From seaward

As you enter Plymouth Sound by either the east or west passage past the breakwater, you will see the city as a mile and a half panorama directly to your north. There are marinas on the east side and Mayflower Marina is located to the west of Plymouth Sound.

Your approach can be made either via The Bridge or by following the Drake Channel. The shorter route is through The Bridge, which although well lit is fairly narrow and should only be considered in favourable conditions. It is considered advisable to motor through The Bridge due to strong tidal flows. According to the Waterways Guide for Small Craft there is 2.9m of water in The Bridge channel at MLWS. Do not stray out of The Bridge channel as there are shallow underwater obstructions to the East and West.

Follow the navigation channel through the narrows, around Devil’s Point. Mayflower Marina will appear on your starboard side at the intersection with Stonehouse Creek.

In daylight the distinctive residential development of apartments with white verandas provide instant recognition.

The marina is protected by a heavy displacement concrete floating breakwater and the entrance to the pontoons is either via the Southern end for pontoons A,B,C,D,E,& F or via the Northern end for pontoons G, H, J, K & L. The pontoons are numbered so that even numbers are port side to!

King's Harbour Master

Plymouth is a naval port under the control of the King's Harbour Master. At all times ships and small craft are to obey the International Rules for the Prevention of Collision at Sea 1972 and the Dockyard Port of Plymouth Order 1999. Vessels less than 20m in length shall avoid impeding vessels constrained to the main channel and all craft are to reduce speed as required to avoid damage and inconvenience to persons or property.

The marina maintains a listening watch on VHF channel 80 at all times, call sign ‘Mayflower Marina’.

Longroom port control

Shipping movements are controlled by the ‘Longroom’ on VHF channels 13 & 14 call sign ‘Longroom Port Control’. The daily movements programme can be viewed on KHM’s website https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/khm/plymouth/local-notices

Notice – Local notices to Mariners are displayed on the marinas notice boards. Alternatively, log on to The King’s Harbour Master’s website at https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/khm/plymouth/local-notices then to Navigation Warnings and then to Plymouth Local Notices to Mariners.

Charts for Plymouth Sound

  • Admiralty Chart No. 30
  • Stanford Chart No. 13
  • Imray Chart No. C14

Weather information

The Shipping Forecast for the sea areas Portland, Plymouth and Lundy are displayed daily and up-dated at 0048, 0535, 1201 and 1745 hours.

In addition a 5 day inshore waters forecast for the sea area Plymouth will also be displayed on a daily basis.

Other sources of weather information for the Plymouth sea area are: H.M.Coastguard – Brixham, Tel: 01803 882704 or listen on VHF CH10 at 0500 hours GMT and every 4 hours thereafter.

Cruising areas

This chart shows the South West cruising grounds between the Isles of Scilly and Anvil Point

Tidal streams