, we're also aware of yacht freight services (Dockwise Yacht Transport, Sevenstar Yacht Transport, and Peters & May
), so if we’re inclined, we could move the boat to other locations or even sail it to environments like the canals and fjords of Northern Europe.
So, for now, the plan is to concentrate on the Mediterranean, including the Adriatic and Aegean Seas. This covers regions like Gibraltar, Spain, France, Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, and Turkey, not to mention islands like Mallorca, Sicily, Sardinia, and Malta. On the plus side, we can expect almost limitless exploration of ports, islands, history, culture, food, and more. The waters are generally warm and clear, and the weather should be pleasant from May to October — possibly even into April and November (in the southern ports). The Mediterranean is a popular yachting destination, so we’ll have access to chandlers, provisions, fuel, repair depots, and other services. On the downside, the Mediterranean can be crowded, especially in August, and the costs for ports and marinas can be prohibitively high. While the seas are generally calm, they can also be unpredictable, with squalls and thunderstorms becoming more common due to global warming
All of this suggests a yacht suited to Mediterranean conditions (though possibly not exclusively), with an emphasis on finding low- or no-cost anchoring options to avoid crowds and high docking expenses. It will also mean finding one or more winter homes, where the boat can be docked (wet or “on the hard”) for the winter..
So let’s think about boats…
