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Montpellier’s marina
Like many other ports on the Languedoc coast, the current port of Carnon was built thanks to the ‘Mission Racine’ (The ‘Mission Racine’ was entrusted with the development of tourism along the 160 kilometres of Languedoc coastline) towards the end of the 1960s. From a straightforward passage linking the étang de l’Or (Lake of Gold) to the sea at the outset, it has become a much-sought-after port with a dry port in addition to its basin.
The port of Carnon was built in the 1970s. It was a direct result of the ‘Mission Racine’ which concerned the development of the coastline. Its objective was to keep those tourists who descended south into Spain in France by building large-scale seaside resorts.
Carnon was originally the home to some fishermen who lived along a natural passage linking the étang de l’Or (Lake of Gold) to the sea. The inhabitants of Montpellier used the resort in large numbers when it became fashionable to go sea bathing at the beginning of the 20th century. Families had a picnic at the Kursaal, which was the name of the snack bar at that time. It was situated on the western outer harbour and there is still a building today on the same site which bears its name. The children fished for crabs in the rocks of the canal and dived from the top of the gates. The wooden gates acted as an anti-salt blocking to protect the lake. The port moved it to the end of the canal.
The inauguration of the first section of the port took place in July 1970. It became the new town centre. Buildings sprung up like mushrooms – the Civadière, the Madrague, the Saint-Marc… Residential estates soon followed and were inhabited more and more throughout the year. "Then, in August 1979, a dry port was added which included boat mooring facilities on land. It was built on the north section of the port area", said Patricia Bendinelli, assistant manager in charge of the administrative and budget management of the port. "It can accommodate 250 motor boats (only) with a maximum beam of 5.60 metres. There are three levels and there are no additional handling costs for yachtsmen who can recover their boat in 3 minutes. This is not a winter harbour. It is well and truly another solution to mooring."
In 1979, Carnon was the second French port to have a dry port. This partly explains why it encountered immediate success and why it is still successful today. With its 800 floating berths, Carnon is able to provide all in all more than 1,000 berths! Something was to happen that changed the future of Carnon. An organization, the SYMOCA, grouped together and managed both ports of Carnon and La Grande Motte. Initially, it had intended to build the boat mooring facilities on land at La Grande Motte. The organisation had actually had the first levels built on the western outer harbour. The work caused an outcry from the owners of the buildings who feared that they would lose their view of the beach and sea. The organisation immediately stopped the work. All things considered, it decided to build the boat mooring facility at the end of the basin of Carnon. This section was quite far from the area of Carnon and had not been developed yet. It was obviously not going to disturb anybody. Now, it is surrounded by apartment blocks but who would ever think of complaining.
Demands continue to flood in and exceed the number of possibilities on offer. The success of the port of Carnon is due to its highly-favourable geographical location. It quickly gained the reputation of being protected from hazardous sea conditions (this is indeed the case when the boats are in the port as entering it during bad weather is nevertheless dangerous). The organisation decided to extend the boat mooring facility out onto the channel wasteland. It was put into service in 1981. In the meantime, houses were built all around the port. It is difficult to imagine, but only small houses and fishermen’s cabins could be found along the beach, in other words along the current avenue Grassion-Cibrand.
Today, the majority of the inhabitants of Montpellier visit the resort. Carnon has the advantage of being a lively town throughout the year. Patricia Bendinelli enthused, As you can imagine! Montpellier is barely at 10 km from here! It’s far better to live in Carnon, in the sun and near to the beach, than in the middle of traffic jams!" Today, Carnon has 3,000 inhabitants throughout the year and is visited by 40,000 tourists each summer.
