chrishscorp
Well-Known Member
Having just returned from our summer cruise to France and the Channel Islands I thought it worth mentioning here, that when you arrive in Cherbourg now there are security gates in the marina on all the off ramps these will close behind you and you cannot get back in unless you have a code for the lock which we didnt and we had arrived after the office was shut. The wife had thought to take a photo of the stickers that to be fair are all over the pontoons and the ramps (marina side). This allows you with a QR code to set up an account online and pay 14 Euros for the night this is then off set against the cost when you book in. So you will need a smart phone and access to your email this was not a 2 minute process and was done whilst consuming a beer in the bar above the office. The code works the gates and the showers and loos on the pontoon and at the office.
The other thing worth mentioning was we were directed to N pontoon by the Port staff, tied up and went to plug in and no juice, my Martindale, plug in tester permanently plugged in on one of the boats sockets flashed up a fault so selected another outlet and was that was fine, the following day we had to move to P pontoon, again had the first outlet come up as faulty so had to go for another one.
It does not cost a lot to have a little plug in mains socket checker and is great for checking that what your plugging into is correctly wired and safe.
When going to have your passport stamped by the PAF make sure you have emailed your form to them in advance and have a paper copy with you as they will probably like to keep it, if you have had your passport stamped on entry you will need to have it stamped on exit. Interestingly some smaller ports you can enter it by email and then when you leave you can email to say your leaving, print these as paper copies and retain, be aware you cannot mix the physical stamping and emailing system...
The other thing worth mentioning was we were directed to N pontoon by the Port staff, tied up and went to plug in and no juice, my Martindale, plug in tester permanently plugged in on one of the boats sockets flashed up a fault so selected another outlet and was that was fine, the following day we had to move to P pontoon, again had the first outlet come up as faulty so had to go for another one.
It does not cost a lot to have a little plug in mains socket checker and is great for checking that what your plugging into is correctly wired and safe.
When going to have your passport stamped by the PAF make sure you have emailed your form to them in advance and have a paper copy with you as they will probably like to keep it, if you have had your passport stamped on entry you will need to have it stamped on exit. Interestingly some smaller ports you can enter it by email and then when you leave you can email to say your leaving, print these as paper copies and retain, be aware you cannot mix the physical stamping and emailing system...
