Gulf of Morbihan

 « So sad were the fairies to have been kicked out of Broceliande Forest by the Korrigans, t

hey cried so much that they created the Gulf of Morbihan from their tears .

As they fled to other lands, they threw away their crowns of flowers

which turned into the 365 islands of the Gulf.

Three crowns flew as far as the Ocean to form Houat, Hoëdic

and the most beautiful of the three, the island of the Queen fairy, Belle Ile.”

“A long, long time ago, Man committed a sacrilege and desecrated the forest of Rhuys

with their axes, leading to the fairies departure that hived off towards the inland forests.

During their journey, a gold dust fell and spread over,

giving birth to a set of small islands, as many as the days in one year…”

The Gulf of Morbihan is linked to the Atlantic Ocean by a narrow channel of 900 metres. It is considered as a proper sea (thus its Breton name of Mor Bihan for Little Sea).

With every tide, approximately 400 million m3 of seawater pour in and out of the gulf creating strong currents up to 8 to 9 nodes during high tides, the equivalent to 16 /17 km/hour.

Highly protected and constantly renewed, the Gulf is home to a maritime ecosystem of great biodiversity. Dotted with many islands (the legend says as many as there are days in a year but actually, there are 42 inhabited or habitable islands in the Gulf of Morbihan), the Gulf is also an environmental reserve for a great variety of sea birds and plant species.

On the other side of the channel, looking onto the Ocean, The Quiberon Bay is a proper bay of similar size to the Gulf of Morbihan (about 120 km²), protected by the Quiberon Peninsula and forming a maritime zone that has been awarded just as the Gulf of Morbihan, the label of “the Most Beautiful Bays in the World”. You’ll cross it if you decide to spend a day out on Houat Island, where our motorboats Vedettes l’Angélus  travel to in July and August.