A message for women? ” Do not be afraid. Don’t listen to others. Believe in yourself. Marion Moriceau, 37, will be the heroine of a documentary on 6B on June 23, along with five other women who practice a profession supposedly reserved for men. This native of Les Sables d’Olonne is a diver. “I am a sea worker, a hyperbaric worker, that is to say under pressure from the sea, the ocean, a river… And we are asked to carry out work under water, up to at 50 m depth. »
About fifteen women work in this profession in France. Marion is often the only one on construction sites. This sometimes provokes hurtful remarks. “Ah, are you the secretary?” “, she has already heard. “You have to have character, not be afraid and persevere with self-confidence…”, says this year-round resident of Saint-Calais in Sarthe. Personal resilience is the story of his life. Because to be able to exercise this profession, Marion took a path strewn with questioning and permanent personal reinventions.
She works in communication in Paris
From an early age, Marion was bewitched by the sea. Coming from a family of fishermen and living in the Passage district, not far from the embankment of Les Sables d’Olonne, the child then the teenager surfed on a gun – a small surfboard – offered by his uncle. “I was on or under water all year. At 17, driven by a desire for financial independence, Marion joined the capital. She studied communication there alternately at the SNCF but also with a fashion designer. The young woman is not fulfilled. She even chokes. “I was extinct, I had no breath. The environment and the people did not inspire me. She manages the internal communications at the SNCF, but “deep down, I told myself that I was doing this to please my mother who wanted me to study”.
Full-time in communications, at the age of 21-22, a maelstrom of feelings of “failure and suffering” stirs Marion. Chance will come to his rescue. “One day, on the port of Les Sables, I discovered the job of a diver. A local company carries out an intervention on the lock gate. It’s like a revelation for Marion. “I thought that’s what I wanted to do. It was a very big trigger. I felt a new energy within me. It’s decided, the young Vendée frees herself from the recommendations of a mother, an architect, and a father, a building designer, to trace the road she has always dreamed of.
The fear of his life in a war zone in Libya
At the age of 23, Marion then returned to the Marie Nationale in Paris to become clearance divers. “They laugh at me then because there are hardly any women who do this job. I was told I had no chance. It made me crazy and very angry. I became obsessed. La Sablaise requires drastic preparation. Jogging, apnea, courses etc. At the same time, she follows an eight-month preparation for naval maintenance in an underwater environment. The young woman “reinvents herself” and “leaves the convictions transmitted behind her”, but “feels free”. She passes the selections. His bet is won. Very quickly, she was sent to war zones. Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya… Over there, she saw her greatest fear. During an extradition of civilians, she dives into an extremely dangerous area and a sea full of mines.
“After that, I didn’t want to renew my contract with the army. The reconversion is all found. Marion joined the National Institute of Professional Diving in Marseille with the job of… a diver in mind. Hands down, she once again passed the training. At 27, she plunges into the deep end of the diver’s job. Welding, cutting, formwork installation, cable routing… All this at a depth of several tens of meters (50 m maximum, derogation to go lower).
She goes around the world for years
The circle is complete for Marion. The flame that slept in her from a young age sparkles. With her temporary status, this childless single “travels all over the world”. Senegal, Dubai, Switzerland, Monaco etc. “Every week, I receive my program with my missions, some in extreme conditions with very complicated weather. » A career as a diver which is the pride of her whole family and which is a source of inspiration for many. “You have to believe in your dreams and tell yourself that nothing is impossible,” concludes Marion.