Can a boat cross a swimming area to reach the open sea?

Where a marked corridor exists, it should use that corridor at slow speed. Where none exists — the usual case in Lebanon today — the safe-speed and lookout duties still apply, which in practice means slow, wide and away from people.

Guide

Boats and navigation near shore

Most near-shore conflict is not about the open sea. It is about the last few hundred metres, where boats leave port, cross swimming water and come back in.

Collision rules and safe speed

Rules 5 and 6 of the international collision regulations require a proper lookout by sight and hearing at all times, and a safe speed set by visibility, traffic density, manoeuvrability, draught and the proximity of navigational hazards. Swimmers, divers and small craft near shore fall squarely inside that assessment.

Buoyage: what the colours mean

Lebanon is in IALA Region A. Entering a channel from seaward, red marks are on your port side and green on your starboard side. A corridor drawn on our zoning maps is only compliant when both gate marks are present and correctly coloured.

The shore itself is public

Decree 4810/1966 governs the public maritime domain in Lebanon. It is the baseline text behind arguments over access, occupation and enclosure of the shore — and behind the campaign's position that the water in front of a public shore must stay usable and safe for swimmers.

Sources

Lateral marks — IALA Maritime Buoyage System (Region A)

Lebanon lies in IALA Region A: entering a channel from seaward, port-hand marks are red and starboard-hand marks are green. Every corridor gate in a plan must carry both.

IALA — Maritime Buoyage System (IALA-AISM)

Safe speed and lookout — COLREGs Rules 5 and 6

The international collision regulations require a proper lookout at all times and a safe speed for the visibility, traffic and proximity of navigational hazards — which includes people in the water.

IMO — Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREG)

Lebanese baseline — Decree 4810/1966

The shore and the sea up to the highest winter wave line are public maritime domain. Public access and swimming are the baseline right any corridor must protect.

Decree 4810/1966 — Lebanese public maritime domain

Questions

Can a boat cross a swimming area to reach the open sea?: Where a marked corridor exists, it should use that corridor at slow speed. Where none exists — the usual case in Lebanon today — the safe-speed and lookout duties still apply, which in practice means slow, wide and away from people.

Local town guides

Beirut (Raouché / Pigeon Rocks)Jounieh Batroun Jbeil (Byblos)Tripoli Tyre (Sour)Saida (Sidon)Damour

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