Sylvia Earle welcomes the crew

Sylvia Earle toasts

It's the Saturday before the Mission Blue Voyage, and the crew and some early arrivals are on the National Geographic Endeavor. It's a surprisingly big group of people dedicated to the business of making an expedition ship into a TED stage. Before we all dive in, Sylvia Earle gets up to welcome us.

Looking around the Endeavor lounge, at the film crew, the stage crew, early arrivals and TED Prize staff, she says: "They say, be careful what you wish for. But I'm glad I made this wish. And I can't wait to hear how you make this wish comes true."

She continues: "This is about my 30th trip to Galápagos. I first came here in 1966 on a research vessel. I've come back every decade ever since -- with more and more frequency. This is only my second time this year."

Smiling at all the people waiting to make her TED Prize wish come true, she says: "Every once in a while, you get a phone call that sounds kind of innocent and it winds up changing your life. I got a call from Chris Anderson in the fall of 2008, and it has changed my life. But it's about to change even more."