Summary

Elkins set out to raise money for his expedition. A fellow filmmaker named Bill Benenson decided to finance the project, and Benenson became a co-director with Elkins of the documentary film. Benenson decided to gamble on the film. His family owned a real estate company in Manhattan, but his first love was film and anthropology and archeology. He and Elkins started a company called "UTL," or "Under the Lidar." Elkins asked Preston to join the team and write about the expedition for the New Yorker magazine, but Preston decided to write about the expedition after it was over.

In April of 2012, the group met up in Houston and flew to the island of Roatan in the Gulf of Honduras. This island is a tropical paradise set apart from the rest of the nation. Its airport was also...