36,000 feet into the sea

Some have compared the exploration to walking on the moon — only it was in the opposite direction.

Don Walsh, an Oregon resident who visited Costa Mesa on Friday, was part of the first — and last — mission to descend 7 miles beneath the sea. It was roughly 200 miles off the coast of Guam, in a place called the Marianas Trench, the lowest point of the ocean floor on Earth.

It was 50 years ago today that he and co-pilot Jacques Piccard climbed inside a 54-foot-long self-propelled submarine-like vessel, setting a world record that has yet to be broken.

“It was just another day at the office,” said 78-year-old Walsh as he stood by a replica of the Rolex watch that made the trip with him Jan. 23, 1960, strapped to the outside of the cabin.

The Rolex store at South Coast Plaza invited Walsh to make a special appearance in what, yes, was part of a publicity stunt that wasn’t much different from famous athletes who receive endorsements.

The only difference is that Walsh is about as modest as they come and his feat is, sadly, a somewhat obscure one — mostly known only to oceanographers, explorers and adrenaline junkies.

The purpose of the voyage, under the direction of the U.S. Navy at the time, was to see if life existed at such rock bottom depths while test-driving the Trieste, the name of the vessel, technically known as a submersible.

Life did exist.

Piccard and Walsh saw shrimp and foot-long flounder during their half-hour stay. In all, the trip took five hours going down and three hours going back up.

As for the watch, which was put on display briefly at the store, it withstood 8 tons of pressure per square inch during the descent, the equivalent of four cars piled on top of it, according to Rolex Watch USA Executive Vice President Doug Meine.

Meine, who made the trip to Orange County from New York City, met Walsh a year ago in San Francisco. Meine said he had his sights set on this historic commemoration for at least five years.

“As far as historic events go, the way I see it, there’s walking on the moon, there’s ascending Mount Everest and then there’s this,” said Meine, referring to Walsh’s 36,000-foot journey to the bottom of the sea.

To this day, Walsh, a retired U.S. Navy captain, is surprised that nobody has tried to repeat the underwater trip. With all the space exploration and the billions of dollars invested in space shuttle launches, Walsh said he hopes that the government some day returns to paying more attention to undersea exploration.

“And here I thought the record would be broken within a year,” said Walsh, who will return to his hometown of Dora, Ore., on Sunday with his wife, Joan, who was his girlfriend at the time of his voyage.

And what was Joan doing Jan. 23, 1960, while her boyfriend, then 28, was dropping at ear-popping depths?

“I think she went skiing in Big Bear,” Walsh said. “There was nothing else she really could do.”