Mouillage

Port-Lay

3.5FranceMorbihan

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Shelter: SW, S, SE
Seabed: sand
Anchoring: Allowed

Small cove with a dozen moorings on the north coast of Île de Groix, off the Morbihan coast in Brittany.

Mooring buoys
Visitor buoys

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Approach from the north along the Groix coast, keeping clear of the breaking reefs off the rocky foreshore. The inlet is narrow, enter at slow speed. The bottom is rocky and cluttered with large stones rather than clean sand, so holding is uncertain and it is better to pick up a mooring than to anchor. The buoys lie close together and suit boats under about 10 metres. Shelter from south-west through south to south-east, exposed to northerly swell, and it often stays choppy with a roll at night. Watch for fish-farm floats off the entrance, not shown on Navionics, and pebbles awash at low water on the east side.

Practical

Twelve moorings in the creek, laid by the local users' association AUMIG and in place from about 15 April to 15 August; outside those dates boats can anchor near the jetty in around 10 metres. No services on the quay, and the little harbour is reached only by dinghy. Port-Tudy, the main harbour of Groix, is 0.5 nm east for fuel, water, chandlery and the ferry to Lorient, an easy dinghy run.

Ashore

The former tuna cannery above the cove now houses the Groix international film festival venue, active each August. Coastal path GR 340 passes above the inlet and reaches Pen-Men lighthouse and its bird reserve 3.5 km to the west.

History

Port-Lay was Groix's main tuna fishing harbour in the late 19th century. At the peak of the fishery around 1900, Groix counted more than 200 tuna boats, making it the leading tuna port of France before the industry collapsed in the 1940s.