Westward bound!

After months of anticipation and coronavirus uncertainty, I’m finally on my way out to Guam to meet the ship that will take me to the Marianas Trench and the sub that will take me to the bottom of the Challenger Deep. Hooray!

I’ve fit all my gear into a carry-on suitcase and knapsack, but others in our gaggle aren’t traveling as lightly, as you can see. 

The big box at left is a new sediment sampler that will be sent down on an autonomous lander. Designed for Victor by students from a Dallas area high school. How cool is that!

I’m now traveling with Victor Vescovo, the adventurer who owns the sub and our surface ship, the Deep Submergence Support Vessel Pressure Drop. Also Rob McCallum of EYOS expeditions, who’s in charge of logistics and operations for Victor. Then there’s John Rost, who has climbed the highest mountain on each of the seven continents and is, on top of that, he’s an avid pilot and successful entrepreneur. John will join Victor on one of the dives during our leg of the expedition. Finally we have Enrique Alvarez, Voctor’s longtime friend and Navy intel shipmate, and videographer Nick Verola (in the photo). Quite the fun travel companions!

We’re now about halfway through our layover in Honolulu, watching our flight to Guam march towards the top of the departures board.