James Cameron Arrives Mariana Trench on Deepest Ever Solo Sub Dive.

Canadian filmmaker becomes the third man to reach the deepest point of the oceans, to almost 11,000 meters; the first to have done this solo.

A shipboard crane lowers Cameron’s sub into the Pacific around 2 a.m. Monday, local time. Photograph by Mark Thiessen, National Geographic

Filmmaker James Cameron has just completed the first solo descent in the Mariana Trench, which its objective is to reach the deepest point of the oceans, 35,756 feet (10,898 meters) below the surface. The director of Titanic, The Abyss and Avatar has spent several hours Sunday, March 25 in the small capsule of his submarine, the Deepsea Challenge, before emerging again in the Pacific Ocean, 500 km southwest of Guam at 5:52 p.m. ET Sunday (7:52 a.m. Monday, local time), reports National Geographic Society, the partner of the expedition.

The descent of the submersible from the ship of the expedition, Mermaid Sapphire, lasted 2:36, while the back took only 70 minutes, according to National Geographic News. The Canadian 57-year-old spent several hours in the Mariana Trench, a subduction zone that extends over 2,500 kilometers in length. The submersible is equipped with lights and cameras but also of several instruments to collect samples (Video: Cameron Dive First Attempt in Over 50 Years). The information on this collection will be announced later.

James Cameron becomes the third man to be down about the deepest ocean, Deep Challenger. Only the Swiss Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh American were staying together in Trieste in 1960. Sole survivor of that historic expedition, Don Walsh was on board the Mermaid Sapphire.

James Cameron seems to be back healthy from this trip into the depths. He had to bend in his 1 meter 90 cm spherical capsule narrow, full of commands and various instruments, forcing him to sit bent his knees. At the narrowest point, the entrance hall of the sphere measures only 46 cm in diameter.

This dive might not remain an isolated exploit: James Cameron said he wanted to make several descents.

For more about this trip check NationalGeographic

Tagged Adventures, deepest point, Deepsea Challenge, James Cameron, Mariana Trench, the deepest ocean