Harbour

Le Canon

Name: Le Canon
Address: Lège-Cap-Ferret, FR

Lège-Cap-Ferret, FranceArcachon basin

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Type: Harbour

Oyster-farming port on the east shore of the Cap Ferret peninsula, on the Bassin d'Arcachon. Rows of wooden cabins on stilts at the quayside, active shellfish trade and a handful of visitor moorings.

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Entry from the interior of the Bassin d'Arcachon, across shifting sandbanks that move every winter. Use an up-to-date SHOM chart and follow the marked channels. The port dries at low water of spring tides. Best approach is two hours either side of high water. Strong ebb currents in the main passes, take care near the banks.

Practical

Small harbour mainly occupied by oyster-farming pinasses. Limited visitor berths, water on the quay. No diesel pump, nearest fuel at Arcachon or Port du Rocher across the bay. Bus line crosses the peninsula to the ocean beaches. Full shops and the main Cap Ferret village 4 km south.

Ashore

The village beach of Le Canon, directly on the bay, is on the doorstep. Cap Ferret lighthouse and its 258-step tower at 4 km south by bicycle along the flat Piste Cyclable du Bassin. Dune du Pilat, the tallest dune in Europe at 106 m, visible across the water and reachable by bateau-bus from nearby Cap Ferret pontoon.

History

The oyster cabins of Cap Ferret were built from the mid-19th century as workshops for the naissain, the oyster spat which the Bassin d'Arcachon supplies to much of the French coast. The village of Le Canon took its name from a small cannon once used to signal vessels in fog.

Story

Several of the oyster shacks have been converted to eat-in tasting tables, serving Arcachon oysters with a glass of Entre-deux-Mers and nothing else on the menu, a format invented here in the 1970s.