- [Narrator] When we think of the ocean,
we think of the beach.
But I'm speaking to one of a handful of people
who have been to the deepest depths of our oceans.
(phone rings)
- [Bruce] My name is Bruce Strickrott,
and I am currently the senior pilot
and manager of Alvin Operations Group
at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
- [Narrator] Phew.
He pilots a submarine called Alvin,
and he works with scientists to explore
deep ocean life and terrain.
- [Bruce] Yeah, our average depth on most dives
is between 2,500 and 3,000 meters.
- [Narrator] That's almost two vertical miles.
This is what it feels like
to go 10,000 feet below the water's surface.
- [Bruce] We dive, often, down near the equator,
so it's bright and sunny.
It's early morning, it's nice.
You'll dive in the water and you hit a color of turquoise
that I have never been able to see anywhere else.
- [Narrator] But that blue doesn't last long.
- [Bruce] It's easy to lose light
within five to ten minutes, easy.
- [Narrator] And you're left suspended
in seemingly black water.
- [Bruce] The sub spins the whole way down
and the whole way up, but you don't even notice.
The only way you can tell is,
you can look at the compass and see it's turning around.
- [Narrator] Within that darkness, small flashes emerge.
These are from animals who live at these extreme depths.
- [Bruce] You hit lots of bioluminescence.
The amount that you can see outside is astounding.
- [Narrator] And then you hit the bottom.
- [Bruce] When you get to the site
that you're headed to and you turn the lights on,
there's a huge wow factor there.
- [Narrator] In particular, areas with geothermal vents
or these underwater geysers, massive structures
that rise thousands of feet up towards the surface.
- [Bruce] The view out the front
is astounding because there's nothing like it
anywhere else on the planet, nothing.
Our perspective is altered by our experience
because you can't go and look at the ocean anymore
and think of it just as this endless, flat surface of water.
You have an understanding of what's underneath it.
(inspiring music)