Harbour

Port du Pavé Charron

Name: Port du Pavé Charron
Address: FR

FranceCharente-Maritime

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Maximum length: 7.7 m
Maximum draught: 1.2 m

Small drying oyster and mussel harbour on the Baie de l'Aiguillon, at Charron in Charente-Maritime, at the edge of the Marais Poitevin.

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Approach through the buoyed channel of the Baie de l'Aiguillon, accessible around high water only. Channel marked by withies and small buoys, frequently shifted according to silting. Maximum draught 1.2 metres at the quay at high water springs. The bay dries extensively, the bottom is soft mud, and night entry is not advised. The Corps de Garde lies 1.4 nautical miles north-east on the same channel.

Practical

Quay used mainly by the mussel barges of Charron, with a few alongside places for visiting yachts that can take the ground. Water on the quay. No fuel. Small restaurant and mussel shack on the quay in season. Village of Charron with bakery and mini-market 2 km inland. Marans 5.7 nautical miles east up the canal for full provisioning.

Ashore

Pointe de l'Aiguillon and its bird observatory 3 km west, on the edge of the Marais Poitevin regional nature park and a major site for migrating waders and brent geese. Dyke footpath along the bay for long flat walks. Mussel farms of Charron visible at low water, the village is the largest mussel-producing port on the Atlantic coast with about 20 producers.

Story

Charron mussels, grown on wooden posts called bouchots in the Baie de l'Aiguillon, received the Label Rouge quality mark in 2000, one of the first shellfish products in France to gain it.