{"id":7747,"date":"2015-01-06T08:56:57","date_gmt":"2015-01-06T07:56:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/petitesbullesdailleurs\/?p=7747"},"modified":"2022-12-02T09:19:29","modified_gmt":"2022-12-02T08:19:29","slug":"plonger-port-cros-mediterranee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/plonger-port-cros-mediterranee-20150106\/","title":{"rendered":"Exotic Mediterranean Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"

The coral of the tropical seas has to be careful. The bottoms of the Mediterranean Sea are also very beautiful. The proof in flashy pink at Port-Cros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Memories of summer 2014: diving in Port-Cros<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
At the end of July 2014, I was in Hy\u00e8res, in the Var. And I still can't believe what I saw underwater. When the coral (of red gorgonians<\/a>) revealed bright tropical hues - pink, purple, red - under my flash, I was hallucinating... \ud83d\ude2e <\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"So,$ <\/a>
So, yes... It was worth it to face the 16\u00b0C at the bottom for such colors... (Port-Cros, Hy\u00e8res, France, July 2014)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Well, I admit, at first, I wonder what I'm doing here, swimming in cold water, above a monotonous expanse of Posidonia<\/a> with my 7D<\/a>... <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I start by trying to turn my little friends into graceful shadows on a blue background. Not very conclusive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t $\"This$ <\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tThis is the first time I've seen the famous Mediterranean seagrass with my own eyes. It's a plant, not an algae. It's fragile and threatened by boat anchors that don't respect mooring areas. (Port-Cros, Hy\u00e8res, France, July 2014)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t $\"I'm$ <\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tI'm a little scared at first... There aren't many fish, though... (Port-Cros, Hy\u00e8res, France, July 2014)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t $\"Where$ <\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tWhere are the fish? (Port-Cros, Hy\u00e8res, France, July 2014)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
And then the bright colors of the gorgonians and the life appeared. There are big placid groupers, which are legion in the area - we are on the site of La Pointe du Vaisseau, near the island of Port-Cros. And then some nice pink nudibranchs, impossible to photograph with a fish-eye. Small schools of bright-silver fish with yellow stripes, whose name I do not know. And even some barracudas on the move! But they are a bit too far away for good pictures...<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The more it goes, the more I enjoy this new Mediterranean environment, unheard of for me - the Breton diver who fears cold water and only fins in tropical seas anymore... \ud83d\ude1c <\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Two$ <\/a>
Two big sleeping groupers take off from their rock when they see the divers arrive... (Port-Cros, Hy\u00e8res, France, July 2014)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"You$ <\/a>
You want my picture? (Port-Cros, Hy\u00e8res, France, July 2014)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Even the posidonia, this aquatic plant (which is not a seaweed) that I only knew through TV reports, and that I discovered for the first time with my own eyes, became a fascinating subject, undulating with the swell. A show in its own right, very difficult to photograph...<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gaby, from the \u00c0 l'Eau Plong\u00e9e center (whose name has become Eco Diving<\/a>), who accompanied me and Christ\u00e8le, my partner of the day, even played the models for my lens near the big rock covered with pink coral! Really nice, I appreciate it. \ud83d\udc4c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am exhausted, but I take it upon myself to throw a few last flashes at the end of the dive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t $\"Grouper$ <\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tGrouper face. (Port-Cros, Hy\u00e8res, France, July 2014)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t $\"Fuchsia$ <\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tFuchsia pink coral under the light of my flashes. (Port-Cros, Hy\u00e8res, France, July 2014)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
$\"Divers$ <\/a>
Divers release their bubbles above the posidonia expanse. (Port-Cros, Hy\u00e8res, France, July 2014)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"Posidonia$ <\/a>
