Cameron: Earth's deepest spot desolate, foreboding

(AP) -- Diving to the deepest part of the ocean, filmmaker James Cameron says the last frontier on Earth looks an awful lot like another planet: desolate and foreboding.

Cameron on Monday described his three hours on the bottom of the Marianas Trench, nearly 7 miles down in a dark freezing and alien place. He is the only person to dive there solo, using a sub he helped design. He is the first person to reach that depth, 35,576 feet, since it was initially explored in 1960.

Cameron says he worried about being too busy with exploration duties to take in just how amazing this place was. That happened to Apollo astronauts.

So he says he took time to stare at the moon-like barren surface and to appreciate how alien it is.

©2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.