Harbour

Noirmoutier-en-L'île

4.4Noirmoutier-en-l'Île, FranceVendée

Maximum length: 15 m
VHF channel: 72
Maximum draught: 2 m

Lock harbour on the east side of Noirmoutier island, at the head of the Étier de l'Arceau, 2 NM south of L'Herbaudière.

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Approach from the Baie de Bourgneuf across shallow drying sands. Buoyed channel to the lock, which opens roughly from HW minus 2h to HW plus 1h on tides above 55. Do not attempt the approach in strong NE winds at low water. VHF 72.

Practical

130 berths inside the wet basin, water and electricity on all pontoons. No fuel at the port itself, diesel pump at L'Herbaudière, 2.7 NM to the NW. Showers and laundry at the harbour office. Supermarket, bakery and market hall within 300 m in the town centre.

Ashore

Château de Noirmoutier, a 12th century keep with a local history museum, stands 250 m from the basin. Covered market La Halle, open every morning in season, is 400 m from the pontoons. The Passage du Gois, a 4.2 km tidal causeway linking the island to the mainland, lies 6 km to the south-east.

History

The island was settled by monks who founded the abbey of Saint-Philbert in 674. The current castle keep dates from the 12th century and the harbour basin was dug in the 1970s when the lock was built.