Description:
This mainland harbor, just north of the island of Lefkas, guards the inland waters of the Gulf of Amvrakia.
The town is typically Greek and rather smart after receiving EU funding. It has many cafes, restaurants, and shops.
While it is rather a slog up the buoyed channel to get into Preveza, it is a useful stopover prior to or after transiting the Lefkas Canal and has a lively café scene, particularly at night.
With a newly renovated marina, town quay and three boatyards, this is a popular place for re-provisioning. exploring inland and for winter storage.
Cruiser Highlights:
Choice of mooring options; a large town with plenty of services; very Greek; boatyards; marine technicians; fuel and water; showers; a secure place from which to travel inland.
Entrance Notes and Cautions:
Position:
38°57.39'N, 20°45.40'E (marina)
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Ionian Marine, Preveza
We are wintering in Ionian Marine 2022/23, for the second time. Staff very helpful and we found prizes fairly cheap. Those outside contractors we have used had to be advised to the reception. Have done our own work on the boat as well.
So, unfortunately another story of ripoff. Hope this not too whingeing for our earlier sensitive contributor!
We are in AKTIO dry storage marina off Preveza and had no complaints for years whilst not requiring any work completing to the boat.
Last year I wanted new wooden lockers built into the welldeck and was told by the Marina that I would have to use one of their ‘approved’ tradespeople.
OK so far, I met the carpenter last October – 2020, (he also runs a joinery and upholstery business), and we talked about the work. He listened to me and said he understood perfectly and said specifically that I should trust him because he knew exactly what to do etc. No written estimate!
So for the first time in 50 years I fronted all the money for the work (€1000). After all he is an ‘approved’ tradesman for the Marina.
We returned to the boat this May 21 (seven months later) having been assured that the work had been done.
What we found was awful beyond belief. It took two of us a whole morning to clean up the mess and the work was simple appalling. In a nutshell I had just paid €1000 for four small pieces of plywood simply left untreated and unfixed to boat.
Again, in 50 years in practice as an Architect and developer I have never seen such dreadful ‘work’.
It turns out the AKATIO marina allow a few tradespeople to operate in their yard but the only reason they are approved is because they pay a kickback to the marina.
I have a lot of photos if anyone wants to see the ‘work’ that
Mr. Stratos KALOGIANNHS does……………
barry (downyerkilt@hotmail.com)
Mooring on the town quay (yellow line on the map) is not free, at leat during the season.
The charge is low but not zero (we have paid in summer 2019 about €6 per day for our Lagoon400 boat).
The electricity and water cost extra. You need to purchase prepaid chip from port authority rep to activate services on the pedestal.
I’m not certain how my comment can be labelled sloppy hearsay as it did happen to me and I reported the facts accurately. I did not consider it to be whinging to warn others and provide confirmation of an earlier post.
1) My tank is quite small at 126 litres and I can get 130 litres if I include the filler hose to a point safely below the overflow.
2) I have monitored my fuel usage for 10 years and also calibrated my tank gauge fairly accurately. The gauge normally agrees reasonably well with estimated usage based on hours run at known revs. I keep records of average revs., hours and fuel usage.
My tank could not possibly have taken 47 litres plus the extra 33 litres I added as fuel consumption would need to be at least 175% of the normal figure to use that amount. I always get within 5%-10% of my estimate when filling and had been expecting around 44 litres, not 80 litres.
I am reporting first hand but I suppose that makes it hearsay when you read it. However, Lynda Shelley’s earlier report does seem to be very similar. I have spoken to several other sailors who have mentioned similar issues but that is certainly hearsay as I was not witness to those events. No problem with Victor being Albanian, I did not have a name for his company and asked a local who said that I must mean Victor the Albanian guy.
My own fault really as I had been warned in 2017 by a local running some charter boats and I had forgotten that discussion.
I thought that I was being careful as usual by getting 100 litres in cans first as suggested by A.Samata below and they were indeed filled correctly. Of course I could see the contents and they also have levels marked. Zero chance of my 126 litre plastic tank expanding to hold 206 litres. The tank is marked as 126 litres capacity when full, allowing for some flexing. It sits in a confined space which could not allow anything like a 64% increase in capacity.
