Manfred Wassmann says:
Jul 14, 2018, 01:06 PM
Information on 04630 Garrucha (Almeria), Spain.
Lies between Carboneras and Aguilas.

We were forced to stay here due to engine damage just off the coast for 5 days.
There is an old port (Puerto deportivo de Garrucha/Marina) and a newer port(Puerto de Garrucha) behind the same quay. Mariners listening on Channel 9 will wave any transits to the newer northern portion of the port past the fuel station.

This Port is open to the south with a massive swell and strong winds. There are mooring lines laid out which we strongly advise to use.
The pier is solid with water and electricity connectors, you can see that many others have had problems here by marks on the pier and on the electricity hubs.
Mariners speak none or bad English at best and didn’t seem to care about anything boat or safety related at all, even when we declared an emergency due to reduced manoeuvrability and massive swell no one cared, no help at all (fellow sailors then came to the rescue).

Facilities include a shower and two toilets per sex in a provisional(or not, can’t tell) container and a marine office.
Port Wifi was down, restaurants around are happy to help out.
Paid some 50€/day for 14m, very pricey for what you get.

There are two or so repair services for boats, one of which can slip on their repair grounds, we didn’t use either of them but all seemed kind of dodgy.
Boss of Reparanautic was very friendly though and organised a taxi to a shop he knew might have the parts we needed in the next bigger city of Vera.
Every workday from 6 am to 6 pm, gypsum will be loaded onto big Transports making the air (and everything else) very dusty, 3 weeks later the boat is still covered in it due to the stickiness, can’t seem to get it off.

The biggest hazard is the swell and wind conditions here (which seem to be a problem in the afternoon hours).
Fixing the boat on the quayside will push you into the pier forcefully if you don’t tighten the moorings to the max and on the land facing side you will be whipped up and down over and under the pier depending on your size. We eventually tightened the moorings to the max and that gave us some 2-3 meters between the boat and the pier to reduce damage.

In those 5 days, we saw 12 ships come and go, 7 of which took damage including big dents in a steel hull and damage in an aluminium hull.

Garrucha itself is (in our opinion) not worth visiting for the looks of it. There are shops close to the port including a good supermarket, a car repair shop in the city might also be a place to get basic spares.

Paella in all the places along the (long) esplanade was fantastic, good for a stroll when the sun goes down.

Our conclusion:
Visit only during the night. Visit only when prepared to take on the conditions.