Anchorage

Cap d'Ullastrell

Shelter: NW, W
Seabed: rock, algae
Anchoring: Forbidden

Rocky cape on the Côte Vermeille between Port-Vendres and Banyuls-sur-Mer, Occitanie. Anchoring is prohibited in the listed zone.

Beach

Guide

Approach and anchoring

The area lies within the Réserve naturelle marine de Cerbère-Banyuls, where anchoring, fishing and diving are regulated. Eight mooring buoys lie off the cape for authorised use, though sometimes only a few are free. Bottom is rock and weed, holding poor and protection of the Posidonia meadow is enforced.

Practical

The cape gives a good lee from the tramontane and from the W, and makes a quieter alternative to the crowded Paulilles cove nearby; it stays exposed to easterly swell. For overnighting, head to Banyuls-sur-Mer 1 nm to the S or Port-Vendres 1.7 nm to the NW.

Ashore

A pebble beach faces the buoys, part naturist and part clothed. Sentier du littoral runs along the clifftop between Port-Vendres and Banyuls, about 6 km of marked coastal path. Banyuls wine AOC vineyards line the slopes above the coast. Aquarium Laboratoire Arago in Banyuls, founded 1882, 1.5 km from the cape.

History

The Réserve naturelle marine de Cerbère-Banyuls was created in 1974 as the first marine reserve in metropolitan France, covering 650 hectares between Cap l'Abeille and Cap Peyrefite.