Slight error in my last sentence. I meant to type:
“It sits in a confined space which could not allow anything like a 25% increase in capacity.”
I couldn’t find any way to edit my previous post and decided it would be simpler add this correction.
Victor (yes, Albanian, so what!) has been fuelling boats on the town key for years. He is well known, well liked and certainly trusted by the overwhelming majority of those who use, and re-use, his service, His fuel is clean, fresh; he constantly has to reload his tanker, which is small to access the quay. Local boats and particularly charter company boats use him exclusively. They are in a very competitive business, and are diligent with their operations and costs.To defame this man, on the basis of such sloppy hearsay evidence may suggest more about Mr Tanner (Pom? of the whingeing variety; probably) than Victor.
Same problem about 6 weeks ago with the fuel supplier. He is called Victor and I’m pretty certain it has been going on for years as I remember being warned 2 years ago. I forgot the warning and bought fuel from the mini-tanker (Albanian guy I’m told). 100 litres in cans OK but he insisted on filling the tank himself. I knew from engine hours that it would take about 40-45 litres and he said it was full at 47 litres.
I was suspicious and transferred another 33 litres from cans to fill the tank. I caught up with him and got some money back because he claimed to have not read the meter correctly and only put in 27 litres. My wife later confirmed from her notes that he’d started at 100 litres and stopped at 147 litres with the tank.
I watched him fill a boat next to us a few weeks later and warned the owner. He was also able to put more than 30 litres into his tank after it had been completely filled. He also knew that this wasn’t possible from hours run since his last fill.
Technique seems to be that he always manages to add just a little more than you estimate. He controls the fill and his mate adjusts something behind the meter (by-pass?).
Be warned…. AVOID THIS GUY if at all possible and only fill cans if you must buy fuel.
I have run into at least 3 other people in past few weeks who say that they were also scammed. I mentioned it to an Australian on the next boat when were visited a couple of days ago. He checked his tank and it was only 7/8th full. Victor had also claimed to put in a lot more than expected so the bill was quite a bit higher than expected. That makes the 7/8th full result even more surprising and a big shortfall.
I have read both Mike’s and Johnathan posts. My experience with Victor is quite the opposite and I must admit I am puzzled. I met Victor about 5 years ago when I started wintering my Yacht in Preveza. He was also selling fuel at that time but would also help in any other way he could. At the beginning his local knowledge was invaluable to me and he saved us a lot of husstle and money. Over the period I have known him he has acted with integrity and to the best of my knowledge with complete honesty. At no time did I see any evidence of trickery or scumming.
Regarding the specific complaints my advice to anyone that buys fuel delivered on site, is to check that the meter is on zero at the beginning, check what was delivered at the end and only pay for what was put in the tank. If you suspect the meter may be “faulty” first get a container filled to confirm its accuracy. More importantly don’t use your expectation of how much fuel it will take to decide that you have been scammed. Ilearned this through experience. My fuel tank is made out of PVC like most boats I guess. When bloated it can take a lot more fuel.
On the issue of the deliverer filling the tank, I strongly believe it should be mandatory and all good operators already have adopted this practice. Over the years I have seen a lot of diesel ending up in the sea because the tanks were filled by amateur sailors that keep filing until the diesel spurts out.
Finally I would like to make it clear that I have no other relationship with Victor other than a satisfied customer and because I believe a person’s livelihood should not be destroyed just because we suspect they are involved in a scam without any proof whatsoever and on very flimsy evidence.
A. Samata
SY MIRANNA
Australian Flagged
Also highly recommending the lovely Sofia from “All About Yacht”, who help us with our washing, cleanign the boat after we briefly returned to the UK, and arranged our DEKPA after we arrrived in our Beneteau First 50 from Croatia. She is easy to find next to the Port Police – Telephone +30 26820 28316.
