Scottish military-man-turned-explorer, Aldo Kane is on a mission to uncover the mysteries hidden in the ocean. He and a team of explorers climb aboard the state-of-the-art OceanXplorer research vessel in the new National Geographic series; OceanXplorers. The crew, led by narrator James Cameron, will take an immersive view of areas that have never been reached before as they try to uncover some secrets of the deep that may lead to a more sustainable future for our seas.
Now back on land, the former Royal Marines Commander talked to M&F about his days of service, maintaining his fitness as a civilian, and an epic love of adventure.
“I had planned on joining the Marines from when I was about 12,” says Kane, who fell in love with the camaraderie and sense of achievement he got from participating in youth groups such as the boy scouts and army cadets. “So, I’d sort of read as much as I could about the Marines for the previous four years. I kind of knew what I was getting into.”
While Kane entered the Marines at 16, he recalls suffering with shin splints and other growing pains as he got to grips in a force that had an average entry age of 23. “There were no military people in my family,” he explains. “My twin; Ross, and I were the first ones to join up.”
Kane also recalls that the level of fitness required to enter the Marines was a challenge that he relished. “You go into the careers office and the first thing they would say is do 10 pull-ups. And, obviously I could do about 3, but that gave me a goal. They basically said come back when you can do 10, and so by the time I got 16 I’d been working on it. I could do 20.”
Aldo Kane loves to push the limits of what he can accomplish
Kane became one of the forces’ youngest snipers at 16 and loved being outside of his comfort zone. “Being in the outdoors, being pushed to my limits physically, mentally, and emotionally at the time, I don’t think I was eloquent enough to put it like that,” he says. “I was just chasing adventure, not warmongering or anything like that.”
Still, there were difficult times too. Kane endured sleep deprivation and missed his family and had to suck it up when his superiors tested him. “It didn’t actually break me, in any way, because I just knew that it was a job, you know? There’s no way they can physically hurt you. You can only go as fast and as hard and as long as you physically can go. And then after that, what they want to see is that you’ve got the commitment to dig in.”
At 26, Kane left service at the top of his game. “This was very difficult for me at that time,” he says. “It’s all I knew and it’s all I wanted to do…but the best thing I ever did was join and the second-best thing I ever did was leave. I’m 46 now, so I left 20 years ago.”
Fortunately, staying in shape hasn’t been a problem for him as a civilian. “What doesn’t [leave you] is your interest in physical fitness, mental fitness, and emotional fitness. That’s, like, so hardwired into me that I don’t even think like I’ll ever get up in the morning and think I don’t want to train today, because it’s just a thing, it’s like breathing. I just get up and do it. But, the other thing that sticks is the commando spirit, which is four things. It’s courage, determination, unselfishness, and cheerfulness in the face of adversity.
Now cheerfully fronting adventures on our television screens and providing consultancy on safety behind the scenes, Kane is still living his best life. “Really, when I think to all the jobs that I’ve done over the years, even like, you know, in OceanXplorers, what gets me the jobs is that ability to do the right thing even when it’s the hardest thing to do. I learned that in the Marines.”
Still finding himself in extreme situations, Kane watched his child enter the world via a video link while out at sea making the show. Now, the family man is focused on longevity. “For me, it’s much more about strength and mobility now, but I always put calisthenics in there,” he explains. “You know I’m always doing the old-school Marine stuff, press ups, burpees, pull-ups, that sort of thing. But mainly five days a week.”
Listening to Kane, you almost forget that he climbed Everest last year as well. Making OceanXplorers was a chance for him to get back to his love of the sea, however.
“When OceanXplorers came up… in the interview process, I went over to LA and was interviewed by James Cameron and his team, and I was chatting about my time in the Marines and being on ship and I thought; I haven’t been on a ship for years, and especially one like the OceanXplorer, where it’s the most scientifically advanced vessel on the planet. I just thought it would be really interesting. That, and [the fact that about] 80% of the ocean is still unexplored. So getting to go down in submarines, diving, working with scientists was like a big tick for me.”
The OceanXplorer vessel boasts two submersibles, a helicopter and all manner of mapping instruments. “But what I found interesting was that the ship can have all of the assets deployed at one time including divers in the water,” he says. “What they’re doing is incredibly efficient. And the thing that I really enjoyed about it, is that everything they’re doing is almost new. So, it’s the science and exploration that go hand in hand.”
Kane tells M&F that diving with humpback whales was one his most beloved experiences in the series. He’s also aware that exploration is becoming less about taking from the environment and more about figuring out how to protect it.
“I know that one of the big sort of interview points from James Cameron and the team, was how much I was interested in the science and furthering what we know about the oceans,” he explains. “That is obviously a huge passion for James and for the rest of the team. There was actually a big push on that. And as far as I’m aware there were quite a few scientific papers that have been, or will be, published off the back of that. So, that’s not just a television program, that’s something that has, you know, a legacy.”
Watch OceanXplorers on NatGeo from August 18. Follow Aldo Kane on Instagram!