catmandoo
regular
Reged: 21/08/2003
Posts: 1125
Loc: The Earth
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Just been there . What a filthy place .
land fill site leaking into water table
smell when wind in wrong direction
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enormous diesel oil spills on surface also strong smell of gasolene
Closed on Sunday lots of concrete . toilets and showers an afterthought and quite a walk from the pontoons .
Over design on adjacent buildings, shops restaurants and offices and not on ensuring environmental issues 
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jimbaerselman
regular
Reged: 18/04/2006
Posts: 1590
Loc: Greece in Summer, Southampton ...
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That delightful smell is the smell of processed sewage being discharged into the sea. At least, it's said to be processed. Very few enclosed town harbours in the Med escape it; nothing to do with the marina. It's the town.
Enormous diesel spills? Or the error of some crew re-fuelling their boat rather casually? Have you been to any Scottish fishing ports?
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Jim Baerselman
http://www.jimbaerselman.f2s.com/ or Google 'jimb sail'
Compares the Cruising areas of Europe
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catmandoo
regular
Reged: 21/08/2003
Posts: 1125
Loc: The Earth
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Not sure that Scottish fishing ports as I knew 40 years ago exist now but recent visits to Port Patrick , Kirkcudbright , Nairn , Arbroath and St Andrews show nothing like the pollution I mentioned although I agree that close to Edinburgh I would not eat the mussels
I assume the marina was built using EEC money . That being so the local authority must have had some input in the financing and planning of the infrastructure and there must have been EEC conditions stipulated . The fill site sticks up like a large cliff as you go past in the canal and you can definitely smell it .
Who in their right mind would place a land fill site close to an enclosed wetlands and tourist area and allow all the effluent to seep into the system with PCB's and all the accumulated stuff that people throw into their rubbish bins not to mention toilet paper and the threat of typhoid (viz recent case of para typhoid reported in a yachting circle ).
There are fish farms in the area and that junk must be getting into the food chain
Entering the water in the marina was definitely a no no without a full face mask and rubber suit and while I have witnessed careless spills in the past what I saw was reckless - perhaps enormous was an overstatement but I got the impression from the fumes that if I dropped a match the whole thing would have gone up . There was no supervision and the fuel smell was bad . this was not the only occasion
Remember first impressions are pretty close to the truth . I must not be the only one to notice . This was off season too
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affinite
regular
Reged: 02/02/2005
Posts: 182
Loc: Me - Derby Boat - Greece
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I think you are being a little harsh
As a berth holder (for only two more weeks before we move on to Croatia) I will comment as below
Re land fill - must agree with you, as you sail down the canal it isnt a pretty sight, in summer the smell is pretty bad and as you say god knows what floats upstream into the marina.
As for sewage smell, as Jim says, thats Greece Im afraid! It is actually worse on the town quay than in the marina but is typical of many Greek harbours that Ive been to.
Re fuel spills I'm not there at present so cant really comment but to be fair to the the marina, the guys on the fuel pontoon are on the ball re spills. I have a breather on my boat which unfortunately lets out a burp of fuel if the tank is filled too quickly. When this happened recently the fuel guys immediately sprayed detergent on what was a small spill. Ive also seen them practising fuel spill procedures with booms, fire tenders etc. I cant imagine that the fuel dock is the source. It could even be the seaplane - It comes right into the marina and leaves a fair old stink of aviation fuel in the air - it doesnt appear to leak fuel though or Id have been long gone by now!!
Incidently I saw a big "slick" when in Nidri last time so maybee someone has worked their way north with a leak!
Agree lots of concrete - can make it a little soulless at times. Toilets and showers are variable but the nearest one to my boat is approx 30metres away -
Cant disagree with your environmental comments but it sounds like you were unlucky with the rest.
Hope you enjoy the rest of the Ionian - we have over the past few years
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jimbaerselman
regular
Reged: 18/04/2006
Posts: 1590
Loc: Greece in Summer, Southampton ...
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Mallaig immediately came to mind as the worst harbour to be in. Sea surface covered in diesel, fish oil, dead fish, rotting weed . . . but that was nine years ago.
Re the rubbish. A big improvement in Greece is that in most towns it is now collected in one place; as compared to ten years ago when it just grew in heaps around the outskirts of towns. I think that's an improvement.
Remember, Greece was in extreme poverty after an appalling civil war, and until 1974, governed by a very inefficient and suppressive military junta which allowed little change. You can't expect it to move from an agricultural nothing to run like Switzerland after 35 years . . . especially when most of the able population had emigrated to escape their hell.
They're returning now.
By the way, I seem to recall an enormous rubbish tip just by Port Solent . . .
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Jim Baerselman
http://www.jimbaerselman.f2s.com/ or Google 'jimb sail'
Compares the Cruising areas of Europe
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Tranona
regular
Reged: 10/11/2007
Posts: 796
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The problem with marinas in Greece is that there are so few because there are so few locations where it is possible to build. The Levkas location in the marshes next to the land fill site would not be a prime choice, but in the popular area it is probably the only viable location. Close to the airport, central for a very popular charter cruising ground etc. It is actually full for permanent berths at the moment so clearly fulfils a need.
The rather naff architecture and facilities reflects its difficult origins. It was indeed built with EU money, but the biggest member of the building consortium was Italian and I understand the design was also done in Italy - so it reflects their view of what a marina should be and somewhat at odds with the location. One gets the impression the designer never actually visited the site!
However, the current Greek led consortium which operates it has a very long lease and it should improve over time.
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lille_bee
regular
Reged: 02/12/2004
Posts: 196
Loc: North Wales
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Just think how much cleaner greek harbours would be if they had the benefit of two tides pouring in & out every day, like in Scotland...!
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jimbaerselman
regular
Reged: 18/04/2006
Posts: 1590
Loc: Greece in Summer, Southampton ...
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Of course, the other reason there are so few marinas in Greece is that there are large numbers of stone quaysides to moor up to free of charge!
It is also quite the exception to have smelly harbours. The only places I recall are Corfu town, Levkas, Patras town (not the marina), Pylos town (not the marina), Koroni, Gythion, a couple of places around the Athens coastline and Thessaloniki town. Everywhere else I've been I've had no second thoughts about swimming around the boat.
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Jim Baerselman
http://www.jimbaerselman.f2s.com/ or Google 'jimb sail'
Compares the Cruising areas of Europe
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bryantee
regular
Reged: 31/08/2001
Posts: 312
Loc: lefkas Greece (Summer)Cochin...
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a point worth mentioning.if you tie up to the main quay and conditions are reasonable,not to much wind,try to get on the north quay which runs se to nw.you get a flushing(Sorry) effect from the current which tends to run south to north until the wind gets up and negates the current
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catmandoo
regular
Reged: 21/08/2003
Posts: 1125
Loc: The Earth
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Notwithstanding all the above a factual observation was made about the place with no bias . I wish the place well but I think they have a problem that will get worse
I have passed by many times going else where and even stayed there more than once . It is up to the individual however to make his own judgement
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