Anchorage

Port Gwenn

2.3FranceMorbihan

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Shelter: NW, N, NE
Seabed: sand, rock
Anchoring: Allowed

Anchorage on the southern coast of Belle-Île-en-Mer, Morbihan, mixed sand and rock, sheltered from the north.

Beach

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Approach from the south. The southern coast of Belle-Île is cliff-bound with rocky outliers; stay at least 300 m off the shore until lined up on the cove. Holding on sand between rock, check the anchor visually. Fully open from W through S to E; the Atlantic swell rolls in as soon as the wind backs south. Shift to Le Palais at 3.3 nm N or Sauzon at 5.4 nm NW when the weather turns.

Practical

No services at the anchorage. Le Palais, the main port of the island, has visitor berths on pontoons and buoys, water, fuel, shipyard and all shops. Sauzon dries at low water and is used by keelboats with lines ashore or on the fore-and-aft moorings.

Ashore

GR 340 coastal path, the sentier côtier of Belle-Île, runs along the top of the cliffs above the cove. Aiguilles de Port-Coton, sea stacks painted by Claude Monet in 1886, within 3 km on foot along the GR. Grand Phare de Goulphar at Bangor, active lighthouse of 1836, at 4 km.

History

Belle-Île was fortified by Vauban after 1683 and held by the British from 1761 to 1763 under the Treaty of Paris. Acadian families expelled by the British were resettled on the island in 1765.