Mission One!!
We arrived in Madeira on Saturday August 19th and expected to board the Yersin the next morning, but like with any logistics-heavy endeavor, there were minor delays. This turned out to be a great happenstance as it gave us a day to walk around the beautiful town of Funchal, Madeira and take some photos, and eat a couple of delicious meals. It was also cool to see the Yersin docked in port with many tourists and residents taking a look and seeing our website on the side of the boat and being curious about the vessel and its purpose.
On Monday August 20th we boarded the Yersin just as the sun was coming up. There was more luggage than people. We welcome the crew who will photograph and film this mission; Fred, Fabrice, and Olivier from the Darewin Project. They are free divers who record 360 video and sound underwater. You can read our interview with them here.
After getting our luggage unpacked into our cabins, we met with Captain Jean Dumarais and a few members of the Yersin crew to learn the safety practices and schedule on board, and to get organized for our departure to the Desertas Islands. We departed the port of Funchal at 11am and officially began our first mission at sea! (After only 45 minutes at sea the Captain surprised us with an “abandon ship” safety drill, and it was comforting for us to see that the crew was very calm and organized for this drill!)
