Marina berth - SW France

A

Andy and Lyn

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Considering coming out of the canals in April to spend the summer in the Med to be based SW France.

Looking for a marina berth for an annual contract but do recognise that the waiting lists for most places now extend to around 5 years plus! Just thought I would post on here just in case anyone had some information that I don't ! 9.5 metre ketch with a draught of 1.4m.

I also recognise that visiting the marinas in person is really the only way to succeed in this venture but having been to Cap d'Agde and Gruissan already I am getting the message that this is going to be difficult!
 
Best bets are Port Leucate and Canet en Rousillon.

5 years ago we got into Port Leucate without waiting on an annual contract and they are currently adding more berths.
Last summer we got into Canet en Rousillon after waiting a week or so - but we had to pay for 2014 in advance in order to get the annual rate prorata for the rest 2013.

Some places you might get in on a 6 month contract with every chance of that being renewed - eventually as an annual contract. But that is of course a lot more expensive. If you are interested in that then Frontignan might be worth a shot.

Otherwise I think Sete has places available around the back (but there are bridges in the way - which do open) but I don't know how that works or if it is praticle for a boat with a mast.
 
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We wanted to do the same last year. travelled that whole area and the prospects of being able to book a place looked dire. In the end we spent the summer messing about in the canal at Bellegarde and Beaucaire (M. Didier Maturan really looked after us there )

Eventually we went down to Port Saint Louis to overwinter on the hard, we will re-mast there in spring but go East to Italy/Sardinia.
 
I know its a bit further north and east than you are looking for but there was space in Aigues Mortes, direct from the sea, mast up.
Also at Lattes but obviously you would need to drop your mast; The best way is always to go - wih your boat -to where you would like to stay and let the captain see you are respectable??? I know many places do have space but like to see what they are getting before agreeing to let you stay.
 
If you're willing to travel a little further (and change country), Sant Carles Marina in Spain is approx a week's travel from Port St. Louis. Excellent facilities, good community and you'll be hard pressed to find somewhere cheaper.
 
Cardo said:
If you're willing to travel a little further (and change country), Sant Carles Marina in Spain is approx a week's travel from Port St. Louis. Excellent facilities, good community and you'll be hard pressed to find somewhere cheaper.
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Is that really true?

I don't know how much Sant Carles currently costs but you can have an annual contract for up to 11-12m boat in the South of France for 2665 Euros per year including electricity and water.
 
michaelchapman said:
Is that really true?

I don't know how much Sant Carles currently costs but you can have an annual contract for up to 11-12m boat in the South of France for 2665 Euros per year including electricity and water.
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That's surprisingly good.

All I can really say, I guess, is that when we travelled from Port St Louis to Sant Carles, SC was by far the cheapest place we stayed. We stopped for the month of July and paid €350 for our 10.5m. I thought it was a pretty sweet deal.
 
Hi,

We have just recently been offered a 12 month contract in Beaulieu Sur Mer. We were on the waiting list for 3 years and I went in person once a year to see if we moved up the list. The offer cam out of the blue and we had a week to decide. However, in Nov I had swapped emails with the marina about our application as suddenly they wanted a copy of our SSR certificate. I was then told we weren't close, but they could offer us a 6 month contract for the winter.

So what I hear you say, my top tip would be to get to know the area you want to be in, get to know the staff and stay in contact.
 
We have our boat in Canet marina, and are very happy there given the relatively cheap cost of the berth, proximity to Perpignan airport (20-25mins drive), lively town in easy walking distance and just 30 mins cruising south to Collioure and the stunning scenery of the Cote Vermeille and then onto the Costa Brava, with Cadaques just over an hour away, and Roses and hour and a half.
 
MAFWeiss said:
We have our boat in Canet marina, and are very happy there given the relatively cheap cost of the berth, proximity to Perpignan airport (20-25mins drive), lively town in easy walking distance and just 30 mins cruising south to Collioure and the stunning scenery of the Cote Vermeille and then onto the Costa Brava, with Cadaques just over an hour away, and Roses and hour and a half.
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We are there too!
 
Andy and Lyn said:
thanks - will work on Canet . Anybody got a contact there?
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The main man in the marina is guy called Jacky Bensaid (jbensaid@sillages.fr). I got my berth through the owner of Alliance Nautique 66, Eric Tordjman (direction@an66.fr), a large Jeanneau dealership and who looks after my boat. Given the size of his business, he has quite a bit of clout in the marina.
 
We are in Port Leucate in the Port Technique where we are very happy in part due to the really great people we have met in the Port during the last season. Our berth was arranged with the assistance of our Beneteau dealer through whom we bought our first boat (Antares 9.8) and he also helped us transfer to a larger berth as we ordered a new Swift Trawler 44 through him. Btw it arrives in May, can hardly wait!

I would agree that there is no better way to proceed than to turn up in person and follow up by keeping in contact. Remember the annual mooring contracts run from 1st January around here so now is the best time to remind the Capitaneries of your interest.

Nice to see that there are so many fourmites in this part of the Med to look forward to bumping into (not literally) this summer.
 
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SammyB said:
We are in Port Leucate in the Port Technique where we are very happy in part due to the really great people we have met in the Port during the last season. Our berth was arranged with the assistance of our Beneteau dealer through whom we bought our first boat (Antares 9.8) and he also helped us transfer to a larger berth as we ordered a new Swift Trawler 44 through him. Btw it arrives in May, can hardly wait!

I would agree that there is no better way to proceed than to turn up in person and follow up by keeping in contact. Remember the annual mooring contracts run from 1st January around here so now is the best time to remind the Capitaneries of your interest.

Nice to see that there are so many fourmites in this part of the Med to look forward to bumping into (not literally) this summer.
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We moved to Canet in the middle of the year. We negotiated to pay the annual fee prorata for the 6 months, rather than the 6 month fee. We persuaded them to do this by paying for whole of the next year at the same time.
 
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