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Date: January 16, 2004
Location: Jacques Cousteau Marine Reserve, Ilets Pigeon, Guadeloupe, French West Indies

Jean-Michel Cousteau embraces the life-size bust of his father, Jacques, just before it is lowered into the water for installation in the "Jardin de Corail" (Garden of Coral), off Ilets Pigeon, Guadeloupe, French West Indies.   Photo credit: Ocean Futures Society

Guadeloupess two uninhabited offshore islands, Ilets Pigeon, rose to international acclaim in the 1960s, when Jacques Cousteau declared it one of the best dive sites he'd ever visited in the Caribbean. Since then, upwards of 60,000 dives have taken place in this 400ha marine reserve, thriving with coral and multi-colored fish.

On January 16, 2004, Jean-Michel Cousteau, along with life-long friend and colleague Albert Falco (Captain of Calypso), Michel Metery, Phillipe Chaulet (Mayor of Bouillante), Jean-Jacques Rodriguez, Dominique Derame (Diving Club), Denis Martin Laval (ship's doctor aboard Calypso) and other diving professionals, participated in the dedication of a bronze bust in honor of Captain Cousteau.

The life-size bust, designed with the Captain’s signature red cap, was installed underwater at a depth of 12 meters in the "Jardin de Corail" (Garden of Coral). The bust will be a point of interest to divers who visit this top dive site, off the beach known as "Plage Malendure", in the Jacques Cousteau Marine Reserve.

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