2023-05-08 19:00:22
« Go ! » At this signal given by the skipper Emmanuelle Périé-Bardout, two frogmen switch simultaneously, on either side of the inflatable boat which took them to their dive site, not far from the lighthouse at the Pointe du Vieux-Fort, at the southern end of Guadeloupe. After a brief confabulation, the divers disappear under the surface. Shortly after, another pair did the same somersault and let themselves fall, neck first and flippers in the air, in the indigo waves of the Caribbean Sea. The Breton navigator and her teammate immerse themselves in turn, leaving the boat under the responsibility of two crew members.
About ten kilometers south of the lighthouse, the Saintes archipelago stands out on the horizon. To the north and east, dominated by the volcanic summit of La Soufrière, dormant since its phreatic eruption in 1976, the mountains of the island of Basse-Terre, covered with dense vegetation, rise from the shore. To the west, blue as far as the eye can see. But unlike the tourists who indulge in various water activities in this idyllic setting, the team led by Emmanuelle Périé-Bardout and her husband, Ghislain Bardout, head of the Deep Life underwater exploration expedition (“deep life “), has a busy work program.
The impressive volume of equipment carried by the divers testifies to this: between underwater thrusters and closed-circuit diving suits – more suitable for the study of underwater fauna, because they do not release bubbles –, their bulky kit weighs nearly fifty kilos. Enough to allow them to reach, in a few minutes, unusual depths for scientists. It is useless, even in these translucent waters, to try to follow them with your gaze from the surface. “We will descend to 120 meters today and collect samples of gorgonians, black corals, soft corals and sponges”, had summed up Ghislain Bardout in English, during the daily ritual of the dive briefing, a few minutes before the team took their place on board the Zodiac. Related to corals, gorgonians are these highly branched fan-shaped organisms. But now is not the time for poetry. “The main objective is to stay safe”reminds the leader of this international scientific mission to his attentive and focused audience during the long statement of the technical instructions.
Leaving Concarneau in March 2022 aboard the Why, an aluminum schooner 19.50 meters long, the Deep Life expedition has set itself the goal of studying, at different points on the globe, the mesophotic ecosystems, located between 30 and 200 meters below the surface of the oceans, in order to assess the impacts of human activity and climate change on these still little-known environments. And, thus, to contribute to their protection. In this area, only accessible, for its lower part, to the most seasoned professional divers and intrepid record hunters, the pressure becomes difficult to bear, while only a weak bluish glow still comes from the surface. The environment is plunged into a more or less dark twilight depending on the transparency of the water. A semi-darkness between the clarity of the surface and the perpetual darkness of the abyss.
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