Atlantis Submarines is a Canadian passenger

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

company. The company currently has 12 submarines and operates undersea tours in Grand Cayman,

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

Aruba Aruba ( , , ), officially the Country of Aruba ( nl, Land Aruba; pap, Pais Aruba) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands physically located in the mid-south of the Caribbean Sea, about north of the Venezuela peninsula of ...

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

, St. Thomas, Cozumel and in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

at Kona,

Maui The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...

and

Oahu Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...

. In order for passengers to reach the submarine they board a shuttle

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

, then they enter the submarine via steep stairs. When the submarine goes down they see

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

s, sunken

ship A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...

s, treasures, and

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

through large viewports. When the submarine ride is finished the passengers are returned by the ferry to shore where they are given dive certificates. Some 12 million passengers have taken the Atlantis submarine tour to date. The Atlantis XIV, which sails from Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, accommodates 64 passengers and is the world's largest passenger submarine.

History

Atlantis was founded by current president and CEO Dennis Hurd, a former designer of submersibles for

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

oil rigs, with US$3 million borrowed from friends and relatives. The company launched the world's first commercial passenger submarine tours in Grand Cayman in 1986. It has since serviced about 12 million passengers.

Areas of operation

There are three main areas of operations:

Caribbean (Aruba, Barbados, Cozumel, Curacao, Grand Cayman, St. Martin)

Hawaii (Waikiki, Maui, Kona)

Pacific (Guam)

The novelty of riding a submarine to explore the underwater world of Guam is facilitated by Atlantis Submarines Guam. Managed by Atlantis Guam Inc., the Atlantis V is a 65-foot air conditioned submarine that can carry up to 48 passengers. The tour takes off in a passenger boat in Apra Harbor and explores the marine life in the GabGab reef. The reef has corals that were formed over 1,800 years ago. Varieties of fish that can be seen are moorish idol, unicorn fish, spade fish, sea turtle, giant trevally, clownfish, surgeon fish, and occasionally sharks. Other highlights of the tour are diving to depths of 45 meters and curtain of air bubbles as the submarine ascends to the surface.

Variants

* Atlantis I, 1986 * Atlantis II, 1986 * Atlantis III, 1987 * Atlantis IV, V 1988 * Atlantis VI 1989 * Atlantis VII 1990 * Atlantis IX, X 1991 * Atlantis XI, 1991 * Atlantis XII, XIV 1994

References

External links

* {{Official website
Atlantis Submarines Guam
Submarines