For some of Mayotte’s young lagoon ambassadors, this third session feels like a liberation. For others, it’s a confrontation with themselves — a moment when the water reflects not only the reef below, but also the fears they carry inside.

​While a few have already found balance underwater, gently exploring the coral and the first signs of life awakening on the reef, others still face an invisible wall: fear.
The fear of drowning, of losing control, of that first breath that feels too big, too heavy, too new.

Ouksam, a talented athlete and excellent student, faced that wall today.
Accustomed to success, he suddenly found himself unable to descend the six metres that separated him from the bottom. The hardest part wasn’t the depth — it was the realization that courage sometimes means admitting weakness, accepting that not everything can be controlled.
The real dive begins within.

Nearby, Karimou, usually quiet and reserved, faced another challenge.
His first dive had been painful — pressure in the ears, discomfort, hesitation.
He arrived that morning unsure whether he would even go back into the water.
But he did. This time, he stayed for an hour, calm and present.
That single hour might have changed more than he knows — confidence built in the lagoon often finds its way into life on land.

And then, beyond these small personal victories, something unexpected happened.
One of the students decided to take his experience further — choosing to prepare his Grand Oral exam around the physics and biology of diving, exploring pressure, gas exchange, and what really happens in the body when we descend. It’s a sign that the project is working — that curiosity is awakening, that education can flow naturally from experience.
Between fear and fascination, each descent is a metaphor: learning to trust the sea is learning to trust oneself.

The day began with an unexpected gift. Just a few hundred meters from the dive club, a group of dolphins appeared, cutting through the calm surface as if to welcome the Ambassadeurs du Lagon to their world. For all the young participants, it was a first — a fleeting encounter filled with wonder, laughter, and wide-eyed amazement. Sometimes nature speaks first, and in that moment, it said everything. When we take the time to look, our planet truly is extraordinary. The smiles, the shouts of joy, and the stunned faces of these young divers said more than words ever could about the connection between humans and the sea, once the meeting finally happens.

Then came the dive. Ten meters below the surface — their very first Level 1 session. On the program: descent along a rope, mask clearing, regulator recovery, buoyancy control with the BCD… and above all, the thrill of discovering the underwater world together, in teams of four. Out of ten participants, three struggled a bit with ear equalization, while the others quickly found their rhythm. What impressed most, seen from behind the camera, was the natural ease of the girls — serene, focused, graceful — even though most of them had never really swum or dived before. Confidence was taking shape, quietly, and that confidence will go far beyond diving or the protection of the lagoon.

Much of this calm came from the instructors. The Abalone team brought exactly what was needed: patience, trust, serenity. The way they moved, the tone of their voice, the quiet gestures that seem simple but mean everything — all of it created a safe space. A good instructor doesn’t just teach; he transmits. He passes on an attitude, a balance, a way of breathing underwater that shapes the diver as much as the dive itself. Today, that transmission was in full flow.

When the group surfaced, the energy had shifted. Smiles everywhere. Pride glowing in each face. Even those who felt less confident found their place, drawn back into the shared joy of the moment. Bonds had been formed — underwater handshakes, a pat on the shoulder, high-fives mid-descent. Back on the boat, everyone was still laughing, replaying the encounter with the dolphins, and already dreaming of the next dive. The lagoon had done its magic: ten young people, a little braver, a little prouder, and forever changed by what they had just discovered.

Yesterday, while reading “Vive la resilience: don’t write off our corals just yet” published by Oceanographic Magazine, I felt an unexpected mix of emotions — a sense of genuine hope, knowing that some reefs still show signs of resistance, and yet, a deep lingering doubt.

Far be it from me to question scientific voices — I know the rigour, the countless hours spent observing, measuring, understanding.
But this optimism, as necessary as it is, raises a fundamental question: how far can we speak of hope without lying to ourselves?
When scientists say “not all reefs are lost,” is it a cry of resistance… or a sign of an institutional need to stay heard ?
​
As I read those words, I couldn’t help thinking about what I see underwater every week: bleaching spreading like a slow tide, colonies dying quietly, and parts of the lagoon where life simply fades away.
Maybe not everything is lost — but we must still have the courage to admit that some of it already is.

