A Filipino scientist is a member of a two-man team which will try to write deep sea expedition history by diving into the Emden Deep, the 3rd deepest spot on Earth.

Deo Florence Onda, a microbial oceanographer from the Marine Science Institute (MSI), University of the Philippines-Diliman, and his partner hope to be the first humans to reach the Emden Deep sometime between March 22 to 28.

Onda will be plunging into the uncharted abyss with American Victor Vescovo, onboard the DSSV (deep submersible support vessel) Pressure Drop.

Vescovo is no stranger to deep descents. He is the current record current record of the deepest manned descent in the Marianas Trench in 2019.

The Emden Deep is located in the Philippine Trench and is 34,100 feet deep. Such an expedition the pair would undertake is comparable to early outer space journeys and is described as a “major record-setting scientific and historic achievement” by the MSI. 

The historical implications of this journey by a compatriot into a place where no man has ever been before has pumped up the Filipino scientific community.

Jay Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines Institute of Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, likened Onda’s journey to the voyages of Spanish conquistadors half a millennium ago.

“The fact that Deo, a Filipino, will be among the first to descend into the Emden Deep, which is part of the Philippine Trench, makes it all the more symbolic on the occasion of the 500th year since Spanish contact with the inhabitants of the Philippine archipelago. It may have taken half a millennium, but it’s a start, it’s the Filipino’s turn to explore,” Batongbacal said in a Facebook post extolling Onda’s expedition.

Onda was invited to join the journey by Caladan Oceanic, a private organization that has been setting records for deepest manned descents in the world’s deepest trenches,

Emden Deep is located in the Philippine Trench, which is also known as the Mindanao trench. This submarine trench lies east of the Philippines, situated in the western Pacific Ocean.

National heritage

Including a Filipino scientist like Onda in the first ever human foray into the Emden Deep is fitting as the area is found within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines.

But as the Emden Deep expedition captured the imagination of Filipinos, Onda was feeling more restrained. He said while it seemed like a distant abyss, the Emden Deep is still part of Philippine waters.

The scientist said that the voyage must be seen in a bigger picture, in context with current issues on Philippine sovereignty.

“I hope this voyage will set an opportunity for me to explain to the Filipino people that the Emden Deep, although it is very, very deep, it is actually part of our national heritage,” Onda told Rappler in a Zoom interview

What to expect in the abyss?

The entire voyage down would take 10-12 hours, said Onda. The descent would be 4 hours. Then they would have 2 to 4 hours at the bottom to explore and look around. It takes another 4 hours going up.

“It’s still a test of human limitation,” Onda said about this prospect of the 12-hour voyage. Food and liquid intake will be limited, as there are no “bathroom breaks” inside the submersible.

Onda hoped to wave the Philippine flag in the Emden Deep, as a gesture to the Filipino people. – Rappler.com