France, Atlantic

La Rochelle

Port des Minimes, 3,642 berths drawn

Local custom: you go in ahead, bow to the pontoon or quay.

Access is easy by day or night at any state of the tide, except at low water springs, when the stated draught is 0.70 m.
The approach channel is dredged to −0.8 m and marked by the Richelieu tower, a lit red beacon (some charts give −1 m: check on the SHOM chart).
By day and by night, the channel follows the transit of two leading lights on 059°. 200 m past the Richelieu tower, the west cardinal buoy “M” marks the way into the Port des Minimes, followed by port-hand lateral buoys.
The harbour office monitors VHF channel 9 (“Capitainerie des Minimes”) 24 hours a day.
A visiting boat must report its arrival straight away, at the harbour office or on VHF 9. Speed limit: 5 knots in the channels, 3 knots in the basins. Keep to starboard; when leaving your berth, give way to boats moving between the pontoons. Sailing in the harbour is a last resort only.
There is current on the flood: watch out at the fuel pontoon.
One sailor advises checking the depth of the berth you are given, which sometimes silts up (October 2024).
2026–2027 dredging campaign: the dredger is working in the Bassin des Tamaris and lies up alongside the Nouveau Monde breakwater; its crew can be reached on VHF 9 (notice of 15 October 2026).

Indicative plan from OpenStreetMap: not for navigation.

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