Location: La Marin, Martinique
Duration: 2 nights (18th – 20th September 2019)
Cost: €53.45/night including power, excludes taxes.
Water: We were charged €4.82 for 535 litres
This marina complex offers both long and short term berths and mooring. The marina is tightly packed with a number of charter catamarans and a range of boats berthed for the storm season. The marina was a buzz with activity while we were there, as the charter boats were being cleaned and prepared for the upcoming charter season.
There are also a range of facilities onsite including a restaurant, ice creamery, café/bar, small supermarket, chandlery, fishing store, laundromat, post office, newsagent, retail clothing outlet and souvenir shop (the latter was closed and scheduled to reopen in early October).
The small supermarket is actually a Carrefour outlet, you can arrange for a delivery van to pick up and drop you at the main Carrefour supermarket. We took advantage of this service for provisioning, arranging a pick up day and time at the marina supermarket. It took about 20 minutes to reach the main Carrefour store by van, and the driver waited and post shop returned us to the marina. To the right of the marina is another supermarket, not as large as Carrefour but has a reasonable selection of groceries, meats, fruits and vegetables. In fact, we were disappointed by the lack of fruit and vegetables at the Carrefour store, and headed there on our return. The range and freshness of fruit and vegetables was far better here than Carrefour, however this could be just a day to day thing.
A range of restaurants, cafes, and fast food outlets are close by. Transport options include but are not limited to bus, taxi, and Uber. Local buses do not stop directly at the marina, but rather on the main road a short walk away. For more information about the town of La Marin click here http://seagoddessadventures.com/la-marin-martinique/
Staffing
Staff at this marina were friendly, with great local knowledge and spoke fluent English.
Apart from a marina staff member securing the bow lines to a mooring boy on arrival, docking assistance is not available at this marina.
Amenities
Secure access: Yes only between the hours of 10 pm and 7 am (approximately), access is via key pad code. Security staff are onsite during the day until late.
Secure parking: Parking is readily available at the marina but it is not secure.
Bathrooms: Located on the first floor near the main marina office building, separate bathrooms/toilets are available for women and men. Access is via key pad code provided on check in at the marina office. Cleanliness is very good.
Laundry: Located on the ground floor, four dryers and about seven washing machines of varying sizes are available for use. Cost of washing machine per load is quite expensive compared to others we have used €7 – 14 depending on the size of the machine. Laundry detergent can be purchased onsite. Payment is via cash or credit card.
Fuel Dock: Petrol and diesel available, payment via cash or credit card.
Gas: There are no refill facilities available in Martinique. Luckily the gas bottles we purchased in Les Sables d’Olonne were still going strong.
Pump out: No.
Wifi: Free at the onsite bar/café though reception can be patchy, and as more customers arrive speed correspondingly dies. You can organise 7 day wifi access from the marina office, cost is €10.
Chandlery: on site at the marina. There is also a fishing store round the back, and depending on what you are looking for may be worth checking out. We emailed the local Yanmar mechanic/technician hoping to organise a 250 hour service for each engine, but the guy was flat chat servicing charter boats and couldn’t fit us in. (His email details were provided to us by marina office staff). As a result, Peter decided to do the engine servicing himself in Panama. However we were able to source some spare parts and oil. Mecanique Plaisance Service stocks a range of marine engine and other mechanical parts, the store is about a 20 minute walk away from the marina. We were able to purchase oil, an engine belt and filters here.
Noise: No problem, though it was off season.
Restaurant/Bar: A tapas bar is located on the first floor of the main marina office building. We know that tapas servings aren’t huge but these were miniscule. Thank goodness for the bread they provided. Based on what we were served the food prices were expensive in our view. A café/bar is located on the ground floor of the marina complex offering a limited range of food, coffee, alcoholic and /non alcoholic drinks at more affordable prices. The menu states that the café opens at 0600, and on our last day here we all made a beeline here for an early cooked breakfast, coffees and last minute emails/phone calls. From the looks we received from café staff as they sat near the kitchen area having a coffee and cigarette they were not happy, and we all received very grumpy service. Peter ordered an omelet and it was almost inedible. Not sure what was going on, maybe the 0600 start is only in high season. Guess we’ll never know.
Top Tip – check out the patisserie at the back of the marina complex, amazing croissants, sweet and savoury pastries. Yum! There are other take away outlets and cafes across the road from the patisserie, kebab place was really good.
Overall we rated this marina 9/10, onsite café/bar and restaurant 5/10.