![]() These vessels could go only slightly deeper than scuba divers – up to about 40m. He worked for a Canadian company, Atlantis Submarines, which began running submarine tours in the 1980s in the Caribbean, Hawaii and Guam. One of the Triton submersibles used in the filming of Blue Planet II. “Shows like Blue Planet are capturing the imagination the same way that Jacques Cousteau captured mine.” Lahey watched the French underwater explorer’s American TV documentaries in the 1970s and was inspired to become a commercial diver. Now the yacht manufacturers are coming to us,” Lahey said. “Ten years ago I was going round yacht shows and people would laugh at me: ‘Here’s the guy who wants to put a submarine on your yacht’. Aston Martin recently announced a tie-up with Triton to produce a $4m submarine for the super-rich as the ultimate super-yacht accessory. Triton’s co-founder, Patrick Lahey, is one of the pioneers of the new bubble subs. Other cruise ship and superyacht subs are made by Triton, based in Vero Beach, Florida, which also built the submarines used by the BBC. The Malaysian company Genting has four ships equipped with submarines made by the Dutch company U-Boat Worx, which has five more in production. The number of cruise ships with submarines has been growing steadily over the past two years. ![]() We are on the cusp of something extraordinary.” “The Titanic is obviously an iconic site, but as Blue Planet showed there are many other places, hydro-thermals for example. “When you have a submarine that can go to those depths, the possibilities are endless,” Ellis said. The tours start next year, with two already sold out and more planned for 2019, although with tickets priced at more than $100,000 it’s not for everyone. ![]() Other tour operators have their sights set much deeper, on the bathypelagic or midnight zone.Įlizabeth Ellis, the founder of Blue Marble Private, a luxury travel company in London, has been working with the US firm OceanGate Expeditions to build a nine-berth submarine that will sail from Newfoundland to reach the wreck of the Titanic, about 3,800 metres (12,500 ft) below sea level. The Eclipse’s submarines will reach depths of about 200m – the edge of the mesopelagic zone, the oceans’ twilight zone where not enough light penetrates the water to support plant life. “The fact we can take people to the Arctic and Antarctic means people can see the whales and the polar bears and penguins in their natural environment,” Absalom said. The 226-berth vessel will begin operations in the Mediterranean, then make its way to the Arctic, according to brand manager Nichola Absalom. One of the companies investing in submarines is Scenic, which is equipping its newest cruise ship, the Eclipse, with two six-seater subs for its launch next year. The first large deep-diving tourist submarine will go into service in Vietnam in 2019, and next year a luxury submarine will start running tours to the bottom of the Atlantic to see the Titanic. Bubble-shaped submarines like the ones used in Blue Planet II are the new must-have accessory for high-end cruise liners around the world.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |