Second first time!
Today is the first Nautile dive for Léa, a marine geoscience PhD student at Geo-Ocean.
In what state of mind were you just before the dive?
I was quite calm but also excited at the prospect of discovering the seabed, for real! I was also a bit nervous as to whether I would be able to properly describe what I would be seeing.
What was your initial impression when you entered the Nautile's sphere?
It was in fact the second time I'd boarded the Nautile as I'd already had a guided visit by the pilots a few days earlier, a bit like a rehearsal. This time was for real!
During the 5 hours of the dive and all that you saw, which images first come to mind?
I would say the pillows and the flows, especially seeing them so close up without looking through a camera. But generally, the dive itself, as you never know what you are going to discover when the submarine changes direction or when you reach the top of a slope, every landscape is so different, except when there are large stretches of sediment, like beaches for as far as the eye can see!
How did you feel at the end of the dive?
A little tired, but delighted with the experience. I also wanted to share what I had seen with my colleagues and then, to see and actually touch the samples we had collected.
To conclude, what was the most important moment of the day for you (before, during or after the dive)?
It’s a very special day. It’s kind of like travelling back in time, you feel like you’ve been in the submarine for two hours, and a whole day has gone by. The crazy thing is that with Frank and Yannis, we’re the only people who’ve ever been to this place where no one’s ever been and probably where no one’s ever going back.
Have you an anecdote for us?
The anecdote was the day before the dive. Everyone was asking, "Are you ready?", but I didn't really know what to expect...How can you be "ready" to dive more than 3000 metres into the deep in a tiny submarine? My stuttered reply to the question was "Yes...maybe...we'll see!".