The island of Paul Ricard and Captain Cousteau

The island of Embiez is located one kilometer from Six-Fours-les-Plages, near Toulon
It has long been a salt pasture, accessible by wading from the peninsula of Petit Gaou.
In 1938, a sailor who liked to dive met a submarine hunter there.
A little later, he returned there with Jacques-Yves Cousteau.
The trio marked the history of diving.
During the Second World War, in 1942, they made the first French underwater film, "Par dix-huit mètres de fond".
After the war, Paul Ricard bought and developed his island.
The harbors and hamlets of Embiez have been built since 1958.
The island has movie theaters and conference rooms, a post office, shops, and is crisscrossed by small tourist trains on tires.
Fort Saint-Pierre is home to the Paul Ricard Oceanographic Institute, which studies marine biodiversity and undertakes research into aquaculture and the effects of marine pollution.
There is an aquarium and a small museum.
Paul Ricard himself is buried nearby.
The island is also a refuge for the League for the Protection of Birds.
A Roman style theater allows the organization of shows.

 

 

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Les Embiez: Sentinelle avancée du pays provençal

"Aux Embiez, ce joyau de notre rivage provençal, la nature, jalousement protégée, a gardé les charmes d’une éternelle jeunesse. Au détour d’un sentier, le promeneur rencontre le passé : de vieilles pierres dans l’île de la Tour fondue, un joli castel sur le plateau Saint-Pierre. Le grand mérite de l’auteur est d’avoir su, par un exemplaire travail de recherche, redonner la vie et la parole aux deux vestiges de l’Histoire, dont l’un paraît tout neuf, et l’autre vient du Moyen Âge. Dans le silence odorant où bruissent les cigales, le rêveur pourra contempler ces îles merveilleuses avec les yeux de la mémoire, et l’aide précieuse du guide, Albert Degiovani, poète et historien bruscain." Félix Ortolan, préface.

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