Description:
This port and city are situated 30 km west of Almeria, and 5 nm west of Punta Sabinal lighthouse, in the bay of Las Entinas. It offers an artificial yacht harbour with probably one of the best marinas to be found along this stretch of coast. Excellent shelter from easterly gales.
Cruisers Highlights:
Whilst not the most attractive of stopovers, Almerimar is inexpensive, it has fuel, a real supermarket, plenty of good restaurants, reliable internet, and a repair and services environment conducive to cruisers. A good choice for getting work done on your boat and perhaps a good spot for wintering your boat as costs are low. There is an active winter liveaboard community here.
See the report Impressions of Almerimar for feedback from cruisers who have visited here.
Entrance Notes and Cautions:
The approach is straight forward with no real difficulties even at night, but a swell can build in SW winds (note also that sea shallows from 1000+ to 20 metres within about a mile).
The entrance is more sheltered than it looks but totally exposed to the south. The channel is well marked (with leading lines at night) and is frequently dredged giving a depth of 6m. Despite this, keep an eye on the echo sounder as silting can be a problem.
Position:
36° 41.78'N, 02° 47.42'W.
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I just had my standing rigging for my Island Packet replaced at Almerimar and worked with Chris and Javier during the entire project. They were extremely professional and detail oriented and completed the job on time, working hard in sweltering heat. Strongly recommend them.
Please see this Youtube piece on Almerimar, which you might find useful.
https://youtu.be/pd06nkjYExw
We needed some considerable work done on my Nicholson 48 (Magdalena) and was referred by a Spanish professional skipper from a Gypsy Moth sistership to try Almerimar Marine Services. So mid 2019 we sailed over from the Shannon in the west of Ireland after negotiating with Javier over email.
So we have now completed the job that included a full osmosis treatment (don’t let anyone tell you that ‘no boat sank from osmosis’), removal of teak decks to be replaced by GRP (yes I know I wasn’t sure but it works perfectly, the boat looks much cleaner and more modern), new teak coamings and handrails and a long list of things like servcing the Blakes etc etc.
We have now picked the boat up and sailed to her new base in Ayamonte, Rio Guadiana.
Javier and Chris have a fine team of workers, they are the most careful craftsmen I have ever seen and we were kept fully involved in the whole process. Highly recommended. Have a chat, keep in contact with them. Second to none.
On the tariff I would have to pay for each day € 34,37 + VAT but thy asked me for the first 3 days € 51,56 a day…. and this is not written in any part of the tariff. !!
Just had a great job completed by Chris at Almerimar Marine Services. I can thoroughly recommend his expertise and knowledge. Not only did he do a great job but he gave lots of helpful advice along the way. All for a very fair price. If you are in this region and have a problem with your boat, he’s well worth a visit. Good dry sense of humour too.
We were wintering our yacht in Almerimar in 2016/2017 before crossing the Atlantic. The Marina – specifically Fumi at the office – was very kind and helpful. However, the experience with Almerimar Marine Services turned out somehow disappointing. We had ordered a copper coat tune-up as the bulb of the keel showed some reaction. In our absence, Chris (an Englishman managing Almerimar Marine) also recommended renewal of the fibreglass laminate around the thruster (where he reckoned some deep cracks).
The work on the keel was done superficial and incomplete (brown paint touch up on one side only without deep sanding). On the thruster, however, the brown paint (which actually never turned green such as copper would do) had partially come off after 3 months and displayed our original copper coat underneath.
No signs of any fibreglass repair! Our email complaint (we were meanwhile in the Canaries on our way to the Caribbean) was neglected (Chris’s reply was: “We are satisfied that the work has been carried out correctly and professional”). Other yacht services in Almerimar (such as Colin the sailmaker and rigger) do have proper work ethics though.
I used Almerimar Marine Services after getting quotes from another local rigger that tried to deprive me of £3600 worth of specialist kit saying I didn’t need it and offered £300 worth of kit in exchange. They were also dearer than Palma, Majorca by a thousand euros and Almerimar Marine were cheaper than Palma by 1600 euros. I spent 17000 with Almerimar Marine and am very happy with the service and quality of the work.
Skippy – May 2017
Fumi in the Marina office is very friendly and eager to assist where possible speaking Spanish, English and French – he may speak German too. The marina itself is very good – no Porto Montenegro but considering it is 40 years old it does not feel so and with the new development filling up it should only get better in the years to come. The Pontoon 3 which we are on is nice and wide with plenty of room to park up and load and unload, security is good with special key tag gates and CCTV. The Power on the dock is non-standard but I fired up the Air conditioning to see if it worked and it was fine.
