An article by long term marina resident Nick
to give his view from experience.

Larnaca Marina is one of the crossroads of the circumnavigator, a gateway to the East or West depending on which way round you are going.
A safe haven to catch your breath after that long hard slog up the Red Sea
or a place to stock up if you are going down.
It is a wintering hole for all nationalities living aboard in the Med.
A boatyard for repairs major or minor. You name it Larnaca marina has it, you want it ? the chances are that you will find it.

A little frayed at the edges, but you will be made welcome by the staff and the locals.
There are activities for all. Regular barbecues, boat jumbles, classes for keep fit, bridge and even line dancing. As the residents organise most of these events they can change as the population does and new skills are always welcome.

Situated in the heart of Larnaca town you have easy access to modern supermarkets such as Woolworth's and the shopping is generally excellent.

The International Airport is only ten minutes drive and access to the whole island is simple via service taxi or bus.

There is room for about 450 boats afloat and more on the hard. A 40 ton travel hoist and there is water and electricity available.

Formalities are comparatively minimal and straightforward. You would be well advised to make a reservation well in advance if you wish to visit as this is a very popular marina and pretty full all year, but especially in the winter.

Bon voyage Nick

Here you will find a chart of Larnaca Bay. It takes a couple of minutes though.

A personal view from another Larnaca Marina resident

It is under threat as a place that we know and love in order to make way for greedy people, gin palaces and more profit for the boys.

The privatisation of Larnaca Marina is a scandal and should be stopped immediately.
I am not against private Marinas, far from it, I think that Cyprus should have more of them, however to take the only public Marina on the Island and privatise it, basically because there is them that wants to buy it with obvious influence is absurd..... let them go and build their own.

What benefit is there for anyone? Maroula, Glafkos and the other staff who have been working there for years will all be moved to desk jobs in Nicosia, outcome, they lose - they lose a great outlook in a job they know and love.

The residents - they lose, we all know the prices will rise and nepotism being what it is, anyone who complains about anything will just be slung out with no recourse to anyone.

The town, they will lose the custom of the residents, who will move, the people left will be the Cypriot boat owners, Sunday business only.

It is bad enough that a 5 year maximum was put on visiting boats, for instance. If you wanted to cruise the Med, using Cyprus as a base to winter in, and spend money in, 5 years was the max before you either have to import your boat officially and pay the duty etc or leave. We have now sold 2 yachts so affected and watched others leave to go to Turkey to spend their money. I didn't realise our job was to promote Turkish Tourism !

Please leave Larnaca Marina Alone. It is a success story as it is !

Express your views here

2006 Update. Well having run the gauntlet of the threatened privatisation again, we have allegedly come out the other side with a ' well it's not going to happen yet' So the probability is that it's imminent.

2008 Update. Yup it is imminent again. New pontoons have recently been added (I thought that would be at the expense of the new owners!) but quite possibly, if the rumours are correct, they are being paid for by the tax payer so that the new owners won't have that added expense when they take over, they will just be able to cream the profit with very little real outlay.