EXPLORATION ADVENTURE : SUPER RICH INVITED

SUPER RICH invited to the bottom of the Mariana Trench :

Everest? Tick. The North Pole? Done. Space Travel? Tickets booked. But what could be next on the list of the super-rich with a taste for adventure?

A British-US travel company believes it may have the answer.

The summer it intends to take six intrepid voyagers down into the deepest part of the sea - a place being billed as ''the most exclusive destination on Earth''.

For $750,000, aspiring adventurers can travel to  Challenger Deep, the deepest point in the ocean, which lies within the 1,580-mile long Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean.

More people have walked on the Moon - 12 in total- than visited the bottom of Mariana Trench, which lies at a depth of 35,853 feet.

Only seven people have ever been there - among them Titanic film director James Cameron, who in 2012 became the first person to descend to the bottom in 50 years.
''It was absolutely the most remote, isolated place on the planet,'' Mr. Cameron said at the time.

''I really feel like in one day I've been to another planet and come back.''

The travel company, EYOS Expeditions is working in cooperation with Caladan Oceanic to allow the three tourists to repeat Cameron's feat.
''This is the most exclusive destination on Earth,'' said Rob McCallum, founding partner EYOS Expeditions.

''Currently, only three manned expeditions have ever been made to the bottom of Challenger Deep and more people have been to the moon than to the bottom of the ocean.

''Four thousand people have been to Everest and 562 to space; only seven have made to Challenger Deep.
''This will be rare and special opportunity to participate in and help fund genuine exploration in the modern age.''

They will require no formal training, but will have to spend up to 14 hours in Limiting Factor submersible, which has already dived to the location five times.
Descending to the bottom will take four hours. The divers will spend four hours on the seafloor, where they will be the first ''civilians'' to lay eyes on this alien landscape.

They will then have four hours return to the surface.

The view at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, as seen in May 2019 when explorer Victor Vescovo reached the depths.

The Limiting Factor is the only vehicle ever constructed that is capable of multiple dives to full ocean depth. The occupants of the submersible are completely protected the 90mm thick titanium sphere and experience no pressure changes or psychological stresses at all, the makers say.

''We've had so much interest in this we've increased the number available places from three to 6,'' he told The Telegraph. ''And now we have three, possibly only two, places left.''

He would not be drawn who had signed up, only describing them as ''curious'', adventurous and successful individuals.''

Mr. McCallum said he would seize the opportunity ''in the blink of an eye'' if he could. ''It's actually a very relaxing experience'' - there's no movement. You need to learn to use the robotic arm, but that's it for training.

''And you're stepping into the history books. It's about as cool as exploration gets.''

The World Students Society thanks author, Harriet Alexander.