Have You Explored The Ocean's Depths In A Submersible!

You haven’t been truly underwater until you’ve explored the ocean’s depths in a submersible.

- Julia Zaltzman

WHAT A THING, to be in a submersible for the first time, separated from reef fish and gin-clear water by nothing more than a few inches of acrylic. Inside the three-person Triton 3300/3, there’s a complete 360-degree line of sight, making it hard to discern where the transparent sphere ends and ocean begins. It’s unexpectedly roomy – not to mention the comfortable seats and crisp air – with unobstructed views up front, underfoot, overhead, even through the pilot’s seat in the rear.

Just minutes earlier I’d been aboard the U Boat Navigator, a dedicated dive vessel, bouncing in lively seas offMalta. A pair of submersibles – a one-seat Triton 3300/1 alongside the three-seater – sat on the foredeck. “A sub is not a toy,” Tom Hutton, Cookson Adventures’ director of operations, told us. “It’s a means of exploring an alien environment.” Capable of diving to 3,300ft, the Triton is a popular choice among researchers and documentarians, including the crews who made the BBC’s Blue Planet II and Great Barrier Reef with Sir David Attenborough.