Spent the Friday night of the Round Mull Race on a Tobermory pontoon - cost £34.50 or £3.50 per metre. Out of interest I looked up a random caravan park on Mull :
All bookings include full use of facilities, including hot showers, dishwashing area, free Wi-Fi, grey waste and chemical disposal, fresh water, designated campfire area, games room with full size ping pong table and mini pool table, common room with microwave, kettle, TV, free Wi-Fi and solid-fuel stove. Washing machine and tumble dryer tokens available at £4 per cycle, laundry detergent for £2.
CARAVANS, CAMPERVANS, MOTORHOMES & TRAILER TENTS
Standard price, up to two persons, 1 night £25.00 per night
My brain says land costs must be higher than water but I could be wrong.
The overhead is relatively low for land based stuff, but for the same facilities at a marina the overhead is higher if only because there are pontoons, boats and moorings to maintain. I would also imagine that economy of scale kicks in, with many more camper pitch nights compared to berth nights and competition, more camping areas on Mull than Marinas. It is not mean to wonder at the cost difference.
What's that? Dunno! Should we be worried about that? Dunno! How? Ah dunno!
To answer the original question: no you’re not being mean
£3:50 per m per night is very high. I nearly chocked when I was told what I had to pay
It’s made worse when the toilet and shower facilities are so poorly maintained, worst I’ve ever seen them
Plenty of revenue coming from the cruise liner passengers, so a distinct feeling of being price-gouged
We recently had to leave Fairwinds in Tobermory on a mooring - I bought a book of ten tickets but because of family circumstances we were not able to get back until 13 nights had elapsed. When I explained what had happened they let us off with the extra 3 nights - so not so bad really, the staff are all very pleasant and I am sure the pricing decisions come from non-sailors somewhere.
For larger boats in particular the moorings are a good deal at £15 a night if you buy a book of tickets. And Tobermory is still only the only place I know where there is no charge for a short stay, so it is ideal to nip into for shopping, water and fuel.
Agree the toilet facilities are a bit rubbish - I have always wondered who came to the conclusion that yachties showered more often than they shat - four showers but only two toilet cubicles. At least you can get in through the night now.
