Leba (Leba) 54°46' N - 17°33' E

Mooring in Leba at the bank promenade

The small seaside resort of Leba is a small town and a fishing port that lies on a narrow promontory between the Jezioro Lebsko (Leba lake) and the Jezioro Sarbsko (Sarbsker lake), it has only 4,100 inhabitants, yet it can look back on a long history. The place lies today east of the river of the same name. Around 1570 Leba was located on the west side of the river. It was destroyed by wanderdunes and tide. From the dune a still standing church ruin can be visited.

The history of Łeba goes back to the 13th century when it was a base for fishing operations in the Baltic, the rivers and nearby lakes. The first written record about Łeba as a fishing village is dated 1286. The large lake, Łebsko lying west of the town, is belived to have been a hideout of pirates marauding ships at sea. Łeba was incorporated as a town in 1357. The historical mention of Łeba can be found in pa-pal edict dated 1440. The residents of Łeba were engaged in trade, handicraft and fishing business. In the 15th century Łeba became a member of the Hanseatic League. In the 16th century the town was destroyed by strong storms and its inhabitants moved to the area located to the east.
In 1791 Łeba had a population of 500 and 97 houses. The inhabitants have earned fishing and discharging of salt and wood.
In the 19th century sea trade decreased due to development of railway and road connections and a competition of neighbouring ports.
There is still an old church, founded 1683, and several fishermen's cottages from the first half of the 19th century.

Inside the harbour entrance, there are very unfovourable hydrological conditions at the access from the open sea. This is caused by bottom sea sand moving which creates a shallow system. On the eastern side is the Gdynia Quay with its length of 270 meters. Almost 200 meters of it is sloped. There is an Industrial Basin located about 600 meters from the entry, on the eastern side, which has warves 101 meters long.

The Fishing Basin lies at the mouth of the channel leading to Lake Sarbsko (area of 652ha and depths up to 3.2m). Its north warf it is 388m long and south warf is 368m long. 
On the west bank, opposite Fishing Basin, is a shipyard with a slipway for fishing vessels, north of which is a shallow Sedimentary Basin 150 meters in length with a dalphin. This may be used by small craft, up to 17m in length, for compases adjustment. There is a crane, with a lifting capacity of 2t, on the eastern side of the harbour.

In summer the port is visited by yachts and passenger fleet vessels.
The opening of a marina in 1998 effectively used Łeba the most important harbour for pleasure craft in the middle of the Polish sea coast. 

The Marina is located 500 meters off the breakwaters and consists of the yacht basin, which has concrete wharves. There are depths from 2.5 to 3.5 meters.
The basin is separated from the entrance of the main port by a dike 160 meters in length. This guarantees good shelter for the visiting yachts. The Marina has capacity for 120 sailing and motor boats.
Existing facilities include showers, laundry, a cafe/restaurant, a 24 bed hostel and parking for cars and boat tracks. Modern hotel is planned for the future.
The free-moving sand dunes are a main interest for tourists. They stretch almost 8km west of Łeba. A powerful rampart formed by the sand goes up to 40 m in height. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the great Lake Łebsko. It was in these dunes that the German V-1 rockets were located during the Second World War.
There is Coastal Resue Station with a rescue vessel and all necessary land equipment.

Worth seeing:

The wanderdunes in Leba, are about 8 km W. They reach a height of almost 50 meters. The area of the wanderdunes was made a national park,  Slowinski park Narodowy, in 1966. This national park covers also the Leba lake. It is separated from the Baltic by 17 km long peninsula, on which  the largest dunes are. The landscape reminds of a desert. Here Rommel  was to have practiced for his Africa war.

To the dunes, approx. 6 km from Leba, one goes with the "metropolitan railway", that stops at the entrance of the nature park. There is a fee at the entrance into the park, you can rent an electric cart that will take you near to the dunes some 2 km away. From here its bicycle or on foot. Motor vehicles are absolutely forbidden.

Moorings:

In Leba there is no harbour basin suitable for yachts. One must go into the city and moor there on the left bending the branch to the river. Here are 10 suitable moorings available.

There is, at the mooring, a pension "Pensionat Kapitanski". The owners, the married couple Grzegorz Wieczorek is very helpful and speak fluent German, as they lived and worked for many years in Germany.

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