There is a tanker operator called Best Price (0030 697175078) offering fuel to yachts on the Preveza Town Quay at 1.38/L. He can offer this great price as he will only deliver 75% of what you pay for, without your knowledge. His fuel gauges are not accurate. Use your jerry cans with known volume to refuel so you only pay for the fuel you actually get. Dispense the fuel yourself so you can tell if your tank is actually filled or not. We dont believe he has an auto cut off although he says he does.
Here is our experience: They asked us how much fuel we needed, a reasonable question and most skippers have a pretty good idea. We do as we diligently monitor our fuel consumption. Told them around 100L, maximum 120L. They guy jumped on board with the pistol and proceeded to dispense fuel. They showed us the gauge was at zero before they started, but he kept checking with us about the volume while filling. He said there was an auto-cut off and he had filled it to auto cut off which was 123L, high end of what we estimated – Hmmm. We paid for the 123L as we could see this was what was on their fuel gauge and ours was close enough to full. A fellow sailor came down and told us he had ripped him off a couple of years ago, and we should see how much fuel we could add to our “full” tank from our jerrys. We got about 30L in. We ran the calcs again and reckon we had capacity to take 110L max. Called the guy back and asked him to come by and fill some jerrys for us. He came back the next day and we called him out on his little scam, told him to fill the jerrys with the fuel we paid for yesterday but didn’t get and we wouldn’t take it any further. He did so, tried to get us to pay again for that but we refused. He left in a huff but without further argument. We have attempted to report him to port police.
Tepai, New cruising tax.
We launched yesterday from the boatyards at Aktio, and crossed over to the new Preveza Marina, €87 per night for 15m, phoo!! It used to be €18 per night.
In anyway, we engaged the services of Sofia Gravini, she works out of the cafe under Port police in Preveza, for €30 she did everything including going into the post office to pay the tax €577 for five months, it took no more than 30 minutes and the only documents she required was our Boat Registration, and a copy of our Passports, you also must have access to an email address or have a smart phone with you for her to access a Greek registration number that they email to you instantly.
I have no expertise with computers and for us, this was a great solution to a very stressful operation.
We then went to Port Police and she had our DEKPA stamped for the coming year.
Job done thank God, and Sofia.
Apr 13, 2019 07:39 AM
Unlike the previous responder, I had a totally different experience with the technical department at Cleopatra Marina, though I sympathize with his situation.
In the 10 months that our 12M yacht was on the hard, I needed help with connecting and adjusting new control cables that I had run, replacing 2 thru hulls and fittings, a shaft fitting, straightening a bent winch self tailer, replacing a difficult to reach impeller and welding a broken off part of my stove grill.
I usually do my own work, and I was there to supervise the repairs, which may have made the difference. My bill was about ⅓ of what it would have been at home.
The technical department office manager is not much of a manager, but the mechanics are very experienced and skilled.
BTW, Sophia in Preveza, who I agree is great, is also a customs agent
Preveza marina in August 2018 has changed. They are renovating everything, building new facilities (toilets/showers are quite fancy), and new prices are now used. Like, our 13.9 m boat was quoted 55 Euros/day.
I believe in 2019 season it will be quite good marina with all facilities (already has lazy lines for mooring). But you should forget good old Greek cheap prices, duh…
A word of warning/caution about work carried out at Cleopatra marina, Preveza.
Usually, my yacht is wintered in Kilada in the Peloponnese, but last autumn I moved it to the Ionian as I was meeting family and friends there.
I had arranged to store the yacht at Cleopatra marina and before leaving for home had asked for an amount of work to be carried out. The work to be done was; fit a LED tricolour at the top of the mast, service the engine, install my AIS, wire up my radar, carry out some gel coat repair work and replace the sail drive seal.
I had asked for an itemised quote but got back a very vague document that failed to provide a detailed account of costings of each work to be done. I responded when I got this by saying that I could not act on this as I needed to have a clearer idea as to whether I should get other parties to carry out the requested work.
They then came back to me with a clear cost for the gel coat work, mast work and engine service. The AIS would be €40 per hour + 24%VAT… I thought the AIS would take three hours to install and the sail drive seal an hour? Working on these assumptions I gave the go-ahead for the work to be done.
