Nautical services in Costa Blanca

Dénia is the main port of the Marina Alta: several marinas, a royal yacht club with dry stack storage and a shipyard that refits superyachts. Jávea (Xàbia) and Moraira, south of Cap de Sant Antoni, have yacht clubs with hundreds of berths and authorised engine dealers that also handle winter lay-up.

Further south, Calpe has its yacht club under the Peñón de Ifach, and Altea has engine, repair and canvas workshops. Benidorm and El Campello round off the coast with sailing, rowing and kayak schools and berths with dry storage, close to Alicante. Inland, towns such as Pedreguer have boat dealers with storage ashore.

The northern Costa Blanca is home to one of the largest communities of foreign boat owners in Spain, so many workshops and schools work in English, German or Dutch. For a small or mid-size boat, dry stack storage is a cheaper alternative to a berth: the boat lives ashore and is launched when you want to go out.

From Dénia and Jávea, Ibiza and Formentera are a day's passage away, and the coves between Cap de Sant Antoni and the Peñón de Ifach are some of the best anchorages on the Spanish Mediterranean. Book your haul-out, antifouling and engine service in winter, when the yards have space.