Flying the Explorers Club Flag
Daniel Jones (right) arrives in Bonaire after 50 hours of flying from the United Kingdom. Jones is a recent inductee in the Explorers Club of New York and is carrying one of their flags on this NOAA signature expedition. This flag has been on expeditions since 1934. Click image for larger view and image credit.
Members of the science party load a dive boat with the two Gavia AUVs and dive tanks. Today, the Explorers Club flag will join the science party on the Green Flash dive boat. Click image for larger view and image credit.
January 14, 2008
Daniel Jones
Explorers Club Member Director
Project Serpent
National Oceanography Centre
Southampton, United Kingdom
This expedition to Bonaire is a great example of modern exploration; we are using novel high-technology in remote areas for scientific discovery. As active field scientists and explorers, some of the team are also members of the prestigious Explorers Club 
, an international society dedicated to the advancement of field research and the ideal that it is vital to preserve the instinct to explore. Since its inception in 1904, the club's members have been responsible for an illustrious series of famous firsts: first to the North Pole, first to the South Pole, first to the summit of Mount Everest, first to the deepest point in the ocean, first to the surface of the moon.
When the Explorers Club committee heard of this expedition and its plans for mapping the uncharted deep waters around Bonaire, they thought it was an ideal choice for a “Flag expedition.” Each year, the club members' most exciting and highest profile expeditions are given the Explorers Club flag to fly. The flag has a long history, having been carried on hundreds of expeditions since 1918. It has flown at both poles, from the highest peaks of the greatest mountain ranges, travelled to the depths of the ocean, to the lunar surface, and outer space. On this expedition, we will carry the flag inside the Gavia autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) when it is surveying the deepest parts of the ocean we will visit around Bonaire. Carrying the Explorers Club Flag on this exciting expedition to Bonaire is truly an honour.
