The Five Deeps Expedition creator Victor Vescovo is no stranger to adventure. In 2017 he completed the ‘Explorers Grand Slam’, having climbed the highest peak of all seven of the world’s continents. This summer, he became the first person in history to have been to both the top of all the world’s continents and the bottom of all its oceans.

We caught up with this intrepid explorer on board the Five Deeps research vessel, Pressure Drop, to find out a little more about where his drive comes from and what his experiences were of heading into previously unexplored ocean areas.

Oceanographic Magazine (OM): You seem to have moved from the world of pure adventure into one of exploration. What prompted that shift?

Victor Vescovo (VV): Well one is a good transition to the other. I guess the transition came from adventuring and mountain climbing – that’s a wonderful thing to be able to do. To then be able to migrate into exploring the areas that nobody has ever been to before is extremely exciting. I was, like so many people, stunned to find out that no one had dived to the bottom of four of the world’s oceans despite the fact that it’s technically possible, since people have been to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The wheels started turning and it seemed like a good symmetry, to go from climbing mountains to exploring the oceans. I’m not getting any younger and mountain climbing is a young man’s game. I feel that there’s maybe more of an intellectual challenge in organising an ocean expedition and finding the technology. It’s a different problem set, but in a way it was as interesting as purely focusing on the physical and mental stamina required for mountain climbing. It was just an evolutionary process.

OM: You’ve spoken very openly about wanting to visit space. Why do you think historically people have been more interested in studying outer space than the deep ocean?

VV: It’s a great question and it’s something I’ve talked about on board during our long voyages with our scientists – we think there are actually deep psychological issues in that area. We are born with an innate fear of drowning. When we look at the ocean, we can’t really see what is down there. We’re often told that it’s dark, cold and dangerous. Whereas the stars look heavenly. There are so many positive emotions associated with looking up at the heavens. And yet, the area of the ocean that’s deeper than 6000m is called the Hadal zone, after the Greek god of the underworld, Hades. So, deep down, even our language makes the oceans deep and dark and yet, if you have the proper tools, these waters can and should be explored. They are directly connected to us on land in terms of what happens to us.