DEEP OCEAN EXPEDITIONS - FIRSTS

Mike McDowell & Deep Ocean Expeditions
Innovators In Expedition & Submersible Adventures

1991 - Mike McDowell of Quark Expeditions pioneered the use of nuclear icebreakers to take adventure travelers to the North Pole.

1991 - McDowell opened up the frozen reaches of the Arctic and Antarctic to the discerning adventure traveler with the use of Russian icebreakers.

Late 1990's - McDowell and colleagues started a new company Space Adventures, an adventure space travel company dedicated to making space travel available to the general public. In 2001 Denis Tito became the first adventurer to travel into space followed by Mark Shuttleworth in 2002.

1998 - McDowell along with Dr Anatoly Sagalevitch, Dr Don Walsh and Dr Fred McLaren developed a new direction in expedition cruising: diving into the ocean's depth to the wreck of the Titanic for filming, adventure and in support of science.

1999 - Deep Ocean Expeditions organized a dive expedition to the Azores Undersea volcanoes on the mid-Atlantic ridge. This was the first time adventure travelers had ever been offered this deep diving opportunity.

2001 - McDowell and Deep Ocean Expeditions became the first to dive 16,000 feet to the wreck of the German battleship Bismarck 380 miles South West of Ireland.

2001 - Deep Ocean Expeditions and the MIR submersibles were used in an innovative high definition 3D format production, Ghosts of the Abyss, directed by James Cameron on location at the wreck of the RMS Titanic.

2001 - McDowell and Deep Ocean Expeditions pulled together several underwater experts and archaeologists to discover and make dives to the worlds deepest wooden shipwreck in nearly 16,000 feet of water in vicinity of the infamous Bermuda Triangle area.

2002 - Deep Ocean Expeditions and the MIR submersible operation recorded hundreds of hours of footage on the wreck of the Battleship Bismarck with a production team from the Discovery Channel

2003 - The Deep Ocean Expeditions season included the first ever "four-submersible dive". The two MIR submersibles and the two Deep Rover submersibles made a dive on the Mid Atlantic ridge 'Lost City' site.

2003 - The Deep Ocean Expeditions Deep Rover submersibles captured the world record-breaking freedive made by Francisco 'Pipin' Ferreras to 170metres off the coast of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

2005 - Deep Ocean Expeditions and the MIR submersibles act as a filming platform for the Discovery Channel Special broadcast entitled "Titanic Live". During the broadcast live images of the wreck were beamed from the ocean floor to millions of households throughout the USA using fiberoptic cables and microwave and satellite links.