Harbour

Camaret - Port Vauban

3.9Camaret-sur-Mer, FranceNorth Finistère and Iroise

Maximum length: 131 ft
VHF channel: 9
Maximum draught: 19 ft

Marina of 500 berths in Camaret-sur-Mer, on the Crozon peninsula at the western tip of Brittany, facing the roadstead of Brest.

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Approach from the Goulet de Brest or direct from the Iroise Sea. Entrance to the marina is protected by the Sillon de Camaret, a natural shingle spit. Maximum draught 6 metres, with about 3.7 m at the inner finger berths at low water of 1.2. The outer breakwater pontoon takes the incoming swell and has no security gate, so the inner finger berths are better sheltered and quieter. Harbour VHF channel 9. Strong tidal streams run in the Goulet, reaching 4 knots at springs.

Practical

500 berths plus visitor mooring buoys at about half the pontoon price and room to anchor off. Diesel at the fuel berth on the far side of the bay. Water and electricity on the pontoons, with none on the outer breakwater. Harbour office and laundry, the showers dated and long criticised with a refit under way, and the office lends bikes for the roughly 10 minute walk to the Super U. Bakeries and restaurants within 400 metres in the town. Expect around 33 to 42 euros a night.

Ashore

Tour Vauban stands on the Sillon at the harbour entrance, a fortified tower built 1689 to 1696 by the military engineer Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2008 as part of the Fortifications of Vauban. Pointe de Pen-Hir with its sea cliffs and Tas de Pois stacks lies 4 km west, reached by the GR34 coastal footpath. Alignements de Lagatjar, a prehistoric standing stone site, is 2 km west of the port.

History

Camaret was a sardine fishing port from the 17th century until the collapse of the fishery in the 1960s. The Tour Vauban defended the entrance to Brest alongside the Pointe des Espagnols battery. On 18 June 1694 an Anglo-Dutch fleet attempting to land at Camaret was repelled by the newly built fortifications, in what became known as the Combat de Trez Rouz.

Story

The wrecks of old wooden sardine boats still lie half-buried on the beach beside the harbour, left to decay where their owners abandoned them when the sardine industry ended.