Pascal Douillet's retirement party went off without a hitch on Thursday 9 July from 4pm to 7.30pm. Around fifty people from the IRD centre and outside the IRD were present, and everyone put on their best Hawaiian shirt.
Pascal really enjoyed the various surprises that were prepared for him:
A live Skype exchange with 4 Mexican colleagues, 2 career retrospectives: the first by Edouard Hnawia, IRD representative for New Caledonia, focusing on Pascal's various stays at the Nouméa centre, and the second by Richard Sempéré on his entire career and on behalf of all the M.I.O. staff.
Two short films were then shown: the first on the occasion of a minister's visit to the IRD centre and the second on the Bula oceanographic mission to Fiji, which modelled the hydrodynamics of the Suva lagoon.
Finally, thanks to his colleagues, a number of photos from his career were shown in a slide show, which Pascal commented on, sometimes with emotion...
Thanks to the generosity of his colleagues, Pascal received a number of gifts: a photo booklet containing the slideshow that everyone was able to sign; 2 plants: a Mexican avocado tree that Pascal had been looking for for a long time, an endemic plant called Captaincookia, a magnificent 1.60 m Melanesian sculpture in a fern trunk; and a superb case of very, very good wines, which Pascal is particularly fond of.
The day ended with a buffet dinner. Many thanks to Isabelle Biegala and Mina Vilayleck for organising the day.
All the best to you Pascal, from all the colleagues at MIO!