We have been in some lovely marinas on this trip and last year as well, Bonifacio, Olbia and Puerto Cervo. Here in Montenegro, a large International consortium are building a world class marina to best design.
Their market is super yachts and even tiny yachts like Mercier, which are one tenth the size. The site was developed in 1889, as a naval base for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, later used by the Yugoslav government for submarines.
Professional, helpful staff greets you on the harbour in a rubber duck, take you to your berth and someone is on the dock, to take your lines. Many marinas do this well. Assistance is so helpful saving us a jump onto the dock. What a view. There is a canal behind us and restaurants, shops and apartment buildings evoking a sense of Venice, which governed Montenegro for hundreds of years. Or as Louise puts it, everything is built on a human scale; the buildings complement each other and the waterfront. There are fountains, flowers and greenery as you walk through the village. The shopkeepers are very friendly; impressed we have come all the way from Australia. They are proud of their marina and their beautiful shops.
The showers are magnificent, clean and relaxing, so important to someone who has been dealing with birdbaths on a yacht with minimum water storage. But the feature they have done best is their waste management system. We do drink water from plastic bottles but we try to recycle where possible, to assuage the guilt. Generally, garbage is not done well in the Mediterranean, over flowing small bins and no separate bins for glass or plastic. Porto Montenegro marina have invested in a small building with the bins inside, lift a lid for trash, another for paper, glass and plastics. So clean and well kept. 5 gold stars!!
There are lovely restaurants which have indoor-outdoor seating and couches for a coffee with magazines provided and we were never rushed. We loved One, so comfortable in the heat of day. We did think Moritz Eis is great, so white and so cool and we love the flavours. Pear, Orange & ginger and lemon mint. Yum.
Another unusual and helpful feature is Yacht Assist or a concierge for Yachties. Louise and Frosty had to leave Mercier for a small Greek Island via Igoumentisa, Greece. They read about Porto Montenegro’s concierge program, so went and asked advice about how to get to Mitikas, Greece. Novi organized a car, which would take them at their convenience through Albania to Igoumentisa and they had a bit of a tour with Rad giving commentary as well. Having an Aussie, John Stephens, on board at Porto Montenegro is great. He is a great source of information about the Kotor Bay area of Montenegro and answers quite a few questions for us. The most perplexing question was: Why do so many boats in Montenegro wear a US flag? Because they can register online so easily out of Delaware. Very inexpensive and easy to do.
This is not a paid advertisement, I haven’t even rated a free gelato. I love their level of excellence and service. I hope a few other marinas take the recycling and waste management on board.