Anchorage

Bouzigues

Shelter: NW, N, NE
Seabed: algae
Anchoring: Allowed

Anchorage off Bouzigues on the northern shore of the Étang de Thau, in front of the oyster-farming village.

Pontoon
Beach

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Shallow lagoon approach from the Étang de Thau. Navigate around the parcs à huîtres clearly marked by wooden posts and buoys; the oyster tables to seaward also help break the swell and the prevailing westerly breeze. Protection from NW, N and NE winds from the village shore. Poor holding on weed bottom, reset anchor if it drags. No tide inside the lagoon.

Practical

One of the few spots on the étang without yellow buoys, so anchoring is free. Expect some early-morning wake from oyster boats delivering to the village restaurants. Port de Bouzigues 0.1 NM east for water, fuel and provisions. Restaurants and shellfish producers on the quayside. Supermarket in Mèze 4 km west by road.

Ashore

Musée de l'Étang de Thau on Quai du Port documents shellfish farming since Roman times. Oyster and mussel tasting huts along Quai du Port and Quai Jean Dary. Sentier du Lido walk toward Loupian Roman villa 3 km west, with late antique mosaics classed Monument historique.

History

Bouzigues gave its name to the Bouzigues oyster, farmed in the Étang de Thau since the 1920s on suspended ropes. The lagoon has produced shellfish since Roman antiquity, confirmed by finds at the nearby Loupian villa.