🇲🇶 Buoyage of Fort-de-France · Martinique: put the harbour's buoys back (France)
© OpenStreetMap · ODbL · Simplified map, not for navigation.
This chart shows the real buoyage of Fort-de-France · Martinique (France), taken from OpenStreetMap on 2026-10-03. 4 marks are missing. IALA region B (the Americas): the lateral colours are swapped, green to port and red to starboard as you come in.
What the chart shows
The Fort-de-France chart, in Martinique, has just 5 marks: two port-hand marks, two north cardinals and one south cardinal. Four need placing: the port-hand “M”, the north cardinals “GS” and “GBB” and the south cardinal “No5”. Only the port-hand “PS” is already in place. Three rock symbols appear on the chart.
According to the regions map annexed to IALA Recommendation R1001, Martinique is, like the Americas, in region B: lateral colours are reversed compared with Europe, green to port and red to starboard coming from seaward. Only the laterals change; cardinals are identical in both regions. A south cardinal has two black cones pointing down, a yellow body above black, and a light of six quick flashes followed by a long flash; safe water lies to the south.
In its 2020 leaflet, the Lighthouses and Beacons service of the Sea Directorate recalls, citing the order of 30 November 2017 on the national nautical reference, that signage must be understandable without knowing the place, and that no aid is better than a misleading one.
Revision questions in the spirit of the exam
- What does region B change about the colour of a port-hand lateral mark?
- How do you recognise a south cardinal, by day and by night?
- Why must a candidate trained in region A re-read the colour before placing a lateral mark here?
Sources
- IALA, Recommendation R1001 (ed. 2.0, June 2023) (facts restated in our own words, text not reproduced)
- OpenStreetMap and OpenSeaMap, survey of 03/10/2026 (ODbL 1.0 licence)
- Martinique Sea Directorate, Lighthouses and Beacons service: leaflet on police buoyage (2020) (facts restated in our own words, text not reproduced)
For practice only: do not use for navigation. Refer to up-to-date official charts and documents.
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Data: © OpenStreetMap contributors, under the ODbL 1.0, including seamarks from the OpenSeaMap project. The derived database behind these charts is published under the ODbL: real-zones.json (ODbL), ODbL 1.0. Simplified map, not for navigation.