Port

Calais

4.0Calais, FranceOpal Coast and Bay of Somme

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Maximum length: 65 ft
VHF channel: 17
Maximum draught: 11 ft

Marina of 418 berths inside the commercial port of Calais, on the Strait of Dover, the closest French harbour to England.

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Approach through a busy TSS with constant ferry traffic to Dover; call Calais Port Control on VHF 17 before entering the fairway, then the marina on VHF 9 once at the waiting buoys off the bridge. The Henri Henon swing bridge and gate open around high water, roughly HW minus 2 to HW plus 3 with priority to yachts leaving; the white waiting buoys off the bridge sit close together and are awkward for boats over about 9 m. Maximum draught 3,5 m, strong tidal streams up to 3 knots at springs in the approaches.

Practical

Harbour office open daily in season, with water and electricity on the pontoons, a diesel berth, showers, a launderette, a chandlery and a boatyard; a mast crane can step and unstep for canal transits. Electricity can trip, so run one appliance at a time. Arrivals from the UK have their passport stamped at the PAF post by the ferry terminal, reached on the free Balad'in town bus. City centre and Calais-Ville station 800 m off, a supermarket about 10 minutes away.

Ashore

The yacht club by the pontoon has a bar and a brasserie open Tuesday to Sunday. The mechanical Dragon walks the seafront boulevard. Place d'Armes and the 13th century Tour du Guet are 600 m off, the Musee des Beaux-Arts and its lace collection 900 m. Rodin's Burghers of Calais stand before the town hall, whose 1923 belfry is UNESCO listed, and a long sand beach runs west of the port.

History

Calais was held by the English crown from 1347 after the siege by Edward III, until recaptured by the Duc de Guise in 1558. The port was heavily bombed in 1940 and 1944 and rebuilt post-war. It remains the main passenger ferry port between France and the United Kingdom.

Story

Auguste Rodin cast The Burghers of Calais in 1889 to commemorate the six citizens who offered their lives to Edward III in 1347 to spare the town during the Hundred Years' War.