Mouillage

Banc d'Arguin

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Shelter: NW, W, SW
Seabed: sand
Anchoring: Allowed

Shifting sandbank at the entrance of the Bassin d'Arcachon, facing the Dune du Pilat, classified as a réserve naturelle nationale since 1972.

Beach

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Approach only with up-to-date local knowledge, the passes and the bank itself shift every year. Enter via the Passe Sud or Passe Nord at half-flood or later, never at ebb against westerly swell. Anchor on the leeward side of the bank in 2 to 4 m over sand. Sheltered from NW, W and SW by the bank itself. Strong tidal streams.

Practical

Daytime anchorage only. Réserve naturelle rules apply, no dogs, no fires, no camping, landing zones marked and subject to seasonal closure for nesting terns. Port de Cazaux 4.4 nm to the SE inside the bassin.

Ashore

Landing on the authorised part of the bank offers a walk along the shell beach opposite the Dune du Pilat, the highest sand dune in Europe at 102 m. Breeding colonies of sandwich terns and little terns are visible from a distance. Rangers from the Société nationale de protection de la nature patrol the reserve in summer.

History

The Banc d'Arguin was made a réserve naturelle nationale in 1972 to protect the sandwich tern breeding colony, one of the largest in France with more than 4000 pairs in recent counts.