On the way to ... Mauritius!

Saturday October 31, 3:30 p.m

I was heading to the conference on microplastics presented by my program manager, Olivier, when an announcement from the captain sounded on the boat:

"We suspect that something is stuck in the propeller of the boat and will proceed with verifications. "

Hmm hmm ... so let's wait and see !

Around 4:30 p.m., I went to a new presentation, also given by my program manager Olivier, on deposit collection systems passive mercurials, with two other VSCs going to Crozet. A few minutes later, we were interrupted by another announcement, this time from the Prefect of French Southern and Antarctic Lands. The Prefect announced:

"We have to deal with a damaged propeller. We have to carry out repairs in dry dock, and will therefore head north to Mauritius, where we can carry out the necessary operations. This will add, if all goes well, 11 more days to our trip to the subantarctic islands. "

I then met Olivier's gaze ... uh-oh! This setback will upset all the schedules. For our part, this limits the hand-over time spent on Amsterdam island , between OP3 and OP4 (end of November - end of December). We will arrive later on the island, which means less time. The program was already tight, now it will be even more so! We all met at the forum which is the bar area next to the restaurant and listened to the prefect of the TAAF update us on the situation.

So, here we are, stuck together for at least 11 more days! This gives us more time to get to know each other better and to enjoy the comforts of the ship.

The evening continued until late as we had a lot of fun dancing with the swell.

Tuesday, November 3

At sunrise, we could see Mauritius on the horizon. It's a much more escarped island than La Réunion and it looks very beautiful.

The bird watchers are always on the lookout, especially off the coast of the island where we may see more birds.

The day continued with a medical examination for all passengers and crew of the boat. All passengers and crew were in strict quarantine for a fortnight before the departure, and 5 days after departure, no cases to report. Good news: we can get rid of the mask!

We attended another conference in the afternoon. This one was presented by the Climate Science Laboratory and addressed the effects of climate change and the environment. Throughout the crossing there will be more conferences like this covering all the research programs implemented in the sub-antarctic islands In the evening, we were treated to a bbq on the DZ, at the back of the boat. The event began with a speech by the TAAF Prefect followed by a beautiful buffet!

During the evening, I met the members of the crew and many people from such different backgrounds. It's fascinating!

Here we are, on this beautiful boat, partying while approaching Mauritius. It's so cool!

Later in the evening, I learnt that we were returning to Reunion! Haha. So, is this a cruise on the Indian Ocean? No no, we are returning for other reasons.

Here we are on the way to our starting point ... eh beh!

The odyssey of Marion Dufresne 2020 OP3 continues!