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www.privateairny.com Private Air New York | Spring 2015 24 PHILANTROPHY For New York City-based Cousteau, what was especially compelling was that living in this underwater habitat for an extended period of time gave unprecedented access which differed from that of scuba diving. "We saw it through a very different lens because of the adaptation of our neighbors to our presence and their acceptance of us being there as one of them," says Cousteau. "To some extent even a kinship with our presence in their world, which is pretty fascinating because all of a sudden, you start seeing what animals do when we're not around, and that gives us a very different perspective on the ocean world." Far from being ready to escape the enclosed, isolated space of Aquarius and return to the surface, Cousteau could have stayed longer. "If we had unlimited financial support from the powers that be, whether they be government, corporate or private, I would easily have stayed down another month," he says. "e interesting part for me personally was that I felt less and less connected with the topside world and more and more entrenched in this little underwater city and the neighbors that we were studying." is affected Cousteau greatly in terms of his goals for the future. "It really became apparent to me not only that I was very attached to my new home at the bottom of the sea, but we needed to continue the momentum of the outreach." How will he continue trailblazing in ocean exploration and conservation? He is fired up about his Mission 31 documentary, which was previewed at the BLUE Ocean Film Festival in St. Petersburg, Florida In November. en in early 2015, he will unveil the Fabien Cousteau Ocean Learning Center in Florida. e learning platform will continue Mission 31's education outreach to children and young people around the world. "It will give the general public a taste of what it's like to be an aquanaut," says Cousteau. ey will also be able to engage with Cousteau directly through social media and interactive videos. However the intrepid Cousteau is not stopping there. "What I'm looking forward to is building a completely self-sufficient and environmentally- responsible, modern underwater city. at's my vision for the future," he says. "Obviously, we need to fundraise for that." e project has already attracted interest from Northeastern University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but he's also looking into potential private investment. "We want to push forward, to look further and to go deeper and stay down longer than we have in the past," he says resolutely. ere is no doubt that Cousteau is continuing the ocean legacy of his pioneering grandfather. What does he take with him from Jacques Cousteau? "You know, I very much admire his passion and his vision to the future," he says. "He was a very forward thinking person, a visionary, a very creative person, and I suspect the greatest gift that I received from him is the notion that nothing is impossible." From Left: A young Fabien with grandfather Jacques Cousteau in 1970 (Photograph courtesy of Anne Marie Cousteau) and Fabien after an epic 31 days living and working in the world's only underwater marine laboratory (Photography by Carrie Vonderharr)

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