Note of November 9, 2022

The term “civvy” is a pejorative term for “anyone not wearing a military uniform“. In short, the guys in the French Navy call everything that is not military, and that is foreign to them, “civvy”. A funny nickname that sticks to me because I was a “pekin” for 17 years as a reporter for Cols Bleus, the newspaper of the French Navy since 1945. With pen and notebook in my pocket, I have embarked many times on “grey ships” (as they call them) of all sizes. Aircraft carrier R91 “Charles-de-Gaulle”, helicopter carrier R97 “La Jeanne d’Arc” (a ship in which H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco embarked as a midshipman in the early 1980s), anti-submarine frigates, anti-aircraft frigates, stealth frigates, patrol boats and even nuclear attack submarines or schooners… I put my reporter’s bag down on all of these ships to experience in situ more or less peaceful expeditions. I got a taste of life on board, of distant ports and of the most exotic ports of call. Above all, I have learned to tell the story of the people of the sea and their daily life with words and images. I love life on board, the one that consists in leaving the land and then having to tame the first days of rolling and pitching. I like to smell the diesel smells as much as the sea air. I like this time that passes differently, punctuated here by dives, dredging, trawling, launching of the rosette or the ROV. For a week, I have been on board the S.A. Aghulas II with 80 scientists, 3 artists, 3 filmmakers and about 40 sailors, to experience the “Indian Ocean” oceanographic campaign orchestrated by Monaco Explorations. It must be said that with my fellow traveler Mathys, I have taken my marks. I like to go up and down the stairs from morning to evening (real sailors say “escapes”). I like to go as soon as possible to deck 3 at the stern to watch the miraculous fish come up as the researchers hope. I like to attend the evening briefing, a real play, sometimes comical or tragic. I also like the meals at fixed times in the South African style, the flag of this proud ship. Most of all, I like to go to deck number 9 above the navigation bridge when the sun is about to set. I love this moment when the sun disappears from the horizon, which is often masked here by a forest of grey-blue clouds. I like to see the sky blazing and the darkness enveloping us, the promise of a new dawn, of a new day at sea. These moments make me philosophical and dreamy. I like to imagine the S.A. Aghulas II seen from a satellite. On this globe, we are only a tiny point lost in the immensity of the ocean, with under our bow a sea grass as vast as Switzerland. So there are still mare incognitae to explore in 2022. 24 years ago, I promised myself to be a Philéas Fogg, a curious and free traveler. I kept my promise! How pretty the sea can be for a “strange” civvy…