Deep Impact

As one of the world’s leading oceanographers, Rolex Testimonee Dr Sylvia Earle has defied social conventions and more, in her mission to conserve our planet’s blue oceans. Amy Yasmine speaks to the living legend in Singapore, as she opens up about her greatest discovery, and how curiosity can be humankind’s saving grace.

- Amy Yasmine

They say to never meet your heroes. But whoever came up with that line, clearly never met Dr Sylvia Earle. Dubbed ‘Her Royal Deepness’, the American octogenarian is a living legend whose reputation precedes her. She is after all, the scientist who led the world’s first all-female team of aquanauts 15 metres underwater in 1970, before setting a record-breaking depth of 381 metres in her JIM suit invention (the very same one used by film director James Cameron in his documentary Deepsea Challenge 3D). And as if that wasn’t enough, at the age of 63, she had gone on to become Time Magazine’s first Hero for the Planet in 1998, and then (after a string of many more awards later) a TED Prize in 2009, enabling her to establish the non-profit organisation, Mission Blue.

Indeed, it’s her tenacity and unbridled courage that first caught my attention five years ago, having stumbled upon her 2014 documentary Mission Blue on Netflix, directed by Short Circuit’s Fisher Stevens. From swimming with whale sharks in Louisiana to rehabilitating the now barren Gulf of Mexico, the documentary detailed the explorer’s vast insight into the world’s deepest depths, bringing to light the harsh realities of this ever-changing world. To those whose fascination revolves around such issues, her endeavours have become somewhat of a gold standard—inspiring many others along the way, including most notably of all, Swiss watchmaker Rolex.