Kavala - General Info
Description:
Kavala is a large, conspicuous city with a commercial port. It has many redeeming features however with Roman remains, a well preserved Byzantine citadel and a great choice of good bars and eateries.
Conditions for visiting yachts have improved with the installation of floating pontoons with water and shore power.
Position:
40° 55.78’N, 24° 24.13’E (outer harbor entrance)
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Related to following destinations: Greece, Kavala, Northern Greece
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We spent 5 nights in Kavala, 17-21 September 2018. These notes are, hopefully, to save fellow yachties the frustration we went through because of wrong and outdated information. Forget Imray 12th Edition, 2014, Cruiserwiki, and all the other online sites, when it comes to mooring a yacht in Kavala!
The entire harbour/port is under the administration of the Port Authority of Kavala (PAK). There are two, and only two, areas where a yacht can moor:
a) In the NW corner in front of the Nautical Yacht Club of Kavala (NOK) building, restaurants and café. These first class, new floating pontoons and finger jetties, with plenty of power and water towers has, primae facie, the appearance of a “marina”. Although not strictly a marina, for simplicity I shall continue to refer to this area as the marina. It’s either beam to or bowlines are provided. No anchoring.
b) The length of the north, E-W quay between the outer limit of the marina and the area used by large fishing boats to the east. This area is readily identified by yellow, steel framed, steps to enable access from boat to quay and vis versa.
An added complication of this area is that over half of the places have permanent bow moorings, with boats on them or boats which we observed to come and go during the time we were there. For yachts in transit it’s anchor and stern to. Power and water towers are installed but not with the same density as on the pontoons so a long cable/hose could be required.
Both areas are administered by PAK. Although many NOK members may have their boats in the marina they have contracts with PAK. There is no point in contacting NOK as, if they reply, they will simply tell you to contact PAK.
Contact details for PAK are: Tel: +30 2510 225192 e-mail: info@portkavala.gr. They are located on the 1st floor of the building on the front with a Greek flag and a blue and white sign on the balcony of the 6th floor. A. O. KABAAA. (The 3rd A is and upside down V!).
This is also where you can get the electronic keys for power/water; Euro10 refundable deposit and whatever credit you want on the key. FYI about 300l of water cost us Eur0.80 and power for the 5 nights was about Euro5 – we don’t have aircon! NB.
Keys are also available from the car park attendant kiosk as you leave the NOK area, in front of the funfair. However be aware that they charge an effective Euro3 commission; you only get Euro7 of credit for Euro10 payment!
After 11 years of sailing the Med we have added Kavala to our list of favourites. It is a delightful town with an abundance of top rate, “different” restaurants and perfect to use as a base for traveling inland. Mooring fees for a 13.6m (45ft) yacht were Euro1.50/night!! For comparable quality facilities, we would have paid Euro150/night in Croatia.
2015-07-10 We have been here in Kavala since Monday. For would-be boaters that are considering visiting in the June-Oct period, the inner harbor is occupied by yacht club members and charter boats and the corner seems to be reserved for.
The daily fishing boats that go out at night and come in the next morning. As you enter, with the inner harbor dead ahead, there is a quay wall on the west side facing south that has in some places steps coming down from the wall.
These spots are usually reserved for Kalava people who cannot get a place in the inner harbor. This quay is way over two meters high above the water line so the steps are all but a necessity. Med moor is the only way possible to moor to this wall.
There is ONE shore power pod every 150 feet or so and then there are no more. On each pod is one power outlet (16 amp) that you feed a 50 euro cent coin in one at a time to get 2-3 Kw of electricity. Water is the same way.
There are two outlets, and the same coin gets you 10 minutes of water. As this wall runs west, there are no shore power pods and no steps. There is also a wall pointing south as one comes in that has no services what so ever.
So, with the high wall, the poor electrical and water supplies, the sparsity of said supplies……… this place is NOT friendly to yachters. The man that runs the port, Gregory did say that there are plans to put in floating docks but given the monetary crisis, one should not hold one’s breath.
(BTW, plan to arrive at THIS port M-F, 0800-1500. Outside those hours, the Port Authority people on duty will advise you to wait until the Port Control office opens on the next business day.)
If one needs shelter from a storm, on the far west side of the harbor is a storm anchorage that has good holding.
With the arrival of two to three ferries a day, I think anchoring anywhere in the vicinity of the inner/outer harbor is just not in the cards. One could ride out a storm anchored there, but I think you would be told to move if you wanted to anchor for a few days and see the city.
Gregory goes OUT of his way to accommodate you if you plan to spend some time here. He got us metered electrical and water supply and told us that the spot we are in is “owned” by someone but that person has yet to put his boat in the water.
We may have to move. Gregory did say that we PROBABLY could take one of the fishing boat spots in the inner harbor, but then he retracted that saying we just might piss them off. He implied that they use the spots without paying but I am not 100% sure.
We tried to moor in the inner harbor and were consistently, and quite dramatically waived off, even though on the VHF, we were told to moor there. Kavala itself: Well, the view of the old city to the east of the inner harbor, behind a quite substantial fortified wall.
With a reasonably restored castle/fort protecting the old city from marauders is IMPRESSIVE! Walking that area takes one breath away, literally and figuratively. The city’s tourist office is quite helpful and answers all one’s questions.
Up from them is a food shopping area, consisting of a huge supermarket on the first floor and above it, a fresh fruit, vegetable, meat chicken cheese etc market that is open 6 days a week.
First, we have ever seen this and it seems to have reasonable prices with good to great quality. Dining out prices APPEAR to be higher than Alexandroupolis.