Fancy A Marina At The Gateway Anyone?

With the monsoons starting off with a bang.. any plan for a marina in the city is questionable. The Gateway to India is not even close to ready for opening up its gates to the ‘marina lifestyle’.. a much awaited trend and the next big thing to look out for in the city.


There’s much more that goes into constructing a marina than just pontoons built for berthing and mooring yachts. A Marina is all about providing a complete infrastructure that facilitates a lifestyle of leisure and luxury.

Such a wide scaled sea front development demands calm water conditions, and other requisites like a clean environment, efficient security, entertainment and recreation and functional service centers for maintenance and management.

Imagine a marina facility right below the high-rise you live in.. Some of the best marinas of the world have allied luxurious activities attached within their infrastructure. These include a golf course, polo grounds, luxury charter service stations, telecommunications centres to record regattas and other events of the marina. A marina is ideally incomplete without the following:

• Berthing Facility For Up To 50 Vessels
• Fuel Stations
• Repair Stations
• Multi-Storey Club House Complex
• Swimming Pool
• Sports Bar And Jet Sking Facility
• Open Area For Boat Shows
• Food Courts, Restaurants,
• Shopping Malls
• Paved Road Ways
• Landscaped Garden

A marina is all about a culture and a lifestyle. So, if you are looking out for this trend to catch up in this city soon, HOLD YOUR HORSES FOLKS! There’s a lot of homework pending..

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The ‘GREEN BOAT EFFECT’ – Is Mumbai's Environment Ready For Luxury?

Was the Mumbai Boat Show a positive event? Will it do wonders in changing the mindset and lifestyles of the Indian people and the Indian Government? Will the world change its perception of Mumbai being an unclean city full of pollution and the poor? A marina might just help do the trick! Read on...



With not a single waste-bin along the footpath outside the Gateway to India and the 5Star Taj Mahal Hotel, the waters there are anything but clean!
As this is the main spot for mooring, concerns for the maintenance and upkeep of the boats parked are very strong. It is a pleasant surprise to spot 3 men in a small boat cleaning up the waters at the gateway. Are they from the government? Or is it an incorporated measure of the Yacht Maintenance Companies? All the same, the bins would definitely be of some help…


Mumbai: a potpourri of culture, is ruled by a good mix of traditional and modern people.
The waste found floating around in the waters are many times organic, like garlands coconut etc, but there are enough plastic bags and other monstrous scraps polluting the sea. A marina would definitely help in transforming the outlook and the habits of irresponsible citizens.


The Mumbai Boat Show was met with many mixed reactions this year. Although it clashed with the budget release on Friday and the cricket matches on Sunday, the show was well received. The response could have been much better, there are no doubts about that. As hundreds of Mumbaikars flocked the show, the number of serious buyers was limited due to the above mentioned discrepancies. Who would want to invest in a multi crore Luxury Yacht without efficient infrastructure? Rumors have it that the water levels and weather conditions are not ideal for marinas in the city. Surely something can be done about it. The yachting industry is doing it’s best to stop analyzing the problem and instead invest their energies in coming up with solutions for it.

There are many businesses cropping up and speedy travel by water is becoming a need of the hour. Time is money. This year the SMIBS has proved the spending powers of Indians. Hope it will carry on the trend and transform the place and it’s people for the better.


And did someone say that the boats have replaced the birds in the harbor??? Think again… a clean and well planned infrastructure will retain both the boats and the birds.
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Feast your eyes on the Gateway of India Marina...

...Albeit for only a few days!

As we all must be aware that the Samira Mumbai International Boat Show '08 is here and happening in full-swing, something that would surely excite us is the Sea Venue ie a temporary marina put up alongside the Gateway of India.


Just the thought excites us, since we all are well aware of the fact that Mumbai much requires a marina, and if we were to take a public opinion...the first and most obvious choice would be GATEWAY OF INDIA !

Little is known about why there has never been talk about a marina coming up there or why the idea is shunned away if ever promoted. Even the fact that the honorable INS Vikrant has not been berthed in the vicinity adds to the 'murkiness' in these waters.


Likewise...have a look at what's in store for you if you visit this marina, specially made for the SMIBS '08. Maybe this is as close to our 'Marina Dreams' that we could get.

SMIBS '08

The facade of the 'Gateway' has been a bit changed lately - with reconstruction and a facelift of the monument itself, and at the same time a lot of open space for tourist to roam around freely.


Last few days have seen the temporary structures put up for the registration to the Marina for SMIBS 2008 - which is a HUGE (literally!) surprise.

A world-class pontoon jetty has been put into place for 3 days of the MIBS and is open to the public, on registration.


This is definitely a fantastic opportunity for all members of the public and media to have a 'hands-on' experience at of the world-famous yachts on display. In that way, people would surely get more 'yacht-friendly'.

IT'S HOT !

When Team GIIRA reached the venue, it was very nice to see the layout of the jetty. Yachts were aligned to the jetty and the hospitable nature of the crews of the various yachts made it easy to approach and get a closer look at things - and most important, the chance of being on a yacht.


Around 9 yachts of a good size were parked stern-faced so as to facilitate easy entry/ exit. There was a Ferretti 550, a Princess, Azimut 50, a Jeanneau Sailboat and a Larson to name a few.


We were present at different times of the day and what was noticable was the great response to this part of the whole event and it flair with which the companies had demonstrated their yachts.

Also, it was a typically very hot and sunny Mumbai day and at the same time in the early afternoon the waters were calm but towards the later part of the day, it was a rocking and rolling affair with waters getting a bit 'untide-y'.

Hope to see one and all at the jetty...make sure you all are there to have the closest look as possible for sometime to come to a yacht...and possibly one of the few times that our 'Gateway Marina Dreams' come true...
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