Anchorage

Anse de Balaguier

2.5FranceVar

Shelter: NW, W, SW
Seabed: sand, algae
Anchoring: Forbidden

Cove on the north shore of the rade de Toulon, off La Seyne-sur-Mer. Anchoring is prohibited to protect the Posidonia meadow.

Pontoon
Seagrass

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Anchoring is not permitted in the anse de Balaguier: the cove lies in a posidonia protection zone enforced by the Préfecture Maritime de la Méditerranée. It is well sheltered from the mistral in the NW, W and SW but wide open to an easterly. The bottom carries wrecks and debris, including metal poles left from a former fish farm, a real hazard on a night approach. Ferries and harbour shuttles run through the cove by day and throw wake, but stop at night.

Practical

Use the ZMEL moorings at Tamaris 0.5 NM SW or visitor berths at Le Lazaret 1 NM SW. Land by tender at the small quay of Fort Balaguier or at the cove pontoon, which can dip under in the wash. The water is murky, as often in a working roadstead.

Ashore

Fort Balaguier at the point, built in 1634 and extended under Vauban, now a naval museum on Toulon and the Napoleonic siege of 1793. Sentier du littoral toward Tamaris, 1 km of shoreline path past the villas of the 1880s coast.

History

Fort Balaguier guarded the western approach to the Toulon roadstead. In December 1793, artillery commanded by the young Napoleon Bonaparte took the nearby forts, ending the siege of Toulon and launching his career.