Mouillage

Rade de Ceyreste/ Grande Plage

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Shelter: NW, N, W
Seabed: sand, algae
Anchoring: Allowed

Anchorage off the Grande Plage of La Ciotat, in the bay shared by Ceyreste and La Ciotat on the eastern Bouches-du-Rhône coast, between the Bec de l'Aigle and the port entrance.

Water
Pontoon
Beach
Seagrass

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Open approach from the SE. Anchoring is now confined to beyond the 300 m swimming buoys, in about 8 to 10 metres on sand, as the inner shallows are closed, and stays are capped at three nights. Check the set, the bottom is mixed with patches of weed. Sheltered from the N, NW and W by the Ceyreste hills and the Bec de l'Aigle, but open to SE winds and the southerly swell that rolls straight in, and it can be noisy at night from beach clubs and the road, so better as a stopover than a quiet overnight.

Practical

No fuel or pontoon at the anchorage. Land the tender at the new harbour pontoons, one for 20 minute stops and one for 3 hour stops by the slipway, not on the beach where the police issue fines. La Ciotat Nouveau Port lies 0.6 nm to the SW and the Vieux Port 0.9 nm to the SW for diesel, berths, chandlery and all provisions, with a water tap ashore.

Ashore

Grande Plage de La Ciotat runs along the shore with showers and beach bars in summer. The old town of La Ciotat and its 17th century Notre-Dame de l'Assomption church lie 1 km to the SW. The Bec de l'Aigle coastal path climbs from the Vieux Port towards the Île Verte viewpoint.

History

La Ciotat was the main shipyard of the Messageries Maritimes from the 19th century and launched large ocean liners until the 1980s. The cranes of the former yard still mark the western skyline of the bay. The Lumiere brothers filmed L'Arrivee d'un train en gare de La Ciotat at the local station in 1895.