First crossings aboard the sailboat Diatomée

Cruising the oceans aboard their sailboat Diatomée, exploring and photographing underwater environments under apnea, sharing these unique experiences with guests, sailors, sportsmen, scientists and artists - that's it in a nutshell. La route saléethe crazy project of Marianne Aventurier andAlex Voyer.

We were lucky enough to meet Alex, here in Guéthary, on the terrace of a village bar. From Bobby Brown to Guillaume Néry, here's the story of some of their adventures and breathtaking images of aquatic choreography amidst fish and mammals.

My name is Alex voyer,
I am 42 years old,

As an aquatic photographer, I'm incredibly lucky to live between the most beautiful city in the world (Paris) and my sailboat Diatomée with my lover Marianne Aventurier. We met a few years ago on the banks of a Paris swimming pool, in a fin-swimming club (the CSF), and here we are now, trying to move forward and discover by ourselves new areas of underwater exploration under sail.

The idea behind Diatomée

Marianne and I have been passionate about exploring the underwater world and its inhabitants by snorkeling since we met 9 years ago. To go and meet wild animals and travel off the beaten track is not so simple, and takes a lot of time and energy. At some point, we decided to try it on our own, often disappointed by organized trips and time constraints. A sailboat was obviously the most suitable means of transport for us, one with a relatively low environmental impact, slow enough to enjoy and appreciate the miles covered, and in close proximity to what we wanted to see: exceptional underwater sites.

Beyond the somewhat "selfish" aspect of traveling around the world in love, we regularly welcome guests on Diatomée (artists, athletes and scientists) who have a particular link with water, in order to create an exchange of experience with them. What's more, Marianne is in constant contact with two elementary school classes in Paris. We talk regularly from on board, and when she comes ashore, she gives short talks and workshops to raise awareness of the beauty of the oceans and the importance of preserving them.

Discovering the sailboat

We bought Diatomée in 2017 in Italy. We wanted a sturdy boat to sail in the cold waters of the deep south with our great sailor friend Gilles Rigaud, but plans have changed a bit since then. So first we crossed the Mediterranean, then spent a long time in the Caribbean, where we learned to sail with Marianne (it's worth noting that we bought Diatomée, an 18-meter, 30-ton sailboat, without having any notion of navigation...), with magnificent stopovers in the Grenadines, the French West Indies and the Bahamas.

We then headed downstream against the Gulf Stream to Belize and Mexico, where the boat unfortunately remained motionless for almost a year, following an accident with a Mexican governor's yacht which collided with us... Mexico is a magnificent country, and these repairs enabled us to discover some magnificent places, including the famous Cenotes typical of the Yucatan region (an immense underground aquatic network in the middle of the jungle). We continued on our way to Panama, but this time it was the covid that delayed us from continuing our journey, as the borders were closed... Fortunately, last October, we were able to find Diatomée, get her back on her feet, and finally cross the canal and sail to the middle of the Pacific in French Polynesia!

Stopover in Tahiti

Tahiti and its 117 islands that make up French Polynesia are a very special stopover for us: first of all, we feel we've reached a major milestone in terms of navigation and autonomy. We knew nothing about sailing 4 years ago, and today we've managed to cross an ocean, at our own level, which is a huge satisfaction. We're still far from being great sailors, and we're still very humble when it comes to the ocean and navigation, because it's thanks to the latest technologies (GPS, weather...) that we've been able to do this in complete safety, and we still have a lot to learn from the sailboat.

Tahiti is also where I spent the first 6 years of my life, and I've been lucky enough to return a few times since. I've kept a few contacts there, so everything is much simpler than in Central America: exchanges, culture, communication... As soon as we arrived, we felt we were in an exceptional place. The vast majority of the islands are untouched by mass tourism, which makes them incredibly rich. What's more, the Polynesian people have a culture that is totally focused on the ocean, and they know and respect the marine environment in an exemplary way. And that's what we'll be trying to emulate over the next few years.

Journey with Guillaume Néri, the French freediving world record holder

Guillaume is a good friend, and the world of freediving is not very big. We all got to know each other very quickly, even though I'd never taken part in any competitions. When he heard we were going to sail across the Pacific, he offered to come and take part in the adventure with us, which fitted in perfectly with Diatomée's ambition to have guests on board regularly. So we crossed with him and his former roommate Cédric Palerme.

When we arrived on the Marquesas island of Nuku Hiva, we met Jonathan and Lucie, both of whom live on and run a very large catamaran sailboat ( Ateliers Embarqués ). As it happens, Jonathan was the first French baby to be born underwater, with the help of Jacques Mayol (the most famous of French freedivers, who inspired the film Le grand Bleu). Naturally, we quickly hit it off, and Guillaume became godfather of their superb association!

Meet Booby brown, the brown fool

On our last crossing from the Marquesas Islands to Tahiti, shortly after leaving, we heard a loud bang at the stern of the sailboat Diatomée. It was a brown booby, a bird, that had eaten the windmill. It spins very fast and can be extremely dangerous if you get too close. The bird was unconscious on the quarterdeck, and we didn't think it would survive the shock. We put it in a crate, covered with towels, and it gradually woke up with one eye closed. He couldn't hold his head up and refused to take anything. Fortunately, after 48 hours, he began to move again and stand on his own two feet. He began to wander between his crate and the diatomaceous earth deck, and loved to rest perched on the winch cranks. After 3 days, against all expectations, we saw him stretch his wings and fly away! His first few turns on the boat were a little uncertain, but after a few minutes we were delighted to see him fly away from us out to sea to join his fellow boobies. The English name for boobies is booby. So we naturally nicknamed him Booby Brown!

Dancing underwater

Marianne, in addition to being an excellent freediver and dancer, is a magnificent underwater model. We take all our photos freediving, for many reasons: the ease of use, the silence, the lightness of the equipment, the silence underwater. It's a much more discreet approach to marine fauna, an elegance, an aquatic fluidity... In my photos, I rarely show fauna on its own, even though I like to think of myself as an amateur naturalist. Marianne and I don't want to pit man and nature against each other, as is often the case. We want to show that we have our place in this aquatic environment, that we can also be accepted in the liquid element and its inhabitants. The very fact that we travel makes us realize that our impact on the environment is greater than that of the vast majority of the world's population. While we're on board Diatomée, we try to minimize this impact... We try to do our best. Sailing and freediving naturally seem to us to be the best ways of doing this.

Because Marianne and Alex's project is so similar to ours(we're inspired by the ocean and aware of the need to protect it), we'll be happy to follow them and bring you news...