Anchorage

Fort Sainte-Marguerite

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

Buoy field of 28 moorings on the north side of Île Sainte-Marguerite, the larger of the Îles de Lérins, facing Cannes across the Baie de Cannes.

Mooring buoys
Visitor buoys
Pontoon
Beach
Seagrass

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Enter from the W through the Frioul Sainte-Marguerite channel or from the E rounding the Pointe Croisette. The field sits in the Zone de Mouillages et d'Équipements Légers run by the Communauté d'Agglomération Cannes Pays de Lérins since 2019, with free registered buoys replacing anchoring over the posidonia. The bottom is rock and weed with submarine cables, so anchoring is unwise if a buoy is missing. Ferry wash rolls the field by day and eases once the ferries stop around 18:00, nights are calm but noise carries from a shoreside nightclub into the small hours. VHF 9.

Practical

Mooring buoys only, no anchoring on the grid. The buoys are free after registration on the Cannes ZMEL page, a port agent comes round between 11am and 1pm to sign boats in, with registration and insurance to send. Each white buoy shows the maximum boat length it holds, so pick the right one, they sit low and are heavy to lift, and check the mooring as failures have occurred. Stay is up to seven nights, then two away. Tender landing at the débarcadère 0.1 NM S, dinghy dock left of the ferry dock.

Ashore

Fort Royal on the island was built from 1612 and extended by Vauban in 1693. Its state prison held the Man in the Iron Mask from 1687 to 1698, a detainee whose identity was never made public. The fort now houses the Musée de la Mer with Roman shipwreck finds from the island waters.

History

Île Sainte-Marguerite and its neighbour Saint-Honorat form the Îles de Lérins, a monastic site since the founding of Lérins Abbey on Saint-Honorat by Saint Honoratus around 410.