The town has an excellent supermarket and there is plenty of bars to keep yourself internet connected and your banter up to scratch with various others in the marina who are here for a week a month 6 months or even live here permanently.
Most friendly bar: Ankara’s, Best for Sweets Tesco (yep I know, guess which nationality is behind the shop named after a supersize company based in the UK 😉 )
On arrival, you can anchor off the marina and enjoy a swim as we did before entering the harbour for fuel and to check in. Fuel was 1.09 per litre when we arrived. The taxi to the airport is around 70 euro but chances are if you exchange banter with people in the bars you might get a free ride as I did. The price is excellent and the facilities are good for yachts up to 60metres although you won’t find many over 25 some commercial vessels do come in here that are that length.
Really worth a visit to stay for winter. Hope to see you in Ankara’s for a coffee soon or Leo’s for a burger. Plenty of other bars to check out too!
Marina Adra (Puerto Deportivo de Adra), located approx. 8 miles east of Almerimar.
This marina is best avoided. No English spoken, unhelpful receptionist at Club Nautico. No Marinero. Run down, poorly maintained pontoons and facilities. Adjacent to an even more run downtown. Recently installed pontoons on the east side – as reported in unrated cruising guide – appear to be incomplete and abandoned. My advice – go elsewhere!
The marina is quite inexpensive and well maintained – although the town itself is rather unappealing. The local supermarket is well stocked and will deliver to the dock for free. We found services of Nautishop ALAMAR to be quite valuable as they were able to order anything we needed with 1-2 days (from steering cable mounts to searchlight & Selden parts). We had Andy who works at the store do some minor rigging work and were very happy with his work and advice.
We were in the winter 2014/2015 in Almerimar. The information already described has not changed.
Other information: In the Marina Office Spanish and English, as well as German and French is spoken. Very friendly and helpful ready Mariners. Price for a boat with 16.00m € 10.90 + VAT (21%) / day in winter (October to May), when you get paid monthly 5% you discount, from 90 days 10% 180 days 15%. Electricity and water per day € 2.54 + VAT (21%).
Internet Extra € 30 per month. Those who need help for the rig, technical problems and joinery is in very good hands with Andy Parkinson, he is a very experienced sailor with a sound education as a rigger in Selden, he does an excellent job and counselling for difficult problems. Who his home-built 18m yacht looks (23J old) will recognize its quality. For motor and electrical problems, Frank is a very good address, it remains stubbornly until he has found the error.
Electronic problems – especially Raymarine – solves Spencer, he owns the Nauticshop ALAMAR.
A good source of information and contacts for technical assistance is the laundry of Alexandra and Udo in the first harbour, 15 meters in front of the restaurant Nautico. The laundry is good and cheap there washed and dried.
Unfortunately, bicycles are stolen despite barricades and 24 supervision over again, so they should always be connected and kept at least for the night on board.
We spent a month in Almerimar, and once again it proved that for us it was the perfect place to stop and effect repairs before leaving the Mediterranean. Almerimar has no real attraction for tourism, other than the beaches, but for having everything you need in one convenient stop it is hard to beat. There are two well-stocked chandleries, one British owned and the other Spanish. You can find just about anything you need between those two.
We found the services of Inox Almerimar Stainless repair invaluable once again. The owner, Stuart, is as creative and innovative as any metal worker you will ever meet. He repaired blocks, welded engine parts, crafted a custom swim ladder (amazing work), and helped us solve a myriad of other problems. This is the best resource you will find for anything metal related.
Also, we had great results from A&C (Angela and Colin Cuberos) services, phone 669 277171. Angela measured and remade all of our interior upholstery and repaired a canvas stackpack, all to perfection and at a very reasonable price. Easy to work with and very talented, she alone was worth the visit to Almerimar. Her husband Colin is a rigger and provided us with a rigging inspection and some minor repairs, also for a very reasonable price. They are highly recommended.
Almerimar is inexpensive, it has fuel, a real supermarket, loads of great restaurants, great internet, and an environment conducive to cruisers. Recommended.
Very welcoming marina. Excellent English spoken by Paco & Fumi at the capitanaria. Interesting marina layout. Lots of boats for sale. Big yard for servicing/repairs etc & English/Spanish spoken there. Some excellent restaurants too. Highly recommended. Low winter charges too [€3K/yr for 12 m boat].