Calais

We stayed in Calais marina for eight nights and can thoroughly recommend the place, although I wouldn't berth near the access ramp on the visitors pontoon, which appeared a good idea at the time. With the rise and fall of the tide, the ramp  perpetually creaks and groans and only has a brief respite for a few hours at low water, when the cill at the entrance prevents the onslaught of the tide. Apart from that, any westerly winds, and we had three days of strong ones after we arrived, rattle down the length of the marina making it quite uncomfortable where we were berthed.

Calais Marina is what you would expect from a 'normal' marina. with all on-site ammenities. It has a good toilet/shower block, good bar/bistro, chandlers and the marina staff are very helpful. They also speak reasonable English - we had no problem conversing in our Brummie-French. The drawbacks we encountered were that the pontoon hook-ups were restricted to 5amps and no drinking water. The water taps were labelled 'not drinking water' and with no other fresh water supply I was a bit miffed. The locals told me that it was a 'health and safety' issue, the mains water not being filtered or something like that. Unfortunately I wasn't convinced, but they didn't seem to suffer any consequences. Another drawback is that there is only one berthing rate, €23.40 for a 10.98m boat daily (high season - €20.28 low). No weekly or monthly rates which I thought quite unusual.

The marina itself is quite large and has 262 berths, most of which are used by the locals. The staff require visitors to show the 'ships papers' when booking in and will view the insurance certificate. A link to their very informative website is here. Apart from the visitors pontoon and the local berths at the western end, there is a central area of berths which can be used by visitors if unoccipied. We took advantage of one of these after Sno' Rush was de-masted. The on-site chandlers is well equipped and has a small electric crane which is ideal for de-masting and lifting lighter boats from the water. The owner speaks good english and at only €50 per mast is a good value. He is also extremely patient, which as we know, is not a patricularly French trait. There are two clevis pins at the bottom of my mast that secure it to the deck plate. I thought the weight of the mast was 'pinching' them when I prepared everything the day before but, no - one was siezed solid and took over an hour to hacksaw free. Everything was going so well up to then! Luckily it was off before lunch, which made the monsieur happy. He was really very good, giving instructions as to which stay to loosen off next etc, as I really hadn't got a clue. He has my vote of thanks and comes recommended.

                                              Sno' Rush in canal mode


The marina staff were also very helpful particularly, as when they realised we were off down the canals, they provided guidance sheets showing photographs of the two locks and five bridges (three swing), together with VHF and mobile phone numbers of the bridge operators. We found these extremely helpful.

With the vignette purchased on-line, printed off and displayed on the boat, we were looking to set off on Saturday morning (28th May), catching the 0917 opening of the bridge to ensure a free-flow through the Ecluse Carnot. I'd noticed the day before that the usually quite marina was recieving quite a few English boats throughout the day. I was told that the forthcoming weekend was the Little Ships Rally and around 100 boats were expected. Previous years had seen rows of boats, rafted 6-deep on the visitors pontoon! It was not surprising then, when we pulled off the berth to await the bridge opening, that we were jostling for space amongst the locals who appeared to be evacuating the marina for the weekend.