STUFF – Going where no man has gone before

Published on Sunday, August 18th, 2013, under Media

 

Ellis Emmett is in his element in his new diving show ‘Descending’ on the Travel Channel.

Jacques Cousteau is responsible for Ellis Emmett’s passion for the ocean.

The New Zealand author (A Wild Obsession), TV presenter (Don’t Forget Your Passport), photographer, adventurer and guide fondly remembers watching Cousteau on television as a child, and credits this for igniting an interest in scuba diving – a hobby which turned into a profession.

Emmett is now hoping his new Travel Channel TV show will help to inspire the next generation “to build a relationship with the ocean as well”.

Descending is a 13-episode series, part dive show, part travelogue, in which Emmett and Canadian co-hosts Scott Wilson and Andre Dupuis travel to the world’s most fascinating underwater locations.

Wilson and Dupuis will be familiar to viewers of another Travel Channel series, Departures, a journey around the world which they hosted with Justin Lukach.

They wanted to continue their exploratory journey with Descending, this time getting to know the three-quarters of our planet that is under water.

Lukach wasn’t a diver, so Wilson and Dupuis called on old friend Emmett to come on board.

“My roots and passions are adventure and discovery,” Emmett says, “so I accepted”.

The first two episodes of the series focus on New Zealand, which gave Emmett the perfect excuse to show off his home country’s incredible diversity.

“I had so many places I had dived that I wanted to show the guys, and also showcase to the world,” Emmett explains.

“But I also had a few places I hadn’t yet been and I wanted to experience those and showcase them as well.”

Their New Zealand dives include Milford Sound, the Poor Knights, and Lake Waikaremoana, experiencing the unique habitats and environments created by rainfall, geology and topography of the land.

The best thing about these dives, Emmett says, is that these dives are accessible to all New Zealanders.

The team then head off on a global adventure, visiting locations as far flung as Indonesia, Canada, the Caribbean, South Africa, California, the Solomon Islands and Iceland.

The journey took Emmett to places he had “never dreamed of going, some places I’d never even heard about before.”

“People ask me what was the most amazing place you saw, or the most amazing place you went, or most amazing thing you did. To be honest, we were having once in a lifetime experiences every five or six days, going to these incredible places.”

It didn’t all go smoothly, however, and the series will capture the dangerous encounters as well as the moments of wonder and beauty.

In Iceland, diving between two tectonic plates in 2 degree water, Emmett ran into trouble.

“My regulator froze up, turned to ice and I had to do an emergency ascent to the surface,” he recalls.

“We went back to do some filming about two hours later and it froze up again. We didn’t just go travelling around the world and go diving in pretty reefs. That’s not what the show is about.

Ad Feedback “We really wanted to delve into some of the more diverse places on the planet. In order to do that you’ve got to challenge yourself and you’ve got to grow and you’ve got to bounce with the knocks.”

As well as opening viewers’ eyes to what can be found under water, Emmett says Descending aims to inspire an increased environmental awareness and love of the ocean.

“Our hope is a lot of people will get out there and experience the ocean for themselves and once you build your own relationship with it then you become a lot more passionate about it.”

And for those viewers who watch the show and get a yearning to get out there and get wet, Emmett has some simple advice.

“If you’ve never had any experience with the oceans before, just go and buy yourself a snorkel and a set of fins and go and splash about. Just go for a swim in the ocean and go and have a look. If you’ve never done that before I guarantee it will blow you away,” he says. “And if you get into that, go and look into doing a dive course and get the right experience, the right education and the right tools to do it yourself. Then play by the rules and play it safe.”

Descending, Wednesday, 8.30pm, Travel Channel

– © Fairfax NZ News