Scientists Live on ProjectsIn science, hope isn’t just a feeling — it’s a condition of survival.

To secure funding, you must convince others that solutions exist, that research can still turn the tide. A project titled “the end of coral reefs” will never receive a grant; one that speaks of “resilience” or “regeneration” almost always will.
It’s human, even understandable. But when science becomes dependent on narratives of hope, the gravity of reality gets blurred.
​
And the risk is clear: truth — the uncomfortable kind — dissolves into the language of promises.

Hope as an Academic Survival Strategy In a world oversaturated with bad news, hope has become a tool of communication.

Institutions need it — to keep public support, to soothe fear, to maintain trust.
So we speak of resilience, of rebirth, of corals adapting to change.
All of that exists, of course; some reefs do resist better than others. But when we repeat too often that “nature can heal itself,” we normalize irreversible damage. If hope becomes an academic strategy, we are no longer talking about science — we are talking about narrative survival:
a discourse fine-tuned to reassure funders, governments, and sometimes our own conscience.

Science Under Narrative Influence Science is never completely neutral; it evolves within its era, language, and politics.
When a study highlights signs of resilience rather than signs of collapse, it’s often a matter of framing, not manipulation.
But the accumulation of these choices creates a trend — a form of science shaped by its narrative.
​
Not because it lies, but because it selects what to show to avoid despair.
It’s subtle, almost invisible. Yet it changes everything.

It turns science into a kind of benevolent storytelling, where lucidity becomes risky, and hope an unspoken moral duty.
Behind that narrative, however, lies a simple reality: without funding, research stops.

Scientists must persuade their sponsors — public or private — that their work will lead to solutions, not just acknowledgements of failure.
In this system, the language of hope becomes almost a currency: it unlocks grants, European programs, political endorsements.
In other words, to keep working, one must keep believing.

The Sincere but Biased Faith Most scientists I meet are sincere.
They believe in what they do — and they still hope.
And thankfully so: without that flame, who would dive again on a dying reef?
But sometimes that faith in coral resilience becomes so strong it blurs critical distance.

We begin to confuse wanting to believe with seeing what is.
And that’s where danger begins: when hope takes the place of truth, we stop measuring the true extent of loss.
We talk about regeneration without admitting that it takes decades — sometimes centuries — for a reef to rebuild.
Resilient corals do exist — often deeper, between 20 and 50 meters.
But that resilience raises another question: at what ecological cost do they survive?

A deep reef doesn’t offer the same light, the same warmth, nor the same biodiversity as a shallow one.
If the future of coral shifts to those depths, the balance of tropical lagoons will change entirely:
herbivorous fish disappear from the shallows, food chains reconfigure, and coastal fisheries — lifelines for thousands of families — become increasingly unstable.
​
In other words, coral resilience does not guarantee human resilience.
It merely pushes life to places where we can no longer see it.

When Everyone Speaks, Who Tells the Truth?In a world where funding, science, media, and politics constantly collide, the role of the field reporter — the one who goes, sees, and listens — has never been more essential.
Because even when science remains sincere, it is rarely free from influence.
Many scientists I’ve met are in the water, day after day, facing the same realities we do. Their commitment is unquestionable.
But the system they work within — the race for grants, visibility, and recognition — can shape how truth is told.
When your next expedition depends on a funder’s approval, when “hope” sounds better in a proposal than “collapse,” it becomes harder to speak without filters.
Some projects blur the line between research and personal ambition, between fieldwork and privilege.
It’s not corruption; it’s the quiet pressure of a system that rewards optimism more than honesty.
When scientists publish opinion pieces or “hope essays,” they often do so with sincerity — but without contradiction, or without the space for facts and data that challenge their narrative.
Few journals give room to opposing analyses on the same topic.
The result is not misinformation, but imbalance.
A subtle shift where communication starts to replace truth.
And this is precisely where the work of independent photographers, divers, and field journalists matters.
Not to oppose science, but to complete it.
To bring back the tangible — what the ocean actually looks like, smells like, feels like.
To show that truth doesn’t always come from a lab or a grant, but sometimes from the quiet evidence of being there, eyes open, camera in hand.

