Exploratio Continua

Throughout the globe, or at least where Disney has a presence, you can feel the effects of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers. Some of their manifestations are small and some are rather large, and sometimes if you’re extra lucky you get to experience an adventure caused by the members of the S.E.A. The modern, and more expansive, version of Adventurers Club can be found in restaurants, watering holes, attractions, kids only areas of cruise ships, and even the sandy shores of Typhoon Lagoon. Here is one of the outposts for Mary Oceaneer, but her exploits aren’t just relegated to tangible destinations of Disney, but instead stretch to the silver screen too.

The clues left behind for us to uncover come directly from Mary’s diving bell that is beached near the Miss Adventure Falls. The diving bell, which looks like an old fashioned BB-8, has a lot to uncover from the print on its side. Starting at the top we see Mary is fluent in Latin by her use of the phrase Exploratio Continua, which translates into the continued exploration. Following that we get Mary’s official title, Captain Mary Oceaneer, with the added flourish of Collector and Protector of Nautical Treasures. If you know anything about Mary, it is that she is definitely a treasure hunter, but that she also see the value in preservation of the seas and all the creatures in it.

The bottom line across the bottom of the diving bell is where Mary’s adventures that a turn that crosses the path of one of the lesser appreciated Disney animated features. While the symbols look pretty and ornate, they are actually pieces of the Atlantean language from Atlantis: The Lost Empire, the movie where a ragtag group of explorers, led by Michael J. Fox’s Milo, go in search of Atlantis. In the film, it is proffered that Atlantean is the root language of all other languages that come after it. In the real world, Dr. Marc Okrand was tasked with creating a language and dialect that could look and feel as if it were the root of all language. He looked for commonality amongst languages, particularly ancient languages, and ended up pulling quite a bit from Latin, Greek, and Biblical Hebrew to create Atlantean.

So, what does the line of Atlantean say on Mary’s diving bell? It states a well-known trope of explorers the cosmos over, “I come in peace.” Considering the depths she would have to dive to in order to reach Atlantis, and the fact that she had only a diving bell with her on the dive, it is safe to assume that she meant to come in peace, in the spirit of exploration, and not as a red herring for more nefarious efforts as the phrase is sometimes used.

Did Mary reach Atlantis before she ended up at Typhoon Lagoon? That is part of the story we are left wondering about. However, given Mary’s track record, I wouldn’t bet against her!