However, when they told me that there might be a possibility of taking the mast down to run the cables for the radar I told them that if this was the case not to go ahead with this, I would arrange for the stainless steel fabricator to build a bracket on my solar panel roll bar on the stern of the yacht.
If, on the other hand there could wire up the radar without needing to drop the mast, then delay this work until my return as I would bring out a new Scanstrut radar bracket from home. On my return to the marina in May this year, I was horrified to see the state my yacht was in. Work had not been completed and all cabins were turned upside down with items that I had carefully stored away.
I just could not step inside the yacht without clambering over something and there was no way that I could sleep on board. When the work was finally completed, on the morning of launching, I presented myself to the office to pay the bill. The boat was due to be in the water at 09:00 and I had to wait a further four hours for the bill to be ‘made up’ (and I use these words carefully and accurately).
Expecting to pay in the region of €2500 for all the work I was shocked to receive an invoice for over €4700! They charged me 15 hours labour to run the wires for the AIS. It’s only 5m from chart plotter to the chart table so that’s 1m every three hours. Despite providing all the cables for both radar and AIS I was charged a further €700+ +24% VAT for there.
When I told them the tricolour wasn’t working they went to replace the bulbs and brought back halogen, but I was paying for LED! The sail drive seal cost over €90 and a further €60+ to fit. Despite telling them NOT to install the radar if they didn’t have to remove the mast they went ahead and fitted it, and charged me over €450 for a radar bracket.
Now I’ve got a perfectly good one at home that I will have to sell at a loss. The only item that turned out to be exactly as they had quoted was the gel coat work. Oh, they also tried to charge me €126 for a rope clutch that I hadn’t ordered or bought.
And their apology when I pointed this out to them….. accidents happen! A month ago, in Reggio di Calabria I had the misfortune to get a lazy line wrapped around my prop. As I had my dive gear on board I went in to free the prop.
As I passed the sail drive I noticed that this brand new seal that they had charged me over €150 for was already coming adrift. Should I be surprised? Not really, and I haven’t been surprised when I have told fellow yachties of my account at Cleopatra marina for them to recount their sorry story.
Let this be a note of caution if you are looking to have work carried out at this marina. If it were possible to attach my bills as evidence of the charges I had to pay then I would willingly have done this.
With regards to the comment on Cleopatra marina I have placed my views on the Facebook page and was asked by them to complete a survey. This I did and expressed my dissatisfaction with the cost of the bill.
We recently had Paleros Yacht Services work on Isoar while on the hard at Cleopatra Marina. While the work they completed appeared to be a high standard, they only completed half the list which they had for some time.
They reassured me work was progressing but only after several un-answered email lead me to call them. Their communication is not good and they fail to tell you what they have not done until you arrive for the launch. It was disappointing after they came so highly recommended.
We’ll keep this one short. Ionian Marine Service (division of Contract Yacht Services) often leaves documentation (nice blue and yellow brochures) on your boat advertising life-raft servicing.
A representative goes around quoting prices of around 165 Euros (forgets to tell you ex 24% VAT!) for a three-year certificate (“maybe a bit more if things need to be replaced”).
We asked for a quote before they would do any works, but they only could quote after unpacking the raft. The next phone call informed us that it would cost 450 Euros (A$700!).
And they only could/would certificate for one year because of manufacturer’s guidelines. We refused and still had to pay re-packing costs of 85 Euros.
Dealing with JSails sailmaker was one of the more frustrating experiences of our years sailing the Med. The work on our bimini and dinghy covers was not done very well and needed to go back a couple of times before it was ok.
Even though we spent thousands of euros with them, communication was always a hassle. Only repeated emails were eventually responded to, the many requests for quotes before work commenced were mostly completely ignored.
Putting sails back was not part of their service, and in the end we had to go and pick up our (twice returned due to their errors) sprayhood as they refused to bring it out to us.
Other work we requested at the end of last year’s season was also not carried out and now has to wait until the end of this season. And they were not cheap either. We would definitely not recommend this company to others.
We can also highly recommend Sofia from “All About Yacht”. We had a transit log issue that Sofia resolved for us. She is easy to find next to the Port Police – Telephone +30 26820 28316.
