Scottish soldier-turned-explorer Aldo Kane is on a mission to uncover the mysteries hidden in the ocean. He and a group of explorers board the state-of-the-art research vessel OceanXplorer in the new National Geographic series? OceanXplorers. The crew, led by narrator James Cameron, will be treated to an immersive view of never-before-reached areas 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 spoke out M&F about his service days, keeping fit as a civilian, and epic love of adventure.
“I had planned to join the Marines since I was about 12 years old,” says Kane, who fell in love with the camaraderie and sense of accomplishment he got from joining youth groups like the Boy Scouts and Army Cadets. “Well, I would 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 joined the Marines at 16, he remembers suffering from shin splints and other growing pains as he faced a force that had an average entry age of 23. “There was no military in my family,” he explains. “My twin. Ross and I were the first to join.”
Kane also recalls that the level of fitness required to join the Marines was a challenge he relished. “You go to the career 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 told me to come back when you can do 10, and so by the time I got to 16 I had worked on it. I could do 20.”
Aldo Kane loves to push the limits of what he can accomplish
Kane became one of the force’s youngest snipers at 16 and enjoyed being outside his comfort zone. “Being out in the open, pushed to my limits physically, mentally and emotionally at the time, I don’t think I was articulate enough to put it that way,” she says. “I was just looking for adventure, not warmongers or anything.”
However, there were also difficult times. Kane endured sleep deprivation and missing his family and had to suck it up when his superiors tested him. “It didn’t spoil me, in any way, because I just knew it was work, you know? There is no way they will physically harm you. You can only go as fast and hard and as you naturally can. And after that, what they want to see is that you have the commitment to dig deeper.”
At 26, Kane served at the top of his game. “It was very difficult for me at the 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 wasn’t a problem for him as a civilian. “What not [leave you] it is your interest in physical fitness, mental and emotional fitness. It’s, like, so hard-wired into me that I don’t even think that I’m ever going to get up in the morning and think that I don’t want to work out today, because it’s just one 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 is courage, determination, selflessness and cheerfulness in the face of adversity.
Now facing hilarious adventures on our TV screens and providing safety advice behind the scenes, Kane is still living his best life. “Really, when I think about all the jobs I’ve done over the years, even like, you know, in Ocean Explorers, What makes me work is the ability to do the right thing even when it’s the hardest thing. I learned that from the Marines.”
Still on edge, Kane watched his child enter the world via a video link while at sea doing the show. Now, the family man is focused on longevity. “For me, now it’s a lot more about strength and mobility, but I always put calisthenics in there,” she explains. “You know I always do the old school Marine, press ups, burpees, pull-ups, stuff like that. But mostly five days a week.”
Listening to Kane, you almost forget he climbed Everest last year too. However, creating OceanXplorers was an opportunity for him to return to his love of the sea.
“When OceanXplorers came along… in the interview process, I went to Los Angeles and interviewed James Cameron and his team, and I was chatting about my time in the Marines and being on the ship and I thought. I haven’t been on a ship in years, and especially a ship like the OceanXplorer, where it’s the most scientifically advanced ship on the planet. I just thought it would be really interesting. This, and [the fact that about] 80% of the ocean is still unexplored. So going underwater, diving, working with scientists was like a big tick for me.”
The OceanXplorer vessel has two submarines, a helicopter and all kinds of mapping instruments. “But what I found interesting was that the ship can have all the means deployed at the same time, including divers in the water,” he says. “What they do is incredibly effective. And the thing I really liked about it, is that everything they do is almost new. So it’s science and exploration that go hand in hand.”
Kane tells M&F that diving with humpback whales was one of his favorite experiences of the series. He also knows that exploration is becoming less about detaching from the environment and more about figuring out how to protect it.
“I know one of the big points of being interviewed by James Cameron and the team was how interested I was in science and promoting what we know about the oceans,” he explains. “This is obviously a huge passion for James and the rest of the team. There was really a big push on it. And as far as I know, there were several scientific papers that have been published or will be published on the back of that. So this isn’t just a TV show, it’s something that has, you know, a legacy.”
Watch OceanXplorers on NatGeo starting August 18. Follow Aldo Kane on Instagram!
