Harbour

Magouer

Name: Magouer
Address: Plouhinec, FR

Plouhinec, FranceMorbihan

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Type: Harbour

Small harbour on the west bank of the ria d'Étel at Plouhinec, facing the town of Étel across the channel in Morbihan.

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Entry from the Atlantic over the Barre d'Étel, a shifting sandbar whose usable channel is signalled from the semaphore of Étel, VHF 13, before entry. Barre impracticable in strong south-west swell and on the ebb. Once inside, strong tidal streams in the ria, up to 4 knots on the springs. Magouër lies 400 m upstream of the bar on the starboard bank.

Practical

Pontoon and drying berths, water on the quay. Fuel, chandlery and the main services are found across the ria at Étel, reached by a road bridge 3 km upstream or by dinghy when slack. Bakery, grocer and restaurant at Le Magouër hamlet, 200 m.

Ashore

Sentier côtier GR 34 runs south along the dunes of Plouhinec to the Pointe du Verdon, 2 km, with surf beach. Tumulus of Mané Véchen, a Gallo-Roman villa site excavated since 2001, lies 3 km inland. Across the bridge at Étel, Maison des Thoniers retraces the tuna fishing fleet that operated until the 1950s.

History

Étel and Magouër were the main tuna port of the Atlantic coast in the first half of the twentieth century, with up to 300 dundees fishing albacore off Ireland and the Azores. The fishery collapsed after 1955 with the switch to seiners operating from Concarneau.

Story

The Barre d'Étel has wrecked dozens of ships over the centuries. Since 1841 a semaphore signalman at Étel has guided vessels across the bar by flag and radio, a practice still in force today and unique on the French Atlantic coast.