If you are wealthy and want to enjoy the water, you can buy all sorts of pleasure crafts up to and including your own personal yacht. But as incomes for the super wealthy have risen over the last couple of years, they are looking for more exotic and interesting water vehicles.
Enter the world of the personal submarine. For years up until recently, a submarine was only available to military personnel and certain people involved in scientific exploration. But some peaople want something more exciting than just sitting on the deck of a yacht. These “submersibles” are gaining in popularity and are the creation of Graham Hawkes, founder of luxury sub maker DeepFlight.
DeepFlight makes a two person submarine that looks more like an underwater jet. They are capable of submerging to depths of almost 350 feet or what is known as “the edge of darkness”. This fast moving, deep diving water craft allows the driver/diver to encounter marine life in its natural surrounding and enables the owner to see things they would otherwise never have the opportunity to experience due to its dome-like “windshield”.
This craft comes at a high price tag of $1.5 million and has owners such as Richard Branson who knows a thing or two about moving around in a jet. But DeepFlight is not the only player in this market. Triton Submarines has a three seater that can dive to depths as deep at 3,000 feet. The cost for this model will set you back $3.5 million. Despite the cost, both companies have said that the demand is higher than ever and they anticipate selling 10 subs this year with a thought to move in to more regular production.
Let’s not forget that in order to buy one of these subs, you would need a yacht from which to launch it. Most luxury yachts cost in to the hundreds of millions of dollars so that the average person wishing to purchase a sub is more than likely worth in excess of $500 million. There is no specific driver’s licensed required to own one but at these costs, there will not be that many folks jetting around at 3,000 feet below the surface. Still, those that have been in these personal submarines have said that the experience does not come close to anything else they have experienced in life.
Photo from DeepFlight