Posidonia provides shelter for small fish (Port-Cros, Hy\u00e8res, France, July 2014)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t $\"At$ <\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tAt the foot of the drop, posidonia swells under the swell. (Port-Cros, Hy\u00e8res, France, July 2014)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t $\"At$ <\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tAt the foot of the drop, posidonia swells under the swell. (Port-Cros, Hy\u00e8res, France, July 2014)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
My enemy: the cold<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Back on the boat, I was shaken by violent tremors, impossible to repress. My poor worn out 5 mm (I put a shorty-cagoule over it though) and my frail body of frigid are not adapted to the Mediterranean waters of about twenty degrees on the surface at this time and barely 15-16\u00b0C in depth... \ud83e\udd76 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Alain's boat, which holds the center Eco Diving<\/a> (ex-\u00c0 l'Eau Plong\u00e9e) in La Londe-les-Maures, is equipped with HOT water showers!!! \ud83d\udc4f Supreme luxury and happiness. Those who never feel cold (but really cold) underwater can't understand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"I'm$ <\/a>
I smile for the picture, but I'm freezing when I get out of the water... (Port-Cros, Hy\u00e8res, France, July 2014)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Most of my short stay in Hy\u00e8res was devoted to a apnea course<\/a>I only found time to do one small exploration trip with a tank in the Mediterranean waters... A first in my little diver's life, I had never dipped my fins in them before! Porquerolles, Port-Cros, the peninsula of Giens : these famous sites in the south of France<\/a> are really super-exotic spots for me... <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I will surely go back there, one day soon. But not before I have seriously equipped myself with a wetsuit adapted to these waters which are too cold for my taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Update, December 2022.<\/mark><\/strong> Alas, the red gorgonians of the Mediterranean have experienced a massive die-off, in this summer of 2022, due to abnormally high water temperatures, caused by global warming. With great sadness, I realize that this article from 2014 is now a testament to what has been and is no more. I invite you to read this other article I just published in the evening edition<\/em> d'Ouest-France<\/em> on the mission \"Noah's Ark of the Deep\" launched by the 1Ocean Foundation, the CNRS and Unesco, to study the deep forests of gorgonians (beyond 40-50 meters) which, for the moment, have survived:

\u27a1\ufe0f They explore the deep wrecks of the Mediterranean to save the dying gorgonians<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"When$ <\/a>
When you come from Brittany, the Mediterranean coast is \"exotic\"... (Hy\u00e8res, France, July 2014)<\/figcaption><\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The coral of the tropical seas has to be careful. The bottoms of the Mediterranean Sea are also very beautiful. 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Moi aussi. Ici ou ailleurs, de la Bretagne \u00e0 l'Indon\u00e9sie, je vous emm\u00e8ne sous la surface faire des bulles et d\u00e9couvrir les merveilles de l'oc\u00e9an. Plongez \u00e0 travers l'\u00e9cran !","parent":0,"count":171,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"}]},"author_name":"Corinne Bourbeillon","author_url":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/author\/cbourbeillon\/","author_email":"corinne.pbda@gmail.com","author_website":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/corinne-bourbeillon\/","author_description":"Journaliste, plongeuse et\u00a0photographe sous-marine, Corinne adore faire des bulles avec les\u00a0poissons\u00a0! La beaut\u00e9 du monde et\u00a0de\u00a0l'oc\u00e9an lui ont inspir\u00e9 ce blog. \r\n\r\n En savoir plus<\/a>","author_facebook":"","author_twitter":"","author_instagram":"","author_role":["administrator"],"author_firstname":"Corinne","author_lastname":"Bourbeillon","user_login":"cbourbeillon","author_avatar":"","author_avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7542464a0f3c6a1baf2af7786ad5764b10f9d60908fb1278a969310cf533aedd?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","comment_count":10,"post_likes":0,"post_views":0},"tpgb_post_category":{"category":"France : C\u00f4te d'Azur - juillet 2014<\/a> ","post_tag":"France<\/a> M\u00e9diterran\u00e9e<\/a> Hy\u00e8res<\/a> Port-Cros<\/a> Plong\u00e9e<\/a> "},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/corail-port-cros-4419.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7747"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51063,"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7747\/revisions\/51063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}