Port Gruissan

[Ipapadi]

Hi,
We are part-time liveaboards but having cruised the length of the Med since 2001. Presently in Alghero and intending to get to western Med to just do the living aboard without the cruising and be as close to our home in N. Ireland allowing for shortest flights.
We woukd like to sample France before Spain again. We had a week in Sete some years ago and enjoyed it unfortunately the waiting list is long for there. However, we do have the opportunity of a berth in Port Gruissan.
Can anyone give us some comments or experience of there. Our main interests are coffee, eating & drinking and food shopping (in that order!)

[skipperpete]

I doubt that there’s any comparison, Sète is a hard act to follow. I keep my boat in a marina at Port st Louis du Rhône and occasionally drive around to Barcelona when I’m in France so I’m familiar with that coastal road and the ports, ( just not by sea) for me it’s like the Nullabor plain but instead of kangaroos and emu’s, that stretch of road has attractive ladies hitchhiking in prom dresses and miniskirts. My marina owns another at port Leucate and there’s a reciprocal fee system so I went in for a look…. Not where I’d like to be , totally unlike Sète and Port St Louis.
Port Gruissan left the same impression but it’s far more developed and could have what you seek, it certainly has pattiseries, Boulangeries, Casino and waterfront stuff, l’m personally not fond of that strip of swampy coast.

[Ipapadi]

Thanks, Skippermate, for that prompt response, we're on a deadline to respond to a 9 month offer which would, I think, get us of the waiting list.
I'd be interested on your comments on Port St Louis, my impression is, that it's a 'storage' place - not liveaboard?

[skipperpete]

Originally Posted by Ipapadi

Thanks, Skippermate, for that prompt response, we're on a deadline to respond to a 9 month offer which would, I think, get us of the waiting list.
I'd be interested on your comments on Port St Louis, my impression is, that it's a 'storage' place - not liveaboard?

You are probably correct about the marina in Port St Louis itself, I’m in Port Napoléon just a brisk 15 minute walk from the town marina and though I can’t say for sure that it’s ok to live aboard in our marina we mostly do. Normally I stay for 2 months , 1 in the marina and 1 cruising the canals and lakes. Nearby is the marina called “ Navy yard”, all port á sec, they have room for a lot of boats and I see people living aboard while doing big refits( years) in that yard….. not such a good marina as Port Napoléon but much cheaper, take a look at the Google maps image of these two places.

[Ipapadi]

Thanks again, Skippermate.
Would you indulge me just another time to say how it is for those facilities that we seek, for liveaboards, at Port Napoleon?

[TeddyDiver]

Been in Gruissan once by land. Marina looked nice as the town. A good place to make day tours around if you are into it. Not far from Pyrenees or Carcassonne. Wines of Minervois. Did I mention caves?

[Ipapadi]

Thanks, TeddyDiver.
Do you remember how far ii was to walk the facilites (coffee, restaurants etc)?

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by Ipapadi

Thanks, TeddyDiver.
Do you remember how far ii was to walk the facilites (coffee, restaurants etc)?

Other marina is right beside the old town so 10min? Other bigger marina maybe 25min max, depends which side you are berthed. Just out of my memory but it's not a big town. Depending of the season there's also lot of facilities by the shore side.

ps. that marina by the old town is propably too shallow as there were motor boats if I recall ot right.

[Ipapadi]

Thank you.

[skipperpete]

Originally Posted by Ipapadi

Thanks again, Skippermate.
Would you indulge me just another time to say how it is for those facilities that we seek, for liveaboards, at Port Napoleon?

The marina at Port Napoléon HAD a restaurant before the solar panels burnt down the Capitainerie and there are a few restaurants nearby but the marina itself is fairly isolated. However , Port St Louis du Rhône has some good bars, coffee shops, Intermarchè and Casino and an hourly bus across the Camargue to Arles. It might not suit your needs but it’s been excellent for me. Did you consider any of the marinas on the ètang at Sète, there are several options other than the oceanfront port but you have to wait for the bridge openings.