TED Talks: What I Learned From Spending 31 Days Underwater -- Fabien Cousteau

Rating: *****

Adventure is possible in hundreds of forms.  Whether it be different forms of treks through mountains or forests, flight within the atmosphere or to outer space, interplanetary discovery, and even sitting down and becoming immersed in a good book.  With all different kinds of people pursuing these different forms of thrill seeking, it is astonishing how few of them have taken to the water.  There is approximately over 1 billion cubic kilometres of water on the planet (which about 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered with), and only around 5% of it has been explored - nevermind what of it has been mapped.

Fabien Cousteau and his team of researchers spent 31 days beneath the ocean in the last underwater research station still in the water.  The adventure lay not only in travelling to the “ancient” facility that Cousteau referred to as a leviathan of sorts, but in what they did once there.  They captured all sorts of footage of ocean creatures in their natural environments doing things that the human eye wouldn’t be able to see.  They used high tech equipment to achieve this, and along with using those research machines they also found out a few things they didn’t expect.  All kinds of the wildlife circulated and observed the vicinity while Cousteau and his team were there, evidently doing research of their own.  Cousteau dreams of a future where we can put more focus into this area of study and grow to the point where we might one day have underwater cities and free access to all for the opportunities of being an aquanaut.

Since I was a child I’ve loved all things aquatic.  The thought of the ocean and the seas and water in general are wonderment for me; how you can simply float through these masses almost like you’re weightless.  Of course my curious side also longs to study it further as well seeing as it is, aside from a number of the jungled areas on the planet, the only place humans have yet to truly explore.  So this article spoke to me simply because, while I read it, I felt that yearning for adventure, discovery, and curiosity grasping a hold of me again.  Like many stories I have read and written on before, it makes me evermore excited for my future pursuits.  I know without a doubt that I will make opportunity for myself to discover and explore my interests in these areas no matter what I’m doing and only hope that I will be able to help others do the same.

Cousteau, F. (2014) What I Learned From Spending 31 Days Underwater. TED Talks. Recovered: June 6, 2015.