A Personal Guide to The Baltic - LATVIA

Nicholas Hill

Liepaja

The pilot books are not very encouraging about the town, although I found it more interesting than several others I visited. Obviously large parts survived the War - at least, more than some others - and the town has more of an organic feel to it than some of its neighbours. The mooring at the quayside is very close to the centre. The town seems to be becoming quite prosperous, with a extremely upmarket hypermarket only a hundred metres from the quayside. There are also several cash machines nearby, and an internet cafe.

The people seem friendly and helpful where possible. The quayside has someone in attendance twenty four hours a day. You need only show your passport to the Border Guards if you are coming from outside the country.

Liepaja is the only town for a long way on this section of coast, which is otherwise lowlying, with sandy beaches and trees growing almost to the shoreline. As a result, it is conspicuous by its cranes and high rise buildings.

The pilot books are very cagey about the entrance. There is a big outer breakwater with three entrances, but the northern one is not recommended. On my second visit, I radioed in on Ch 11 and was told to use the 'southern gate'. There is a buoyed channel within the breakwater, which leads you down to the Tirdzniecibas Kanal. The turn into the channel is marked by a very large stack of gravel and cut wood on the port side, but it is all fairly obvious. The channel runs for about a mile to the town bridge, and is filled with derelict trawlers, cargo vessels, minesweepers and the like. It is far busier than the outer harbour might suggest.

The approaches to the harbour are fairly shallow - less than 10m. Not enough to worry a yacht, but it might kick up a nasty sea with an onshore wind, and the reflections from the outer breakwater. On the other hand, the outer breakwater looked sufficiently ruined that many waves would go straight over it.

The inner harbour has shallow patches too, particularly near the southern end. Judging by the colour of the water, large areas may be less than a metre in depth. The topworks of what look like a sunken trawler can also be seen there. On the other hand, quite large ships use the channel, so there can't be any real problem if you're careful.

berthing and facilities

The quayside has room for several yachts. It's very obvious: follow the channel down, then when you've reached the bridge, you have to stop, and there on the starboard side is the quay. It should give excellent shelter in almost all conditions.

Water and electricity - although mainly European type sockets. The one marina-type socket I found gave an 'incorrect polarity' light on the boat. Showers and loos in a portacabin. No washing machine. No fuel, but there is a petrol station about 200m away.

Google Earth

Liepaja

Very clear image of harbour entrance and the canal. View of the yacht quay is a little out of date, but there had been a lot of building going on there.

From entrance to quayside:

Move your mouse over each of the numbers in turn -

View from the quayside:

And on the quayside:

All photographs copyright CNH/COH. Please ask if you wish to use them and please acknowledge the source.