Area of France that we visited.

Arrival in France and Martigues

On arrival at Marignane we collected our car and drove the 22 km to Martigues to get an evening meal and find our pre-booked hotel. We were delighted to find this enchanting port which nestles at the eastern end of the Canal de Caronte which separates the Mediterranean 7 km to the west from the Etang de Berre - a huge ‘salt lake’ formerly known as the Sea of Martigues. We ate at a street café overlooking the yachts moored alongside, soaking up the atmosphere and planning the next few days events. Martigues is known as The Venice of Provence because of its charming canals and bridges. It is also renowned for its regional wines.

Essentially there are three marinas in Martigues: Port Maritima (1000 berths), the largest, is a dry port situated on the south bank of the canal. The main afloat one, and most glamorous is sited in the Bassin de Ferrières (334 berths/10 visitor) with unrestricted access to the sea via the canal. Jonquières Harbour (400 berths) is sited around the corner within the Canal de Marseille au Rhône and is inland of a lifting bridge which crosses the Passe de Jonquières. The latter marina showed signs of where the ‘liveaboards’ are berthed and although looking a little tired and pale in comparison to the former it is close to the old town in Port Abri with it's shops and restaurants. The berths are shared between a yacht club, sailing school and ‘wet’ area for Port Maritima. Although we didn’t get to speak to the Capitainerie we did manage to catch a glimpse of the berthing charges for Port Maritima. As of 2008 an annual berth for an 11m monohull would cost €1782 including one lift, or €271 per month inclusive of VAT. There is also a additional daily tax ranging from €0,2 per day to €73 per year.

Note that the Etang de Berre is navigable and has at least seven more inland ports, none of which we visited.

Martigues

Day 2
Port Napoléon - Bouches Du Rhône

On that first full day we ate a hearty breakfast, switched on the car’s AC and set off for Port St. Louis du Rhône, some 30 mins or so around the Golfe de Fos. We planned to visit Port Napoléon Marina (350 berths/20 visitor) which lies at the end of the Grand Rhône, and to view a Privilege catamaran which was for sale. The marina is relatively new and benefits from modern pontoons, rather that the traditional ‘med’ mooring of bow/stern to and extensive hard standing. Whilst the marina offered all the facilities we would need: large hoist, shore storage, marine services, power and water on the pontoons, it was a little out of the way with Port St. Louis being the nearest civilisation. The marina is situated at the end of the Canal de Saint-Antoine which leads to the Port de Fos, and perhaps some 40 minutes or so from open water. Port St. Louis itself was idyllic but restricted by a maximum berth size of 8m and a waiting time which would see me collecting my old age pension first!

Port Napoleon Marina

We spent an hour or so looking around the marina and at other catamarans for sale, enjoyed a café-au-lait in the restaurant, then set off for the longish journey towards Port Camargue around the Parc Régional de Camargue - a massive nature reserve full of salt lakes and wildlife. There is no ‘through’ road in this region so the only way is to head up to Arles, cross the Rhône and then west to Montpelier. We chose to stay as rural as possible and took a district road through to the nature reserve and the Petit Camargue. The whole trip was around 101km but well worth the drive.

Late afternoon saw us arrive at Port Camargue Marina (350 berths), the only ‘Port de Plaisance’ or Leisure Marina on the Gard coast. It is situated just south of the Le Grau de Roi, a fishing port at the mouth of the Vidourle River which connects with the Rhône to Sète canal (Grande Roubine) from Nîmes. This marina is huge by comparison to those found in the UK and very much based on the ‘marina village’ layout with apartments spread throughout. It boasts 4860 berths between the public port and marina along with yacht clubs, numerous hotels, cafes and restaurants, and is typically a Mecca for the tourist. The berth sizes are restricted by mooring posts as opposed to ground chains therefore vessel beam determines where you go, although multihulls were med moored to an open quay. The Capitainerie staff although busy at the time, were helpful and spoke English.

I can see the attraction of this marina. It is immediately accessible to the Golfe du Lion and the Mediterranean and has everything one might need, including thousands of tourists in high season! Whilst this sort of marina doesn’t appeal to us as a long term ‘home’ it did have some charm and we thought that it could be a possibility, providing the price was right. The waiting list is quite daunting so I would expect to negotiate six month contracts. Our only concern was that it could be a little bleak when the season ends and some if not all the tourist facilities close down!

Port Camargue Marina

From Port Camargue we settled down for the night in the F1 roadside hotel nearby in Montpelier. Simple and cheap, the hotel offered enough for the weary traveller except for air conditioning!