19 October 2022
Arrival in Aldabra
Arrival of the S.A. Agulhas II in Aldabra
The S.A. Agulhas II arrived in Aldabra on Wednesday 19 October 2022 at around 6.30 am, for four intense days of activities. Several scientists disembarked in the morning: the Madcaps team in charge of studying plastic waste, Didier Zoccola’s Coral Conservatory team, the GECOS project team to study marine turtles, Sylvain Bonhommeau’s team, which wishes to map and inventory the shallow waters of certain parts of the atoll and finally Heather Koldewey’s team, focused on the study of the reef’s biodiversity. Nick d’Adamo, a member of the expedition advisory committee, also came ashore to test the deployment of two buoys to study surface currents in one of the atoll’s passes.
Preparations for landing in Aldabra in pictures
Previous slide
Next slide
Biocheck
The day before departure, a “Biocheck” was set up in the ship’s auditorium by Seychelles students authorised by the Seychelles Islands Foundation to carry out this operation. This sanitary control consists of checking and disinfecting all the material taken ashore by the scientists to avoid the risks of contamination or introduction of a foreign species. Seed detection, food packaging, checking and cleaning of containers… Everything is screened, even the scientists’ shoes when they leave!
Last disinfection of the shoes before departure. Aldabra. 19_10_2022©Didier Théron_MonacoExplorations
Previous slide
Next slide
Intense activity all day among the various teams involved in operations on the atoll.
First images of the manips
Among the various operations carried out, a first should be noted, initiated by Heather Koldewey’s British team from the London Zoological Society: the use of an ROV which, for the first time in Aldabra, will be able to descend to a depth of 700 metres. Until now, the slopes of the atoll have only been explored down to 250 metres.
The governance of Monaco Explorations
Previous
Next
