The marina's command centre is really spiffy, with an
un-marine color scheme.
Take a Slow Boat To Bastille
Paris' Year-Round Downtown Marina
By Richard Erickson
Paris Kiosque - July 1998 - Volume 5, Number 7
Copyright (c) 1998 Richard Erickson - used with permission
If you are ever on the south side of the
place de la Bastille and you look in the direction
of the Seine, you will see a public marina in
the section of canal known as the Port de l'Arsenal.
Its other name is Port de Plaisance Paris-Arsenal. It means
you can come to Paris on your own boat and
tie it up at a regular marina in the heart
of the city. The port is in the Canal Saint-Martin
and it is separated from the Seine by a lock,
so it is not affected by the varying levels of
the river.
Before paying a visit to it, I stop
in at the river police station on the opposite side
of the river, near the pont d'Austerlitz. This is a
unit of the Police Nationale. I once ran into a
booth they had at the Foire de Paris and was
invited to come around and maybe go for a ride
and see some floaters.
Today it is kind of overcast
and I haven't got an advance invitation, so I just
ask about the piracy situation. The officer is startled by
the question because they just call it plain robbery like
the cops on the streets; but they like the notion.
However they give the impression that times on the Seine
are quiet and all is 'routine.'
Across the river I
see a cabin cruiser pull up to a small dock,
just outside the lock to the canal. I guess there
is some way to talk to the port's management from
there, and there looks like a pedestrian tunnel
in the wall of the river bank.
Just downstream, a bateau mouche is loitering in the current,
waiting its turn to enter too.
The floating cop-shop is
directly opposite the entrance to the Canal Saint-Martin and the
marina.
I cross the pont d'Austerlitz and cut across to
the Pont Morland, which is right above the lock. It
looks like the water in the river is about two
metres lower than in the port, so I wander over
to the port Captain's office, which is on the east,
the boulevard de la Bastille side.
The door has a
sign on it which says 'wet paint' and the paint
does look wet and I get in carefully. There is
a payment booth with nobody in it and when I
turn around I find the command room with the door
open and no formality about going in.
I guess I
expected navy blue suits and three gold stripes. Instead it
is shirt sleeves and bewhiskered part-time sailors showing up to
ask for their mail - in German - and confirming
their booking - in English - and getting their allotted
berths.
This is all very informal, under the direction of
Bernard Piquet, with Valérie Floch running the command centre -
watching the water levels and the TVs showing what's up
- or down - in the locks, and pushing the
buttons to make the metal gates swing open or closed.
There is a bit of racket from marine radio too.
The port's command office is situated so that it overlooks
the entry from the Seine, and the TV monitors can
see the rest - such as what's coming down the
canal Saint-Martin from Villette.
There are two other crew members,
who are not around. As the port is open seven
days a week, all year round, this seems slightly short-handed,
but I forget to ask about it.
The port has
176 berths for pleasure boats up to a maximum length
of 25 metres, with 65 berths reserved for overnight stays.
There is fresh water, electricity, toilets,
showers, washing and
drying machines, telephones, and crane with a seven ton capacity,
and a security fence.
A line of cruisers on the
west side, with the column at Bastille in the distance.
This last is locked at 23:00. Visiting crews get an
electronic pass card and if it gets lost it costs
200 francs. The locks operate from 8:00 to 23:00 daily
and the port captain's office is open from 8:00 to
20:00 during July and August. From the beginning of October
until end of April the hours are 9:00 to 19:00
and in the mid-season they are slightly longer on weekend
evenings.
The east side of the port has a public
park with a childrens' play area and there is a
small restaurant with an outside terrace near the Bastille end.
Near the port captain's office there is a small parking
lot; and there is access for vehicles to the quai
on this east side.
Used oil can be deposited in
the part, but I see no sign of any refueling
station, although a gas station is indicated outside the port
on the boulevard Bourdon, on the west side.
A lady
I know told me she lived on a boat in
this port for several years and said it was an
interesting experience. This is right in the centre of Paris,
right beside the Bastille and this is not an area
known to be especially tranquil at night.
This is not
to say the area around Bastille is studded with sailor's
hang-outs - there's the Opéra Bastille right here! - but
there is a certain high level of night-life in the
area. The proximity to the métro's big station at Bastille,
makes it a good location for getting to any part
of Paris quickly.
Going - on foot - downstream
to the pont de Sully puts the Ile Saint-Louis within
close enough walking distance and the Quartier Latin is not
much further.
There are a lot of other rivers around
Paris besides the Seine and there are a lot of
canals too. While this marina is run jointly by the
city of Paris and the Chamber of Commerce, it is
part of France's over-all VNF, or Voies Navigables de France,
system.
While it is obviously possible to go from the
Atlantic up the Seine to Paris, it is equally possible
to take canals and rivers from Belgium and Holland, from
Germany, or even from the Mediterranean. Without going into the
sea, it is possible to go all the way to
Bordeaux, via the Canal du Midi - or to the
Black Sea, if you have the time.
But there
are no passages through the very
centre of France,
through the Massif Central. It is a place where rivers
start; but do not pass through.
The nearly secluded terrace
of the port's restaurant is also open to the general
public during the day.
Reading the canal and navigable rivers
map, gives an indication of the centres of past French
prosperity. If you feel like doing this sort of cruising,
you may as well bring along the history books, because
this type of travel is not speedy. From Paris, count
on eight to ten days to get to Brussels.
This
sort of tourism is somewhat of an import from Holland
and Belgium and does not have a long history in
France. The marina at Arsenal only dates to 1983, but
since then river holidays in France have expanded considerably and
there are all kinds of other possibilities offered - from
river cruises to renting canal boats and driving them yourself.
Friends have told me it can be like taking a
slow boat to.... well, that is the idea. Taking a
slow boat and taking it slowly.
Port de Plaisance Paris-Arsenal
11. boulevard de la Bastille, Paris 12. Info. Tel.: 01 43 41 39 32, Fax.: 01 44 74 02 66.
This port can also be contacted by eMail.
Richard Erickson, living in Paris for the last twenty years, has been putting
Paris online as long as anyone. More of his writings can be found in
Metropole Paris
where this article first appeared.
He can be contacted via
erickso@world-net.sct.fr.
