Cairnbulg
At a Glance
Contacts:
Berthing Master
Cairnbulg is a small harbour with a very narrow entrance and
awkward approach situated opposite Fraserburgh in Fraserburgh Bay.
The harbour here was started in the 1920s when the present east
wall was built but money ran out and it was not until the early
1980s that the west wall was built to enclose the present harbour.
It is a drying harbour with a hard sand bottom, so of no use to the
cruising fin keeler but for those who can take the ground it is a
delightful, off-the-beaten-track harbour which does not, as yet,
charge harbour dues to the visiting yachtie.
It is an ideal stopping off point if one needs to hold before
rounding Rattray Head. Ideally one leaves the Moray Firth and makes
directly for Peterhead but often that means a very early start to
catch the south bound stream at Rattray Head; a stop here can be
very much less arduous! In 2009 they increased the depth in the
Western half of the harbour and put in a pontoon which gave more
berthing options and have now excavated the centre of the harbour
and installed a further pontoon.
As you can see from the chart, it is about a half mile walk in to
the village of Cairnbulg which transforms itself into the village
of Inverallochy as you go further SE ( be careful not to call one
the other, there is a proud rivalry!).
Cairnbulg is a typical NE Coast fishing village; most of the houses
are single story granite built buildings although many have been
converted to two stories with attic conversions and dormer windows.
You will also notice a preponderance of what in Scotland are called
"drying greens"; this because the houses were built without large
gardens and the open spaces in between were used to dry the
laundry; the greens on the shore line may have been used for nets
in the old days but they now fulfil this function as well.
Cairnbulg
Approach
We have given a waypoint which will put you on a safe approach path....
.... to the harbour entrance on a heading of 110°T.
From the South you need to give the beacon at the end of
Cairnbulg Briggs a couple of cables offing depending on the sea
state and from the North you can make directly for the waypoint
when you have rounded Kinnaird Head.
Sea state is critical for the approach as Fraserburgh bay shoals
from a long way out and if the swell is Easterly it can make for an
interesting ride, as to make harbour here you will be sideways on
to it. There is no buoyage to guide you in; any buoys which may
appear to be channel markers are creel markers laid around the edge
of Bruness and the associated rocks.
There is a "but " to that because the kreel markers do mark where
boats have been able to get to in order to lay their pots and can
be a good indication of where the rocks are; but treat these with
caution; they are not definitive. The good news is that the
harbour trustees are considering laying some channel markers.
The best advice is to keep the right hand pier just open of the
left hand one and crack on a bit of speed to spend as little time
as possible in the cross swell.
£ GMT
Waypoint
Charts
Rules & Regs
Hazards
Tides
Berthing
Cairnbulg has installed yet more pontoons (see our recent addition to our Gallery)....
..... It is uncertain how deep the water is around the pontoon and, at present our advice is to tie up as far West as possible; further in you may have to take the ground.
Facilities
It is difficult to keep up with improvements here an, although there is no sign of water and electricity on the new pontoons they may have plans for it.
There were little or no or no facilities in the harbour so you
need to arrive with enough water for your stop and enough fuel to
carry on.
The good thing is that there is an hourly bus into Fraserburgh
which takes about 15 minutes to get there.
There is also a library which has free computer access - it has
scattered opening times but is open at some time on most days apart
from Friday and Sunday.
What to Do
There is a mini market and a Post Office and it is reported that
there is Peter's, an ice-cream shop at the end of Church Street
which also does fish & chips. P Buchan used to have a butchers
shop but it is not known if they are still trading.
There is a preserved But n Ben cottage that was occupied until the
1950s. It was originally built as a fisherman's cottage and is now
maintained in its original state and is open to visitors in the
summer months. It is an eye-opener, it's been smartened up but you
can imagine an extended family living there in the 1920s, no water,
no electricity, no sewage and, in the winter, the wind raging in
from the North Sea; life for the fisher folk was no picnic in those
days.
History
Local Business
Sailmakers-Repair-and-Covers
Bisset & Ross
Riverside Drive
Aberdeen
Aberdeen
AB11 7SL
Uncategorised
Bisset & Ross
Riverside Drive
Aberdeen
Aberdeen
AB11 7SL
Tide Information for cairnbulg-harbour
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