DFW resident becomes record-setting undersea explorer
An area investor, entrepreneur, and retired naval officer has surpassed legendary film director James Cameron in the record books–and the record has nothing to do with movies.
Victor Vescovo, with his Five Deeps Expedition team and aboard the Limiting Factor vessel, became the deepest diving human in history as he reached the lowest point of the Pacific Ocean, an area called Challenger Deep, located at the bottom of the Mariana Trench (diving to a depth of 35,583 feet). The dive tops director James Cameron’s previous record-setting attempt, logged in 2012, by 52 feet. Dallas native Vescovo became the first person to dive the Challenger Deep more than once just three days later.
For a sense of scale, Wikipedia.org points out that if Mount Everest was dropped into this portion of the Mariana Trench, its peak would still be over 1.2 miles underwater.
The effort made waves online last month as major news outlets picked up the story, and additional reports emerged that the expedition discovered man-made plastic waste like candy wrappers and a plastic bag.
“Going to the extremes I believe is a natural inclination of man,” Vescovo told CNN about his expedition. “I think it’s a wonderful part of human nature that makes us want to push ourselves to the limits, which has helped propel us as a species to where we are now.”
This dive was the fourth in a series of five planned dives to the deepest points in each of the Atlantic, Southern, Indian, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans, as defined by the expedition team. The effort is being filmed for Discovery Channel. Vescovo is a notable explorer, having also completed the “Explorer’s Grand Slam,” which requires climbing the Seven Summits (the highest mountains on all seven continents) and skiing at least 100 kilometers to the North and South Poles.
The final of five dives on the Five Deeps Expedition is scheduled for September of this year. You can keep tabs on Vescovo’s progress at FiveDeeps.com or Twitter.com/FiveDeeps.
COURTESY: FiveDeeps.com, CNN.com, Wikipedia.org