We purchased our yacht in Preveza and used Sofia from “All About Yacht” (as recommended by Peter from SY Funny Girl) to handle our exit from Greece, Transit log, clearing equipment through customs etc.
Sofia was brilliant in handling Customs, Port Police, Custom agents in Athens, rental cars, Laundry, and everything else we needed. Highly recommended. NOTE HER CORRECT EMAIL IS prevezaall4yacht@gmail.com.
Reported by Peter of SY Funny Girl
27 September, 2016
We could not get a dekpa in Preveza when we arrived in Greece, they had run out of forms and no new forms are supplied from Athens.
After some talking, we got a copied form saying that we had visited the Port Police office but that they could not give us a form. With that paper, we are allowed to sail around in Greece. It was free of charge!
After this meeting with the Port Police in Preveza, we went down the stairs and up to a restaurant to drink a coffee. The lady from the restaurant told us she could help us.
She is running a business helping foreigners with all kinds of things concerning yachts. So at our request she working to find a Dekpa form, finally she found a form. After we made a payment of 29,50 €. she took care of everything and after a week we had a nice new dekpa.
Then we had to sign our crew list in front of an officer of the port police at the same time showing our new dekpa and we received all the necessary stamps.
If any other skippers in or around Preveza have these kinds of problems, they can contact this lady. Her name is Sofia – phone number is +30 26820 28316 or +30 6980 151412
E-mail: prevezaall4yachts@gmail.com
We hauled out and had antifouling redone, full boat cleaning and polishing, stainless cleaning, polishing and work and other projects done on our boat at Cleopatra Marine in September 2015.
The maintenance department was extremely well organized, had a very good chandlery that also would order anything special that you needed. Unlike so many other yards, they let you live on your boat and do work on your boat when it was there.
They performed every project on time, on budget and with good care. The only downside was that there was only one small cafe with a limited menu and one tiny grocery store, also with a very narrow selection – and it is miles from Cleopatra to any other facilities.
All the technicians were very reliable, responsible and good except the sailmaker. He was entrusted with repairing a snap shackle that the yard had accidentally damaged lifting the boat.
It was reverse-threaded, which he did not seem to understand or notice, so trying to remove it to replace it, he over-tightened and mangled it worse. He didn’t have reverse-threaded replacements, so in the end, he gave us back the snap shackles that were now thoroughly destroyed and unusable.
Reported by Tony Olin (who wintered in Preveza 2015/16):
Old Preveza marina, great works started to make this a decent marina, new shower and toilet facilities under construction, water and electricity now on tap, reasonable price to stay.
Very pleasant and helpful staff daylight hours, not yet using VHF, just go on in and the Marinero will assist you.
Posted on behalf of SY Twins:
The Preveza Marina is back to normal with water & electricity on all pontoons. Pontoon 4 & 5 now have lazy lines. There are many big catamarans at present (June 2015). Still €1.- per meter with water & electrics.
The Preveza harbour now has water & electricity on part of the waterfront. Though not installed all the way, the columns serve boats on a distance of approx. 200 meters in front of the cafés.
Posted on behalf of SY Funny Girl (Dutch flag):
We had our boat wintering at Aktio marina for the 2013/14 winter, very close to Preveza, at their dry standing. It is, for us, a very good place, also you can sand your boat etc. and every boat has his own electricity and water connection.
Hauling in and out of the water goes quick and professional and at the time you want. In Preveza Yacht harbour there is only water at the first jetty, due to a conflict between the Townhall, Port Authority and the managing company of the harbour.
The price is now reduced to (1) euro a night. The normal price is 1 euro a meter/night. If a yacht needs a lot of water, then it is possible to move temporarily to the first jetty. This to be arranged with the manager.
Peter Terhaar
A mini tanker for diesel is available to the Preveza marina, telnbr. +30 6971715078 we paid 13 € per night for a 12-meter boat including potable water and 16 amps 230 V.
It is a 10-minute walk to the town center, and no swell. Helpful Marinero, good in English, several supermercados in the center and a LIDL at 4 km.