Hopeman
At a Glance
Download Printable Guide
Contacts: Buckie Harbour Office 01542 831700
This is a small tidal harbour on the South coast of the Moray
Firth between Lossiemouth and Burghead. It was developed during the
nineteenth century with about three major redesigns over that
period; the original village and harbour was built for the export
of sandstone quarried nearby but then the fishing industry moved in
and, to house it, subsequent redevelopment was required.
The railway came through in the late 1850s but the passenger
service fell off before the Second WW and then the branch line was
closed by Beeching and there is now a caravan site built over the
old station (hence the name "Station" Caravan Park). As with the
other small harbours on this coast the decline of the fishing
industry has resulted in the harbour being taken over by the
leisure industry and Hopeman is trying to catch up with that. The
harbour is administered by the Moray Council which, two years ago,
installed a central pontoon down the inner harbour now completely
occupied by amateur anglers. Although this has almost doubled the
available berths here, there is still a waiting list and very
little provision for visitors' berths.
This is a small village, the harbour dries and safe entry is about
three hours either side of HW depending on your draft and the state
of the tide. The entry is interesting and is dealt with below, but,
as a result of the convoluted nature of its entrance, the harbour
gives good shelter in all winds and seas but it is dangerous to
attempt entry in strong winds from WSW to NE.
The harbour entrance faces West by South and a half West, and
consists of an East pier which turns and becomes the North pier, a
West pier which turns inside and parallels the North pier to form
the entrance channel. The central pier divides the harbour into two
basins with a narrow entrance into the inner basin. Luckily the
Admiralty provide a harbour diagram which shows the arrangement
better than it can be described; the 180° turn into the inner
harbour from the entrance channel is quite a sharp one.
On a sunny day this is a lovely spot and on a blowy day a welcome
respite and, if you can take the bottom, a change from the regular
Lossiemouth, Whitehills transit of this coast.. The Reeds Almanac
warns of lobster pots (called "creels" on this coast) in the
offings of this harbour; anyone who sails this coast knows that
this is true of the whole coastline and if you are making a night
transit you need to sail a good 3 or 4 miles off to be halfway sure
of avoiding them!!
Hopeman
Approach
There are charted rocks on the approach....
.... to this harbour and the approach bearing (081°T) with the
leading marks dead in line appears to get very close to them but
the author, who, as you can see from our photo gallery, stayed dead
on the leading marks at half tide saw no sign of them. So, it would
appear that, as long as you use those marks (which are lit), the
approach is free of excitement.
The only problem is the turn into the inner harbour; it is very
tight and once you are in the entrance channel it is impossible to
see over the inner walls to identify any other moving traffic. That
wouldn't be a problem except that to make the turn inbound you will
have to go over to the port side of the channel and by the time
you've completed the turn you'll be on the port side of the
entrance to the inner harbour; so be careful.
Outbound it's not a problem as you will exit the inner harbour on
the starboard side and end up going down the starboard side of the
channel. You should also be careful because the beach in the outer
harbour shelves towards the inner harbour entrance and there may
not be much water to the South of it, if you overshoot the
turn.
£ GMT
Waypoint
Charts
Rules & Regs
Hazards
Tides
Berthing
Inside the inner harbour there is not much room to manoeuvre....
.... now that they have a central pontoon and there will be no
harbour staff on hand to advise you where you can moor. Any empty
berths on the pontoon will have permanent owners so don't be
tempted to tie up to those (their owners are likely to be fishing
and want it when they get back!). Likewise the West wall is
unlikely to have a spare ladder.
There are two possibilities; alongside the inside of the North wall
(there are ladders) or, if you are lucky, the Gordonston School
boats might be out of the water and the hammerhead on the pontoon
may be free.
One of the best ways to see what you will be faced with is to look
at the Google "Street view" on the link below. (The Street view is
more up to date than the satellite view) But even that does not
show the vessels now using both sides of the central pier which was
the case when one of our members called in there in recent
years.
Street view, click here
Remember that this harbour dries so berths closer to the South
end of the pontoons are very shallow and there is also a shallower
bank between the hammerhead and the North wall so that even if the
boats on the hammerhead and the North wall are afloat you can still
ground in between them.
Harbour charges are now (2025) about £26 per night; that is if the
part time harbour master puts in an appearance. Or you can pay on
line HERE
Marinas and Mooring
Hopeman Harbour Master
Harbour Office
Granary Street
Burghead
Burghead
IV30 5UA
Facilities
I'm afraid there is very little other than water and public
toilets. The garage has closed so, petrol, diesel and gas have to
be found further afield (at Lossiemouth; nothing at Burghead
either). There are no services on the pontoon.
If this is your first visit to a Moray Council Harbour you may be
puzzled by the round baskets rigged on all the outboard engines
tilted out of the water; it doesn't mean that the boat owners
around here are particularly careless; it's the dreaded Health and
Safety bods on the Council who have made it mandatory!
What to Do
There may still be a tearoom on the main street and when we were there the Chinese takeaway was closed, although we were told it is still trading. There is a Post Office, a fish and chip shop, a butcher and a Costcutter store. The Station Caravan site has no services for yachtsmen.
Restaurants & Places to Eat in Hopeman -
Tripadvisor
The pub here is called the Braemou Inn and does evening meals on a
Friday and Saturday
History
Local Business
Compass-Adjusting
Poseidon Navigation Services Ltd
Carestown Steading
Deskford
Buckie
Moray
AB56 5TR
Uncategorised
Stitch it & Fix It
1 North Road
Kinloss
Forres
Morayshire
IV36 3YA
Hopeman Harbour Master
Harbour Office
Granary Street
Burghead
Burghead
IV30 5UA
Poseidon Navigation Services Ltd
Carestown Steading
Deskford
Buckie
Moray
AB56 5TR
Stitch N Awl
12, Main street
Portsoy
Banff
Aberdeenshire
AB45 2RT
Tide Information for hopeman
July 2026
Please note: It is the user's responsibility to ensure that the data is suitable for their intended purpose. VisitMyHarbour must not be used by vessels for navigation.