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.

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!

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 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.