Beaucette Marina, Guernsey

Tranquil Beaucette Marina, Guernsey
click to enlarge

Beaucette Marina Guernsey with its 115 berths is the quietest, if not the most beautiful and tranquil marina we have found in all our years of cruising.

Positioned on the NE corner of Guernsey, Beaucette Marina is the only privately owned marina in the Channel Islands and benefits from being a member of TransEurope Marinas.

Beaucette is home to a wide variety of sail and motor boats, some of the larger being a Trader 58, an Oyster 60, and our Fleming 55, Play d’eau.

Listen carefully and all you’ll hear are the Oyster Catchers and an occasional seagull. Maybe a boat will start its engines; maybe there’s a swish of water hoses as boats are cleaned. But no noise from passing cars or pedestrians; the only nearby road is the access to the marina.

Beaucette Webcam

Have a look and see Beaucette marina real time, right now, from its webcam.

Maritime info

Beaucette Marina HM office building
click to enlarge

There is all the maritime information you need to know about Beaucette Marina, Guernsey, in Reeds Nautical Almanac under Channel Islands, and on the Beaucette website.

However, here are our own observations which you may find of use.

Beaucette Marina, Guernsey – the Entrance

Beaucette Marina’s entrance looks different from others for one reason, alone. Instead of the typical pair of concrete piers you might expect either side of a marina entrance, Beaucette Marina has tall cliff walls which can make the look of the entrance daunting when in fact it really isn’t.

The sill is flat. The north wall is vertical whilst the south wall slopes up at some 45 degrees to the vertical making the entrance wider as the tide rises. When it has 3m of tide over it, the marina manager advises it’s 15m wide – that’s more than at most marinas.

The entrance through the cliffs into Beaucette Marina
click to enlarge

Let me give you a comparison – Perros Guirrec on the North Brittany coast has concrete piers with a width of only 6m and we’ve been in and out of there and Play d’eau’s beam is 4.9m! Now that’s a challenge.

If you are at all uncertain, just call Beaucette Marina on Ch80 and Ricky, the Marina Manager, will either come out himself or send someone in one of the marina’s dorys to help guide you in.

Beaucette Marina, Guernsey – approach the Play d’eau way

There’s a small 15 degree dogleg to the right in the final 250m before the entrance, and this is how we handle it on our Fleming 55, Play d’eau.

• Call Beaucette Marina on Ch80 for clearance to enter. Like many marinas, there’s not room for two to pass.
• Keep just south of the middle of the approach channel.
• Aim to pass quite close to the last port hand marker.
• Having just passed it, straighten up for the entrance.

When there’s only 3m of tide over the sill
the entrance is already 50’wide
click to enlarge

Two more points we bear in mind,

• Although Play d’eau can enter at HW+/-3hrs (she has a 1.5m draft) we like to deduct 30 minutes either side to allow the tide to have its initial rush over the sill, first.
• After the fun of the entrance and the immediate wonderment of being in such a lovely marina, don’t forget to turn to port into Beaucette Marina’s large marina pool to avoid meeting the small breakwater in front of you!

Piers
from the Pilot House of
Play d’eau
Fleming 55

You can get in touch with us any time by using our Contact Form.

Aquastar 74 Beaucette Marina Guernsey click to enlarge	Makalu, a Malahide trawler Beaucette Marina Guernsey click to enlarge
Spindrift, a 1905 Zulu fishing boat Beaucette Marina Guernsey click to enlarge	Discovery 55 Beaucette Marina Guernsey click to enlarge