Episode 1: 25 February 2024

By Hans van Haren

During the past three days in the harbour of La Seyne-sur-mer (France), R/V Pelagia has been loading equipment for recovery of the lines of the large-ring mooring. Some of the containers on board had to be taken off and stored temporarily on the quay-side. A large harbour-crane was used to lift the heavy materials, including the winch for the underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) of the Irish Marine Institute.

After two days of installation and testing we are ready for departure. Sunday night 25 February we will leave port, and sail to our operational area outside the harbour of Toulon. Weather conditions are reasonable, somewhat windy, moderate waves, rain showers and rather cool temperatures. Tomorrow morning we will start our operations. Very excited to see how the mooring lines are after nearly 3.5 years underwater.