Hope is vital — it drives us to act, to protect, to educate.
But it should never become a filter that softens reality.
Because behind every optimistic sentence are images I can’t forget:
corals white as ash, fish circling in emptiness, once-vibrant zones now silent.

They are not even “white corals” anymore — the coral is gone, replaced by bare rock.

Between hope and alarmism lies another path — that of truth.
To tell what we see, without exaggeration, without dilution.
To remind ourselves that resilience does not erase human impact, and that survival at depth does not equal recovery at the surface.
Yes, some reefs endure. But most decline.

And to speak only of resilience, without showing that decline, is to risk normalizing disaster.

Because in the end, doesn’t this constant optimism serve, ironically, as the victory of climate sceptics?
By reassuring, we disarm.
​
By saying “not all is lost,” we delay urgency.
And by the time truth finds its voice again, the ocean will already have changed its face.

I still remember the sound of my own breathing through the regulator — slow, uncertain, almost fragile.
Ten years ago, I took my very first dive. The surface closed above me, the noise of the world disappeared, and for the first time in my life, I understood what silence could mean.
​
That moment changed everything. It opened a door I never closed again. The ocean became my classroom, my studio, my refuge — and ultimately, my voice.

The Next Generation Takes the PlungeToday, it was their turn.
Ten young Mahoran students gathered at Abalone Dive Center for their first dive — the first real step into a world they had only seen from the shore.
​
They arrived laughing, a bit nervous, curious. On the boat, the chatter slowly faded as the lagoon widened around them. Then came the moment — masks on, fins ready, one deep breath, and a backward roll into silence.

More Than a DiveThis baptism wasn’t just about learning how to breathe underwater.
​
It was about connection — to the lagoon, to themselves, and to something bigger.

For a few hours, phones were forgotten, screens were off, and attention turned fully toward the living world beneath the surface.
For many of them, this first dive will remain a memory, but maybe also a spark — the beginning of a story.

“I felt some apprehension, a bit of stress… But once in the water, it was a release. I really enjoyed it — maybe a new passion.” — Lyam

“I want to discover our beautiful lagoon and raise awareness among my classmates. This dive allowed me to see the reef and many different species.” — Chamsoumdine

“I felt confident and was eager to get in. I was impressed by the beauty of the underwater world.” — Olivia

“A special day. I didn’t expect to see so much beauty. The only challenge was the ear pressure.” — Anaïs
​
“I really enjoyed it, it was incredible. Underwater, you feel less stressed — it’s another world. It makes me want to go again.” — Oukase

Passing the Torch

Watching them, I couldn’t help but think of that first version of myself, ten years ago, discovering the same silence.
The same light filtering through the surface, the same heartbeat echoing in the mask.
​
Seeing that wonder reflected in their eyes — that’s perhaps the most meaningful reward of all.
Because behind every image, every project, there’s this simple idea: to protect, you must first fall in love.

After cyclone Chido, the lagoon still bears its scars. Beneath the surface, the coral gardens that once sheltered hundreds of species now show long, pale patches — the mark of a system shaken but not defeated.

This week, we joined Cyrielle, marine biologist at the Parc Marin de Mayotte, for a monitoring session focused on reef fish and algal dynamics. Her work follows a simple question: what happens when algae win? Because when the corals die, the empty space they leave behind is quickly colonised by algae. If these algae stay too long, they can block coral recovery and flatten the habitat. But sometimes, nature finds its own counterbalance — herbivorous fish move in, grazing the algae and keeping the system alive.

Cyrielle’s team tracks these signs of resilience through visual counts and standardised transects — 15-metre lines surveyed at fixed depths, always at the same times of day to avoid bias. Each observation, each fish recorded, adds a data point to a much bigger picture: how the reef reorganises after a storm.
Alongside her, Éloïse from the IRD, and two research engineers from the University of Mayotte, study the coral response — how structures hold, collapse or regrow. Together, their work tells a complementary story: fish show the functioning of the reef, while corals reveal its memory.
For the Ambassadeurs du Lagon, this session was an initiation to the quiet side of science. From the surface, I captured two telling moments: a diver writing notes behind a field of dead coral, and a tablet used to identify fish species. Nothing dramatic, yet deeply symbolic — the patient, methodical work that underpins every conservation effort.

