where the water is ours
The hidden coves the beach crowds never reach.
The Riviera’s open secret: its best swimming was never on the beaches. Between Menton and the Lérins the coast folds into dozens of rock-armed coves — some reachable by long stairs and longer walks, the best by water only. Here are the ones we can print, and a note about the two we won’t.
the inlet keeps its secret
The eastern pockets: Cap Ferrat’s folds
The Cap’s shoreline crinkles into swim-stops the coastal path only teases: the Fossettes and Fosses coves on the point’s east side, glass-clear over rock and seagrass; the deep pool under the lighthouse where the water goes navy-dark and cathedral-quiet; and the pine-shaded pockets north of the point that catch morning sun and lose the afternoon crowd. Anchoring etiquette does the gatekeeping — which is to say, a boat is the ticket.
Mala’s neighbours, and the Èze foot
Everyone now knows Plage de la Mala; fewer know the unnamed notches either side of Cap Mala where the same green water pools without the beach-club soundtrack. Eastward under Èze the cliffs drop into coves with no staircase at all — ten-minute anchorages on the Monaco run that turn a transit into a swim. This is the stretch where guests first say the water looks Photoshopped. It is not.
shall we put a date in?
We reply within the day
The two we keep
Every working captain on this coast holds a private shortlist — ours runs to two coves whose names do not appear on this website, because the entire value of a secret anchorage is its emptiness at noon in August. They are small, they are found by the local depth-knowledge our captain carries in his bones, and sharing them with guests is one of the quiet joys of the job. Ask for somewhere no one else will be, and that is where the bow points — one of the pleasures of chartering with the boat that lives here.
The short answers
The ones we anchor in, yes — the captain reads depth, swell and traffic before the ladder goes down, and the boat carries fins, masks and a lookout’s eyes. Cliff-jumping requests are assessed with considerably more scepticism.
No — seagrass (posidonia) beds are protected and buoyed, swim zones exclude boats, and some stretches are regulated in season. It is exactly the local knowledge a skippered charter exists to carry, and why the beautiful spots stay beautiful.
further down the chart
Your next summer story begins here.
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.