Tuesday afternoon 14th October, we load the Airaha 2. It’s an uninterrupted parade of packages of all types: small, big, fragile, solid, light, heavy, even very heavy (the floating dock that will store the oxygen bottle weighs 200 kg alone). The packages are carried on shoulders, on backs, in arms, thanks to a trolley, alone or with the help of several people… everyone does it their own way.

Carrying packages of all types – Copyright : S. Quérouil / IRD

As the Airaha 2 is moored alongside the Airaha, we have to go through it first to get to our ship. During the transfer, a fifty-kg bag of rice dropped by the wayside. It’s our offering to the Sea God so that the journey goes well.

Loading on the dock – Copyright : S. Quérouil / IRD

(The beginning of the text was translated by Kévin Dabriou, Valentin Cessieux, Cécile Ruffel, and Quentin Vernhet; the end of the text was translated by Benjamin Dubourguier, Valentin Gaudy, Jordane Sanchez, and Thomas Soubeyran, L2 SVC–Life & Earth Sciences–UM2, France)