Over ten days of surveys, two sectors — east and west — are being documented. A second round in April will allow comparisons, revealing whether algal cover has stabilised, and if herbivore populations continue to rise. This is how science speaks: not in snapshots, but in curves that slowly make sense.
Beyond data, this work also carries a message about responsibility. Field teams constantly question the impact of their missions — the travel, the fuel, the carbon footprint of research itself. In Mayotte, that awareness has turned into action: sharing boats, grouping operations, and keeping the water column clear when measurements require it. Because studying life should never come at the cost of life itself.

A related survey is being led by Cyrielle at low tide, this time focusing on fishing pressure along the reef slope. The idea is simple: observe how, when, and where people fish — not to police, but to understand. By linking these patterns with ecological data offshore, scientists can identify moments when the system is most vulnerable and help adjust local practices without conflict.
In the end, algae and fish are two faces of the same story. One shows the space available; the other, who dares to occupy it. Watching both is the only way to know if the reef — and the people who depend on it — can find balance again.

25 young candidates. 10 selected. Behind those numbers lies a day filled with emotion, exchange, and discovery led by the Mayotte Marine Park. ​After the first round of applications, the candidates gathered for a practical selection day: workshops, debates, and teamwork exercises. The goal was simple — to inspire, engage, and prepare the next guardians of the lagoon.

Four workshops, one shared energyGuided by Perrine from the Marine Park, Julien from EDD (Education for Sustainable Development), local volunteers, former teachers, and Philippe as supervisor, the participants took part in four thematic workshops:

• Sensory workshop – learning to express what they feel in the water, turning emotion into positive messages they can share with younger students.
  
• Aquatic ease and safety – understanding how to behave at sea, gaining confidence before their first dive and the Level 1 training.
  
• Whale rescue scenario – imagining how to react to a stranded whale, testing communication, initiative, and teamwork.
  
• Group exercise – a simple team activity revealing the group’s natural cohesion and dynamics.
  

Thinking, debating, actingIn the afternoon, all participants came together for a collective debate around three thought-provoking questions:
“Is protecting the lagoon the police’s responsibility?”
“Are young people the ones destroying the lagoon?”
“Should we only eat what comes from the land?”
The conversations were surprisingly mature.
One student said that just being part of this day was already an act of protection.
Another added:
“Without education, there is no protection. It’s not about age — even parents can learn.”
Among the 25 candidates, 10 were selected — five girls and five boys between 16 and 18 years old.
Most came from Petite-Terre, showing how motivation can overcome the island’s transport challenges.

What comes nextNext step: their first dive — a symbolic yet transformative experience.
From this first breath underwater will come understanding, respect, and perhaps, a lifelong connection to the ocean.

More than a project — a movementWhile most teenagers spend their holidays playing football or relaxing on the beach, these young people chose to act.
Their curiosity, sincerity, and willingness to learn bring a spark of hope in a context where local commitment often replaces national support.
Today I saw sincerity, curiosity, and above all… hope. The future of the lagoon begins here, in their eyes.

A first day dedicated to meeting people rather than diving.
Community groups, the Marine Park team, educators… all sharing their projects and their hopes for Mayotte’s lagoon.
It was the beginning of a conversation that can only grow stronger.

The Moment
​These opening hours were not about field measurements or underwater footage yet. They were about listening and exchanging.
Each selected initiative introduced its approach and vision — a moment to discover common ground.

The People
​Among the participants, the educators of Haki Za Wanatsa (“Rights of the Children” in Shimaoré) reminded everyone that protecting the lagoon also means investing in the future of Mayotte’s youth.
We could already feel emerging synergies — science, education, civic engagement — usually kept apart but, for a day, sitting at the same table.

