Les Apéritifs de la mer Return to Bordeaux on Thursday 5 November
For almost a year, Bordeaux sat out a gathering that takes place every month from Brest to Marseille, from Le Havre to Réunion Island. Les Apéritifs de la mer, the informal after-work drinks that bring together seafarers and maritime professionals, had gone quiet on the banks of the Garonne. They resume on Thursday 5 November 2026, from 6.30pm, at the Gargalou, quai de Bacalan, at the foot of the Chaban-Delmas bridge.
The relaunch is led by Charles de Bentzmann, a former seafarer at the port of Bordeaux, and Ewann Suray, operations director at BoatOn. Their ambition is deliberately modest: to bring the people who keep the estuary running back around the same table, from pilots to shipyards, ferries to river operators, with no agenda and no sales pitch.
Illustration photo: the Jacques-Chaban-Delmas bridge over the Garonne, a short walk from the Gargalou.
Key facts
Date: Thursday 5 November 2026, from 6.30pm.
Venue: the Gargalou, 118 quai de Bacalan, 33300 Bordeaux, on the left bank at the foot of the Chaban-Delmas bridge, with parking nearby.
Format: free to attend, everyone pays for their own drinks; happy hour until 8pm and a small surprise in store.
Who for: seafarers, pilots, port staff, shipyards, charter companies, marine insurers, maritime administrations and students.
Registration: appreciated, so the bar can plan for numbers.
A network born at sea, now in some twenty cities
Les Apéritifs de la mer is a network of free, non-commercial meetups for maritime professionals, held monthly in around twenty cities across mainland France, its overseas territories and abroad. Paris, Marseille, Le Havre, Nantes, Brest, La Rochelle and Réunion all have their own, as do Montreal, Geneva and Stockholm. The idea fits in the slogan displayed on the network's website: "100% maritime, 100% relaxed".
The network has been run for seven years by Colomban, a merchant navy officer, with support from the Institut français de la mer. Each city relies on volunteer organisers who pick a venue, set a date and spread the word. There is no membership fee and no keynote: people come as they are, stay as long as they like, and pay for what they drink.
That simplicity is precisely the point. In an industry where people mostly meet in meetings, during inspections or in the rush of a port call, a drink offers neutral ground. Masters talk to cadets, chief engineers to underwriters, shipowners to pilots, and those conversations, which formal settings rarely allow, often turn out to matter.
Why Bordeaux needed its meetup back
Bordeaux has no shortage of maritime people. The port authority, the Gironde pilots, the river ferries, the shipyards of the city and the Arcachon basin, charter companies, river operators, marine insurers and the state's maritime services make up a sizeable community. Yet it is scattered between the estuary terminals, the city quays and the basin, so that many of its members know each other by name without ever having met.
The Bordeaux meetup used to take place, notably around the Bassins à flot docks, before lapsing about a year ago. Charles de Bentzmann, who knows the port from his years at sea, set out to fill that gap with Ewann Suray's help. The goal is a regular fixture, as in the network's other cities, rather than a one-off evening.
The Gargalou, beneath the Chaban-Delmas bridge
The venue was not chosen at random. The Gargalou stands at 118 quai de Bacalan, on the left bank, close to the Cité du Vin and right beneath the Jacques-Chaban-Delmas lift bridge, whose central span rises to let ships sail up into the heart of the city. It is hard to imagine a more fitting backdrop for Bordeaux's seafaring community.
The address is also central and easy to reach, with parking nearby. The bar will run a happy hour until 8pm, and the organisers have promised a small surprise, which they are keeping under wraps for now.
Who should come
The evening is open to anyone who works on the water or for it: merchant navy, fishing, yachting and professional leisure boating crews; pilots and mooring staff; port and maritime administration personnel; shipyards, engine makers and equipment suppliers; charter companies, river operators, insurers and brokers; teachers and students from maritime schools. Former seafarers now working ashore are, of course, more than welcome.
There is no need to know anyone beforehand. That is the whole spirit of the format: people tend to arrive alone and rarely leave without a few new contacts.
How to sign up
Attendance is free, but it helps to let the organisers know you are coming so the Gargalou can plan ahead. Simply email Ewann Suray at ewann@boaton.fr. Those who received the invitation by email can just reply "yes".
You can also add the event to your calendar with this Google Calendar link.
A community that meets again
A round of drinks is not a maritime policy. It can, however, remind everyone that Bordeaux has a seafaring community large enough to meet every month, and varied enough to have plenty to talk about. See you on Thursday 5 November, from 6.30pm, at the Gargalou.
Photo credit: John Cameron / Unsplash (illustration photo).
