BOAT-COMPARATOR Guide
Sailing in marine protected areas: Port-Cros, Scandola, the calanques and beyond
National parks, reserves, Natura 2000 zones: what a rental boat can (and cannot) do in the Mediterranean's marine protected areas.
The Mediterranean's finest waters are fine precisely because they are protected. For the renter, these marine areas are not prohibitions — they are instruction manuals. A tour of the rules that recur everywhere.
The great French classics
Port-Cros (mandatory buoys, no fishing), the Marseille-Cassis calanques (regulated anchoring zones, speed), Scandola in Corsica (no-anchoring sectors, distance from the cliffs), the Lavezzi (buoys, channelled landings), the Cerbicale and Bonifacio. Abroad: the Maddalena (paid access permit), the Croatian parks (Kornati, Mljet — tickets), the Balearic reserves.
The five universal rules
1. Anchor on sand only, never on posidonia meadows (THE Mediterranean rule, heavy fines). 2. Mooring buoys mandatory where they exist. 3. Reduced speed (often 5 knots extended beyond the 300 m). 4. Fishing and spearfishing banned or tightly framed. 5. Waste: nothing overboard, everything back to port.
Getting informed without losing a night
The operator IS the source: they hand out the zone map and know the summer's changes (apps like Donia also chart the seagrass). Boat-Comparator's destination pages flag the parks concerned — and a sign at each zone entrance recalls the essentials.
Why play along
Beyond the fines: these rules work. Port-Cros's groupers, Scandola's ospreys and the seagrass that makes the water turquoise exist BECAUSE the zones are respected. Today's disciplined boater guarantees the dream anchorage ten years from now.