The steep, arid slopes of the Andes Mountains beckon me again to ascend towards the snow-line where I will soon join the Planetary Lake Lander Team as part of a NASA and Aqua Survey Sponsored Project. For the nest 3 weeks I'll be posting  via Satelite connection, on the Official PLL Website, http://www.planetarylakelander.com/

I hope you'll join us there!

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Greetings Eric, 

As I sat down with my morning coffee and started to do some research for a new project I am developing, I ended up on an article profiling you, and the work you do and almost fell out of my chair. 

I am not sure if you have been emailed or approached before, but 
my name is Daniel *******, and I am a producer of unscripted television. I had developed and produced shows with National Geographic, Discovery and the History Channel and would love a chance to speak with you to find out more about the work you do, above and below sea level. 


According to your blog, it looks like you are overseas, but when you have a moment please let me know if you are open to having a quick chat. (we can skype, or email, or whatever works best for you) 


Thank you in advance for your time, I hope all is well with you. 

Best regards, 

Daniel

In A few days Ill depart for the Chilean Andes to re-join the Planetary Lake Lander Project. One of my roles this year, aside from collecting scientific data,  will be Outreach, meaning I hope to post a lot about our activities, both here and on the new PLL website, planetarylakelander.com
I hope you'll join us and follow the adventure!

Aqua Survey High Def. Productions Producers Garrett Hayes and Andrew Froening Made this film happen.
I hope you'll enjoy it and share it, because Im off to the Andes again this week in my new role of Education and Outreach Lead, and look forward to sharing my enthusiasm for this exciting project by making a lot of very short videos and sharing them, both here, and on the new  website for the Planetary Lake Lander Project

I was recently affected by a movie trailer that was so haunting  that I watched it over and over again  on the computer after coming home from the theater. The trailer impressed me more than the film I went to see.

The scene in the new movie "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" that I loved so much is where a black and white photograph of an brazen adventurer ( Sean Penn)  beckons the desk-bound introvert Walter ( Ben Stiller) to join him.

The image, pinned to corkboard, is so infused with  a landscape of danger that you can practically hear the jungle drums beating, and the choppers overhead. In one hand The Adventurer holds a Leica camera, (first choice of those willing to put their safety and comfort on the line to bring back images from the edge), and with the other , almost imperceptibly, he gestures for Walter, and the rest of us, to join him.

In the scant seconds that you have known him, you know well enough what Walter needs to do, and when he heeds your encouragement and nods his head that yes, he’s game, all hell breaks loose.

This scene, the film, and the 1939 short story by James Thurber that inspired it might be asking you and me a question:   Can you ignore this invitation to leave the comfort of your couch, your home, your lifestyle, and join the Adventurer?, Will  you, like Walter does in stunned amazement at the choice he is making, nod almost as imperceptibly as the original beckoning  gesture,  say “Yes to Adventure”?

I think the reason this scene affected me so much is that it represents what I had hoped to achieve since I first started saying that my passion is to share the excitement of scientific exploration. With my voyages, stories, and blog posts,  I have hoped  to encourage people in the simple act of saying yes to adventure. This beautiful film created by Ben Stiller appears to have captured that spirit perfectly. I just needed Sean Penns smoldering gaze to pull it off.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty  opens on Christmas day.

One of the most interesting people I met in Laos as part of Aqua Survey's Anti UXO Effort was Phong Savath ( who, like a lot of 20 year olds, prefers  to go by his internet tag, which is Peter Kim). This dance performance says without words why I, and everyone else that meets him, have an unmistakable amazement for the triumph of the human spirit.

Remember our friend Phong Savath (aka Peter Kim), from the movie Bomb Country? This irrepressible young man hasn't let the bomb that took his hands and sight stop him from pursuing his dreams, and the evidence is in the upcoming concert that has been his labor of love for years, and that he described to me when I first met him at the COPE center .

The concert date is approaching soon, and with Aqua Survey as one of its sponsors, Garrett Hayes and Haig Born departed today for the Lao Capital to film the action. I look forward to following via the We Are Kind Facebook page

My friend Asher Jay has a lot of passion for saving Africa's Wild Elephant population from potential extinction within 10 years due to poaching for Ivory,
Right now a beautiful billboard she designed is in Times Square to bring attention to the efforts being made to help put an end to the Ivory Trade. I wanted to support this effort, so Im re-tweeting the following, we're hoping that the media will pick this story up, too.

#ElephantInTimesSquare #CrowdFunded #Billboard designed by#AsherJay for #MarchForElephants #EndtheTrade #RefuseIvoryhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDkdFlPCd0M

Having participated in a couple of Dr. Nathalie Cabrols Mars Analog Adventures here on earth, I was excited to read and share this article "Exploring Earth's Alien Spaces"  profiling her work which appeared recently in Science News Magazine.

The Planetary Lake Lander project will continue its mission this year to prepare a robotic research vessel for the rigors of space travel and to navigate liquid surfaces of other planets, like the Methane Seas of Titan.  
Last year I was lucky enough to join the team in the Chilean Andes to help out; exactly the type of scientific exploration I live for. 

Here's a  photo from one of my bathymetry recording voyages upon Laguna Negra during  that trip.

Returning from the Caspian Sea, I dove strait into a survey on the Atlantic East Coast with this noble little ship. 30 years old and out of fashion, undersized for the mission and with room on board for only a minimalism-inspired crew,  the RV Stan Waterman is quite a switch from the ship ( featuring a crew of 18 including chef and steward)  I was aboard just a month ago.

Our first trips out the inlet were tentative, with all gear lashed hard in anticipation of waves coming over the house, which they did.  But the real Stan Waterman wasn't one to go week kneed at the first bit of seaweed in the antennae, and this touch little vessel lived up to the name,