Anchorage

Anse Del Ragues

Shelter: W, SW, S
Seabed: rock, algae
Anchoring: Forbidden

Small cove on the Côte Vermeille between Collioure and Port-Vendres, 8 mooring buoys on rock and posidonia bottom.

Mooring buoys
Visitor buoys
Beach
Seagrass

Guide

Approach and anchoring

The cove is a regulated ZMEL zone with eight compulsory mooring buoys, well maintained on heavy chain to the rocky bottom; anchoring among them is prohibited, though some crews anchor on sand just outside the yellow buoy line. Protection is from W, SW and S, open to the east, where an E or SE swell rolls straight in, so it needs settled weather; in a tramontana the buoys hold but the gusts fall hard off the cliff, worst at night. Wash from the constant motorboat traffic between Collioure and Port-Vendres keeps it lively by day.

Practical

The eight buoys are free but the cove is often saturated, with diving clubs given priority; day boats tend to leave around 8pm, so wait for one to open up rather than give up. A Lidl about 10 minutes on foot handles provisioning.

Ashore

A small beach gives easy landing. Collioure lies 0.3 NM to the west, about 0.5 NM by dinghy, and the tender can be left in its marina; Fort Saint-Elme is a 30 minute walk. Chateau Royal built from the 13th century on a Roman foundation, Notre-Dame-des-Anges church with its round bell tower of 1684 on the old mole. Matisse and Derain painted here in the summer of 1905, launching Fauvism; the Chemin du Fauvisme retraces twenty of their viewpoints.