Gombessa Expeditions - La Réunion | Blancpain Ocean Commitment

In February 2017, the marine biologist, photographer and deep diving pioneer Laurent Ballesta explored a young underwater eco-system created in the wake of a volcanic cataclysm that devastated the ocean off Reunion in 2007.

April 2007. The Piton de la Fournaise volcano on Reunion Island erupts. An exceptional eruption, such has not been seen in thirty years. The lava flows reach the ocean, destroying everything in their path, both on land and sea.

Laurent Ballesta and his team decided to go to Reunion Island and see how life is growing ten years after the eruption, which offers a unique opportunity to study the birth of a whole new eco-system.