Our thanks to Ian Strathcarron of s/y Vasco da Gama, (see www.strathcarrons-ahoy.com www.strathcarrons-ahoy.com ) for this report.

On an internet search for “Beirut marinas”, as many as eight will appear; Aquamarina Yachting Club, ATCL Jounieh, Beirut Marina, Holiday Beach Marina, Jiveh Marina, La Marina JK, Movenpick Hotel & Marina, Riviera Yacht Club and St. Georges Yacht Club.

Of these, Aquamarina, Holiday Beach and Movenpick are designed for small residential speedboats and won’t take even the smallest visiting yacht. Jiveh is being re-built and is near the war zone and Riviera YC is now an enormous swimming and sports complex. St. George’s has been taken over by Beirut Marina – so they are one and the same.

That leaves ATCL Jounieh, La Marina JK and Beirut Marina as being open to visiting yachts – in theory, but in practice, there is only one with a welcoming berth, ATCL Jounieh (pronounced June).

ATCL, the Automobile et Touring Club du Liban, has a fine marina which is part of a large sports resort with a grand swimming pool and endless tennis and baseball courts, a gymnasium, restaurants and bar. The membership – and therefore ownership – are French expatriates and upscale Lebanese; French is the lingua franca and they only venture into Arabic when ordering drinks from the staff or issuing instructions to their servants. Most people speak English, if sometimes between grated teeth. All the wonderful facilities, including WiFi, are available to visiting yachts.

Apart from being able to enjoy all the diversions, ATCL has two other enormous advantages. Firstly, the rates are very reasonable. They have an innovative pricing structure whereby the longer you stay the more you pay. The first two days are free, then it’s US$40/week/12m the first week, US$80/week/12m the second week, US$125/week/12m the third week. Secondly, for a modest fee of about US$50, they take care of all the burdensome Lebanese entry/exit/customs/immigration and visas paperwork.

Arrival could hardly be more impressive: one ties up to the Arrivals Quay to port, right beside the refuelling station. The checking-in procedure then starts and one can top up the diesel at €0.60/litre while the paperwork flies around in the office next door. We were refuelled, checked-in, visa’d and tied up in thirty minutes; much appreciated after a busy two-handed all-nighter.

The ATCL is not without its disadvantage; the location means it’s either an oasis of calm in the mayhem of Beirut or – for those without transport – stuck out in middle of nowhere. Jounieh itself is 15/20 minutes walk away – and not a very inspiring walk or destination. The nearest supermarket is an unsidewalked and heavily littered 10/15 minutes walk away. Beirut itself is a taxi ride, US$15 there and US $20 back. A new civil war starts every time you step into one of the unmetered taxis, but these are the right fares. The road manners, in general, are extremely aggressive, even in the gridlock.

LaMarina JK is halfway between Jounieh and Beirut and is another resort complex with a marina attached. Again, visiting yachts can use the facilities, which are superb, but the prices are so high – US$1,000/month/12m and the marina so unwelcoming that the fun of swimming in a 100m pool overlapping the Mediterranean is alleviated by calculating how much each stroke costs. LaMarina has two other major disadvantages: the system in Lebanon is that each time you go from port to port you have to check in and out as if you were leaving the country. LaMarina has an exclusive deal with the agent Sabah who charges US $350 a movement, this on top of the berthing charge. The other problem is the location; a forsaken site on the side of an industrial wasteland with no public transport and only random taxis dropping people off. There is no shower block, shops or wifi – it is just assumed that you, like all the other yachts there, (powerboats registered in an encyclopaedia of tax havens) will be self-contained.

The last option is Beirut Marina, recently known as St. George’s. This is right downtown and is next to St. George’s lovely swimming pool – which due to a dispute between the companies can only be accessed through the latter’s restaurant. Like La Marina JK it is US$1,000/month/12m (with a month minimum) and subject to a US $350 agent’s fee even for yachts arriving from within Lebanon. The attraction of being Downtown is offset by Downtown being an enormous construction site, so you share the day with construction noise and building dust. That part of Downtown is thoroughly motorised, the Beirutis drive with a vengeance and pedestrianism is a life-threatening recreation. The other yachts are Gulf Arab owned powerboats, very much Beirut Marina’s target market. The harbourmaster told me, ‘We don’t need or want to visit sailing yachts here’, a sentiment to describe, (Jounieh excepted), Lebanon as a whole.

Voyaging between the three marinas is hardly encouraged by the agent’s fees, the berthing costs and having to report every movement to Oscar Charlie (Operational Control), the Lebanese Waters Authority. An unreported movement will soon be followed by a visit from a Lebanese Navy patrol boat and endless questions.

Anchoring is forbidden anywhere; in fact, there is an 8.00 p.m. curfew on all yachts. There are no fishing boats as there are no fish – and no seabirds. The sea is however full of plastic bags of every denomination, many at prop and intake height, and countless empty plastic bottles bobble decoratively on the surface.