Moorings in Cardigan Bay

Cardigan Bay is the largest bay in Wales, a wide sweep of coast from Bardsey Island off the tip of the Llŷn peninsula in the north to Strumble Head in Pembrokeshire. The Glaslyn, Mawddach, Dyfi, Rheidol, Ystwyth, Aeron and Teifi all reach the sea along it, and most of its harbours sit at these river mouths. Part of the bay is a Special Area of Conservation, and it holds the UK's largest population of bottlenose dolphins.

At the northern end, Hafan Pwllheli is a large pontoon marina built in Pwllheli harbour in the 1990s. Nearby Abersoch is home to the South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club, and seasonal moorings there are rented through a local moorings business. Cyngor Gwynedd is harbour authority and issues annual mooring licences at Porthmadog, about two miles up the Glaslyn estuary, where the Madog Yacht Club pontoon dries at low water, and at Borth-y-Gest, Barmouth and Aberdyfi.

Further south, Aberystwyth has a pontoon marina in the old harbour where the Rheidol and Ystwyth meet. Boats stay afloat inside, but the entrance can only be used about three hours either side of high water and is dangerous in an onshore blow. Aberaeron's Georgian harbour dries, with a cill keeping water in the inner dock, and in the sheltered part of New Quay's bay boats lie on moorings laid to ground chains on the drying sand, with swinging moorings further out.

The Teifi has its only deep water moorings at Netpool, below the old bridge at Cardigan, and at Fishguard the old harbour in Lower Town, owned and run by Pembrokeshire County Council, has short-stay visitor moorings for boats that can take the ground. Anyone looking for moorings in Cardigan Bay will find a choice between marina berths at Pwllheli and Aberystwyth and drying or tide-limited harbour moorings elsewhere, with bars and onshore swell to consider at many entrances.