The entrance to the marina is marked with green and red buoys. In a strong SW'ly it's tricky and in a SW'ly gale might be dangerous. Once inside the marina is spacious with enough room to manoeuver should you wish to sail in. VHF Ch 9, English spoken. The reception pontoon is a high quay around the corner to the left just beyond the fuel points. The office is next to it in the tower. Office staff all very correct and speak English. They will give you a map of the marina and surroundings. A marinero will assist you into a berth. Moorings bow or stern to concrete quays with mooring lines. Most berths for the larger boats have 2 mooring lines. There is no real tide, but this part of the Mediterranean is still influenced by the Atlantic and there is at least half a metre of tide noticeable.

Wifi by Sonimar can be obtained through the office, the more you buy, the cheaper it gets. There are Delfynet signals but they don't work. Plenty of cafés with wifi, and you might be lucky in finding one that doesn't change its code and can be picked up from the boat. Internetcafé in Calle Caravel.
There are 2 self-service laundry places, in Darsena 1 (€ 4/6/8 depending on size) and in Calle Fragata (coins € 3,50).
Shopping: a good Mercadona at 00:05 walk. In El Ejido (10 km on the bus, € 1.21) there are a Lidl (near shopping centre Copo just S of the town) and Aldi and Eroski in the centre of town and a Carrefour on the outskirts to the W. An El Corte Inglés department store right opposite the bus station. Outdoor market with fresh food every 3 first Wednesdays of the month in El Ejido (a bit to the SW of the bus station).
Chandlers: Alamar, British owned, very helpful staff, Plaza de Varadero. Opposite is El Poniente. At the shopping centre Gran Plaza in Roquetas de Mar is a Leroy Merlin; there are a couple of direct buses on weekdays.
For computers and such we went to F&G in El Ejido, situated in a passageway between Calle Soria and Paseo Juan Carlos I. Good service. Fran speaks English.
Medical: The Consultorio off the Paseo Levante for GP is cheaper than the medical place off Darsena 3. A good dentist is Clínica Dental on the Avenida de Almerimar around the corner from Mercadona (yellow apartments). A good vet is situated at the first roundabout up the road to El Ejido. We've heard positive stories about the hospital Poniente in El Ejido, opposite shopping centre Copo just S of the town, but we have no personal experience.

There is a large shipyard with 2 travellifts and it is now allowed to do your own work and to stay on board overnight. Bookings through the marina office.

The marina is very suitable for overwintering. It is a windy place, but the SW'ly winterstorms don't cause any real swell in the harbour. Once, after a gale, we experienced some funny kind of seiches when the water level would vary about half a metre every five minutes. Even though you can see snow on the nearby mountains the lowest night temperatures are about 4°C. It is also a very dry place, but exceptions may occur (as we experienced in 2009/2010, but even then Almerimar was still the driest place in the region).

Security rather poor despite cameras, especially in the darsenas (basins), slightly better on the pontoons where there are gates. We've had a bike stolen in 2009, which was chained to a lamppost and similar thefts have occurred. It is a very popular place to park your boat as it is safe weatherwise and because electricity is charged separately, so you can save on that.
Plenty of liveaboards, mostly British, and a very lively social scene with many activities in winter, joined in also by many (ex-boating) apartmentdwellers. There is a Marina VHF net on Ch 67 on weekdays at 10:00. Very useful, as the layout of the marina (basins and pontoons far apart) doesn't contribute to easy socialising.
Almerimar itself and El Ejido are not very attractive with not much going on. Except for a couple of direct buses on weekdays to Almería (with stops in Roquetas and Aguadulce) you need to take the bus into El Ejido first (with a very complicated schedule) before you get past the ubiquitous greenhouses. (Nasty smell with northerly night winds.) It is nice that there are plenty of car owners who join in and provide transport for the regular Sunday hikes. The mountains are just real wonderful for walking! The 3 km long West paseo is nice for walking/running. See also www.secretocean.eu for much more information.

Prices possibly the lowest in the Mediterranean Spain, especially if you don't use electricty which is € 2.92 ex VAT per day. They have a unique system of price categories: beam sizes are with fenders included. (So we with our 11.95x4.5m were “lucky” our fender width wasn't added and we “only” paid for a 15x4.5 instead of a 18x5m berth.) There are long stay discounts but not for electricity. http://www.almerimarpuerto.com/alquiler2011.pdf

When we left, July 2011, we were told by the office, and it was also mentioned on our bill, that we would get “20% discount of summer rate if you come back in winter and you pay 6 months in advance”.

Anchorage possible everywhere along the beach to the W. However, it is also a popular beach for wind/kite surfers.....