The entrance to Puteri Harbour is 4 miles after the 2nd link bridge (coming from the Singapore Strait). You’ll see a construction site and the beginnings of a private marina first, before the ferry terminal. After that is the breakwater and Puteri Harbour Marina, via an outer basin. There is plenty of room inside. Many of the berths are catamaran width, so easy to get a monohull into.

This marina is another on the theme of luxury housing/shopping plus boats to look at. See photos on their glossy website. It’s a nice environment and very well sheltered. The pontoons seem to be strong and we saw ongoing maintenance (new anchor chains for docks being fitted) while we were there.

The marina is next to the ferry terminal, which houses customs, immigration and harbour master. Clearance into/out of Malaysia is easy here and the marina will even take you over there in a golf buggy. At the moment the ferries only run to destinations in Indonesia although there are meant to plan for a Singapore route in the future.

The immediate environment has several cafes and restaurants (of the more expensive variety), plus one next to the marina office selling Nasi Kandar (rice and curry) at lunchtimes (for 10RM each). There are a pharmacy, ATM and newsagent in the mall but no grocery store yet. There is also a bank and post office in the fancy government buildings near the marina, plus a postbox in the marina office.

The marina provides a free shuttle twice a week: to an excellent night market (produce and food stalls) on Tuesdays and to the Aeon shopping mall on Thursday mornings (Tesco and Giant are close by). There are local buses which leave from the marina mall and go to the local town, Legoland, JB and to Singapore via the 2nd link bridge.

There are two coin-op washers and two dryers in the laundry room. The showers and toilets are new and very clean. The marina wifi is currently only intermittently functioning at the berths but is more reliable in the air-conditioned marina office/reception. There is no chandlery. There is a small boaters lounge upstairs from the marina office, with comfortable chairs and a well stocked large bookshelf. There are bicycles parked outside the front of the hotel, but their use is for hotel guests only.

There is no fuel at Puteri but the staff will drive you to the fuel station in their truck so you can fill your jerry cans. They do fill propane bottles and will deliver them back to your boat too.

The Marina’s membership of the Health Club at the Jen Hotel expired on 31/05/15. There had been accessing to the swimming pool and gym for marina residents but it’s unclear whether the membership will be renewed or not.

The guys who work the pontoons are very cheery but the shoreside staff are often rather sour, so overall we couldn’t describe the marina as ‘very friendly’.

One disconcerting thing about Puteri is the gunfire! The marina is across the river from the Singapore army shooting range and they do like to practice with their weapons and fighter jets. The sound waves from the really big guns actually vibrate the boat. Fortunately, they don’t do it every day.

SY Yindee Plus

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