What We Take
​AwayThis first meeting showed that there is no conservation without dialogue… nor without networks and a shared will.
Everyone can contribute at the local level, without waiting for everything to come from the State.
That sense of collective agency is crucial here in Mayotte: the lagoon’s future depends on the willingness of many to work together.
It is encouraging to see connections forming and a common hope taking shape — to offer the younger generation a living, responsible relationship with their island and its ocean.

Follow the Journey
This post opens a series of Field Notes following the project step by step --
from the first coral-health surveys to the dives and experiences of the Lagoon Ambassadors.
​
Next chapter: heading back to the water for the first field survey of the coral reefs.

In our imagination, animal reproduction follows simple rules: a male, a female, and the continuation of the species. But in the Indian Ocean and beyond, life has developed strategies that overturn these certainties. Some species can change sex depending on their position in the social hierarchy. Others, in the total absence of a male, can give birth entirely on their own. These stories, which sound like science fiction, are in fact very real.

The Clownfish: A World Ruled by FemalesPopularized by the movie Finding Nemo, the clownfish has become one of the most famous ambassadors of the underwater world. Yet the film deliberately ignored a striking biological truth: in every anemone, it is a female that reigns supreme.
Their society is strictly hierarchical. The largest fish is the dominant female. Next comes a smaller breeding male, followed by a series of immature males waiting their turn. If the female dies, the breeding male changes sex and becomes female. One of the immature males then rises to take the vacant breeding role.
This phenomenon, called protandry, makes clownfish champions of biological flexibility. It ensures the colony’s survival — no group is ever left without a female. But it also challenges our notion of what is “natural.” Here, nature doesn’t freeze roles; it adapts them to the ecosystem’s needs.

Sharks: Giving Birth Without a PartnerIf clownfish are masters of flexibility, sharks push the limits of biological imagination even further. In several aquariums around the world, biologists have observed female sharks giving birth despite the complete absence of a male.
The first documented case dates back to 2001, with a bonnethead shark (Sphyrna tiburo). Since then, the phenomenon has been confirmed in other species: the zebra shark (Stegostoma tigrinum) and the leopard shark (Triakis semifasciata). DNA testing revealed that the offspring were indeed produced by a single female, without any male contribution.
The mechanism is known as parthenogenesis. In simple terms, the egg fuses with a polar body — a by-product of cell division during meiosis. The result is a viable embryo, but with reduced genetic diversity: the pup inherits only maternal DNA.
This form of “virgin birth” is not a miracle solution. It allows a solitary female to pass on her genes, but it does not guarantee the long-term survival of a species. A population that reproduces exclusively through parthenogenesis would quickly face the risks of inbreeding.

When Biology Outruns FictionThese phenomena may seem anecdotal, but they reveal much about life’s creativity. Marine biology is not locked into binary patterns; it is constantly experimenting, adapting, and reinventing.
For clownfish, sex change is a safeguard for colony survival. For sharks, parthenogenesis is an emergency fallback when no mates are available. Both strategies showcase extraordinary resilience.
Yet they also reveal the limits of that resilience. In today’s ocean — disrupted by climate change, overfishing, and habitat destruction — such mechanisms are not enough to save threatened species. They are biological stopgaps, not permanent solutions.

Lessons for UsWhat can we take from these stories, beyond their fascination?
First, they remind us that nature is infinitely more inventive than our cultural models. The notions of “male” and “female,” fixed in our minds, are in fact variables in the ocean — roles adapted to circumstances.
Second, they show that the survival of a species does not depend only on extraordinary biological tricks. It depends above all on the environment in which the species lives. A clownfish can change sex, a shark can give birth without a mate — but if their reefs vanish, if their oceans are emptied of fish, no adaptation will be enough.
Finally, they push us to reflect on our role. Observing these biological marvels should inspire awe, but also responsibility. Protecting habitats, limiting human pressure — that’s what gives these species the chance to display the full ingenuity of life.

Clownfish and sharks teach us a paradoxical lesson: nature can reinvent itself, but it is not invincible. Each strategy has its limits.
In a world where the ocean is changing at unprecedented speed, it is not enough to marvel at curiosities of biology. We must protect the conditions that allow them to exist. Because behind every camouflage, behind every fatherless birth, lies a simple truth: without a healthy ocean, even the miracles of biology fade away.