Victor Vescovo

So it was risky in terms of just being able to get it done.

We had no idea if it was going to work.

But we put together the whole project and I was able to build, you know, like an Ocean's Eleven type of team to build the sub, build the logistics, build the surface vessel to support it, the hydrographers to map the ocean floor.

All these pieces had to come together.

And they did.

I mean, what an adventure.

It was great.

And we did a lot of amazing science.

And I think we sparked at least a little bit more interest in the deep ocean where there's now more people investing money, governments and individuals to dive in the deep ocean and investigate it like the people that bought my system.

So sometimes exploration, even if it looks like it's kind of a one-off thing or a look at me kind of thing, I think it can actually have real contributions to science and technology.

Oh, every dive we went on, we typically found a new species, which the scientists later said, well, it'd be surprising if we didn't, because these are isolated parts of the ocean floor that have had tens of millions of years of evolution, and no one has ever been there.

So yeah, you're going to find some different species, so why wouldn't you?

But that was pretty cool.

What kind of species did you find?

Well, the deeper you go, the smaller they get.

So, you know, the scientists, you know, they love their microbes and they love doing DNA analysis and all that, but there are small amphipods.

They're like miniature shrimp.

They're little worms.

They're not something that people are going to go, ooh, ah, like looking at, you know, a lion on the Serengeti.

But from a biological standpoint, they can be quite distinctive and very unique.