the anchorage of anchorages
Two islands lie off Cannes like a secret the town keeps badly: Sainte-Marguerite, pine-forested and fortress-crowned, and little Saint-Honorat, owned and farmed by monks who have been making wine there for sixteen centuries. Between them runs a strait of water so clear and so protected it functions as the Riviera’s favourite swimming pool.
Timings are from her berth at Beaulieu-sur-Mer. Staying closer? We bring her to you — and it is simply a boat day in The Lérins Islands instead.
The Plateau du Milieu — the shallow strait between the two islands — is sheltered from almost every wind, floored with pale sand, and lit from below in a turquoise that makes first-time guests laugh out loud. The islands themselves are car-free and largely building-free, so the anchorage feels a century away from the Croisette twenty minutes north. This is where the coast’s yachts spend their Sundays. There is no better endorsement.
Ashore, if the water ever lets you go: Sainte-Marguerite’s Fort Royal held the Man in the Iron Mask, and its eucalyptus trails smell like holidays; on Saint-Honorat the Cistercians still keep vineyards between chapel ruins, and the abbey shop sells their wine — communion of a very Riviera kind.
The strait fills by noon in high summer, so we do what the locals do: arrive before the fleet or after it thins, and hold the middle hours for lunch — a booked table at La Guérite on Sainte-Marguerite if you want the party, lunch at anchor if you want the silence. As a westward day it pairs naturally with the Antibes ramparts or the Croisette pass on the way home.
a few suggestions
These are suggestions, nothing more — places we actually take guests, each with the captain’s own note. Tell us which ones tempt you and the day is built around them, name somewhere that is not on the list and we go there instead — or leave the whole thing with us.
Beach clubs
arrive by sea
On Île Sainte-Marguerite since 1935, reachable only by water — Greek-leaning feast plates, then dancing between the tables.
Go for the full production number; go elsewhere for quiet. As the Lérins day’s lunch it is unbeatable theatre.
Restaurants
arrive by sea
Grilled fish and the abbey’s own wine under a pergola on the monks’ island, a step from turquoise water.
The Lérins day for parties who want the islands’ peace rather than their volume — the quiet answer to La Guérite next door.
Anchorages
arrive by sea
The shallow strait between the two islands: pale sand floor, sheltered from almost every wind, lit turquoise from below.
The best anchorage on the coast, and the best swimming for children anywhere in our range. Arrive before the fleet or after it thins.
Sights & museums
arrive by sea
The fortress on Sainte-Marguerite where the Man in the Iron Mask spent eleven genuinely mysterious years from 1687.
His cell and the marine-archaeology museum are visitable, and the eucalyptus trails around them smell like the idea of a holiday.
Sights & museums
arrive by sea
Cistercian monks have held Saint-Honorat since about 410, and still farm eight hectares of vines between the chapels.
The shop sells their wine, taken seriously by people who take wine seriously. Shoulders covered, voices low — they are hosts, not exhibits.
whatever you have in mind, that is the day we build
from the log
Arriving from Beaulieu, plan on four to five unhurried hours at the islands inside the standard day — enough for two swims, a long lunch and a walk ashore. Guests who want the islands to be the whole day simply skip the town passes en route.
Yes — the abbey, its chapels and the shop are open to respectful visitors most days, and the tender can land you at the island jetty. Shoulders covered, voices low; the monks are hosts, not exhibits.
It is the best on the coast for them — shallow, sandy-floored, warm and sheltered, with the boat’s swim platform at water level. Many of our family charters are built entirely around a Lérins day.
One boat, one crew, up to 10 guests, and a coast that is entirely yours for the day. Tell us how you want to spend it and the rest is ours to arrange. The day is yours and it is our pleasure to be part of it.