If you go
› What: Rivers to Oceans: An Evening With Ocean Explorer Fabien Cousteau› Where: Tennessee Aquarium, River Journey building, 1 Broad St.› When: 6-9 p.m. Thursday, July 19› Admission: $40 Aquarium members, $50 nonmembers› For more information: www.tnaqua.org/events-programs
It’s almost unimaginable anyone would give a preschooler a weight belt, mask and air tank and invite them to dive into the open ocean. Unless, of course, the last name is Cousteau.
“I’ve been scuba diving since my fourth birthday,” laughs Fabien Cousteau, grandson of famed ocean advocate and documentarian Jacques Cousteau. “It’s always been an integral part of my life. Of course, when you are young, you don’t necessarily understand the full implications of how lucky you are to have such an unusual upbringing.”
By age 7, Cousteau began accompanying his grandfather and equally famous father, Jean-Michel Cousteau, on expeditions around the world. The deck of the Cousteau family’s famed research vessel, Calypso, became a kind of classroom, where his mind was opened by the sea creatures he observed and the cultural exchanges he experienced.
Cousteau will share some of his memories of ocean exploration while helping raise awareness and support for the Aquarium’s freshwater conservation projects on Thursday, July 19, when he visits the Tennessee Aquarium.