FREE berths over Christmas and the New year are being offered on Bembridge Harbour’s Duver pontoon, on a first come first served basis.
Berths are free on 25th/26th December and 31st December/1st January, at the picturesque Harbour on the eastern coast of the Isle of Wight.
The Duver is the visitors’ berthing and the Harbour Authority’s Fiona Thorpe tells CS thee are usually five or six boats that make it to enjoy Christmas lunch afloat. “But we need these berths to be booked in advance so please call us first and before December 21st,” Fiona said.
The Harbourmaster’s office number is 01983 872828, or VHF Ch 80.
There’s also good news from Bembridge with its houseboat sewage problem – a legacy from the late 1940s when houseboats became year round residences for people in the post war period. After two years since applying the authority has been granted a Lawful Development Certificate (LDC), which allows it to re-submit its planning application to install free sewage treatment facilities on older houseboats which still pump out directly into the harbour.
“As part of that we currently have five or six vacant plots, which we can sell to people who want to have a houseboat In Bembridge, and we will use the money to make sure all the boats have proper sanitation systems whether it’s a holding tank or a bio system,” Fiona said.
In recent years all new houseboats have had to have proper sanitation systems but there are still some who carry on the practice of pumping out, which might not be a problem for them, but which has caused occasional complaints from some of the dinghy sailors in the harbour.