Alizee boat rental

Name: Alizee boat rental
Address: Bauduen, FR

Bauduen, FranceProvence and Côte d'Azur

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Type: Harbour

Boat rental base at Bauduen on the south shore of the Lac de Sainte-Croix, a reservoir of 2200 hectares created in 1974 at the downstream exit of the Gorges du Verdon in Provence.

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Lake navigation only. Motorboats are permitted on Sainte-Croix with a speed limit of 10 km/h close to shore and no motor beyond the Galetas bridge into the gorges themselves. Water level can vary by several metres between spring and autumn as the reservoir is drawn down for electricity and irrigation. No tidal constraint.

Practical

Alizée Boat Rental hires out small motorboats, electric boats and pedal boats by the hour or the day, no licence required for the low-power craft. Public quay and ramp in the village. Bakery, small grocery, two or three restaurants and a campsite in Bauduen. Supermarket at Aups, 15 km south.

Ashore

Village of Bauduen, partly rebuilt when the lake was filled in 1974, with narrow stone streets climbing up a south-facing slope. Pont du Galetas and the entrance of the Gorges du Verdon at 8 km by road, a signposted viewpoint. Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, one of the Plus Beaux Villages de France with its famous faïence tradition, at 15 km north along the lake.

History

The Lac de Sainte-Croix was created in 1974 by the Sainte-Croix dam on the Verdon, for hydroelectric production and irrigation of Provence. The old village of Les Salles-sur-Verdon was flooded and rebuilt on higher ground, the only French village to suffer that fate in the 20th century.