Le François

Le François lies on the Atlantic coast behind a barrier reef that flattens the ocean into a wide pale lagoon dotted with small islets. The draw is the fonds blancs, shallow sandbanks far offshore where the water reaches waist height and boats stop so people can stand in the sea with a glass of ti-punch. One of them is called Joséphine's Bathtub after the empress. Habitation Clément, a restored plantation house of the eighteenth century with a rum cellar and a sculpture park, sits inland from the town. Boats leave from the town quay and from Le Robert next door.