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Superyacht Submersibles: Safe Deep-Sea Adventures Await
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Prepare to plunge into the captivating world of superyacht submersibles! Whether you're an aquatic aficionado or just a curious enthusiast, this episode promises an immersive journey. We're thrilled to have Charles Kohnen from SEAmagine, Patrick Lahey from Triton Submarines, and Ofer Ketter from Submerge onboard today. Their impressive insights shed light on the cutting-edge technology propelling these remarkable machines, the evolving safety regulations that they adhere to and proudly uphold, and the sense of wonder and discovery that superyacht owners and guests get to enjoy.
From the uncharted depths of the ocean, we bring you first-hand experiences of navigating these submersibles. Our expert guests reveal how comprehensive briefings and well-trained crews are key to ensuring a safe and exhilarating voyage. They'll regale you with thrilling stories of underwater discoveries and conservation initiatives that superyacht submersibles have made possible. Take a peek into the transformation of submersibles from mere ideas to invaluable tools for ocean exploration and preservation.
As we navigate the final chapters, prepare yourself for an engaging discourse on deep-sea exploration and the paramount role that submersibles play in it. We discuss the awe-inspiring discoveries that superyacht submersibles have made possible, from ancient shipwrecks to previously unknown volcanic activity. Learn how these machines have revolutionized scientific research, conservation efforts, and even facilitated incredible footage of elusive sea creatures. Tune in as we unravel the limitless potential these machines offer in unlocking the secrets of the deep sea. This episode is your golden ticket to the enthralling depths of marine exploration.
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Welcome everyone. By now you've all heard, unfortunately, about the submersible from the expedition company Ocean Gate imploding during a journey to view the wreck of the Titanic in the North Atlantic Ocean. That horrific event sent shockwaves around the world and also, understandably, through the Super Yacht sector. Some owners and their families, as well as Super Yacht charter guests, felt quite uneasy, since they had upcoming trips in which they planned to enjoy a dive beneath the surface. Now, if you are one of them, or if you have had misgivings about buying or using a Super Yacht submersible, today's conversation is particularly for you. As a journalist who has covered safety regulations over many, many years, I was horrified by the implosion and equally horrified by Ocean Gate's well-documented ignorance by its own admission of long-standing safety practices. It is important for people like you to understand that there are reputable professionals who follow rigorous safety standards because they want the public people like you to enjoy trips properly and with peace of mind. So joining me today are three of these professionals.
Diane M. Byrne:We have Kohnen of of SEAmagine, which designs and builds subs for superyachts , among other clientele. Patrick Leahy of Triton Submarines Submarines, which also designs and builds subs as well as subs for other companies. and Ofer Ketter of Submerge, which is a private sub-expeditions company working with yacht clients. All three are here to share insight into the standards that they uphold, so that you are better informed, but also so that you can enjoy diving beneath the surface. So, gentlemen, thank you so much for joining me today for this important conversation. I really appreciate your time and your insight. Patrick and Charles, I really wanted to start with the two of you, because you can shed some light into some of the safety and technical features of these subs without obviously getting too too technical. But before we jump into that first, I thought it would be helpful if you each explained how long your company has been in business and how many subs you've delivered to date. So, patrick, why don't you answer that first, and then, charles, you can jump in.
Patrick Leahey:Okay, my trip was started 2006, so about 17 years ago, and our 2007, I beg your pardon, and so 16 years ago. We have delivered 25 subs that vary in diving depths from 100 meters to 11,000 meters, and we have five subs under construction today.
Diane M. Byrne:Terrific and Charles.
Charles Kohen:We've been around since 1995 in January, so it'll be 29 years in January. We've been building them with, I think the next summer it's going to be 17,. 17 halls that we built, ranging from 100 meters to over 1,000 meters, and then we tend to make them more semi-custom subs over the years.
Diane M. Byrne:Right Right Now, the subs that you each build in some ways are quite different, much more high tech, I would imagine, even boundary pushing in that respect than the ones that you built when your company's first started. So where does that innovation come from? Is it, is it primarily from within your own teams, or are your companies somewhat like the yachting, the yacht builders and the yachting designers, in that the clients are the ones who often say, hey, would it be possible for us to do X? Could you do Y with us, charles? Why don't you start?
Charles Kohen:Yeah, look like I was saying we do a lot of semi-custom. I mean you have to understand unlike what happened from Oceangate both what we build and what Triton builds. I mean they're fully classed, approved, regulated, submersible. So there is a formal process of approval. So you cannot just go and come up with a good idea and just do it. You have to actually get it approved. What we do here at Simagine is that the baseline is an approved, fully regulated baseline on which we can make modification within those guidelines to be able to respond to exact demands from clients. So, as opposed to a one formula, we do listen to each objective and then modify them within the guidelines. So there are specific rules that we need to that everybody works under.
Diane M. Byrne:Patrick, what about you? Is your team really the one that pushes the boundaries, or do you get requests from your clientele?
Patrick Leahey:I would say it's very much a case where it's driven by the customer demand. So we'll get a customer that comes in and looks at a sub that we've built and say, wow, that looks great, could you build us one that will carry six people instead of three? Or you got a customer that comes in and says can you build us a sub that will go to the deepest point in each of the five oceans? And these type of projects are the ones that I really live for.
Patrick Leahey:The opportunity to create something extraordinary comes from originates from a customer demand, but ultimately it's that desire, that personal request or personal ambition, if you will, that a client has that creates an opportunity for us to innovate and to create extraordinary new products. And the Triton 36002 was a great example of that, where it's a sub that hadn't been built before and our insistence that we not just build a sub that could go to the deepest point in each of the five oceans, but that we insisted on accreditation and Charlie's point the importance of that can't be overstated. There had been two previous vehicles that went to full ocean depth, but creating a machine that could allow you to make daily dives to those extreme depths required a higher tier, if you will, and that meant a willingness to submit this very difficult craft or this very unique design through the accreditation process.
Charles Kohen:On the note that the technology has changed over the 30 years for our industry, that it's not just led by the client's demand, it's our ability to respond to client's demand.
Charles Kohen:The technology has changed and all of a sudden, I would think that the technology change in two ways.
Charles Kohen:One on the vehicle. For example, the battery technology that we use today was not available 30 years ago or 25 years ago, even 15 years ago. That one aspect, that it changes our weight, the weight of our vehicle, has been reduced a lot from what it was traditionally for that kind of diving capability and, without getting too technical, there are changes that allows us, whether to try to know or, as you imagine, to make vehicles that are much more adaptive for a ship to be embedded in a ship. And the technology has changed two ways One for the vehicle and the other one is that the computers. The technology has become so much higher that what used to be a room of whether HD cameras or imaging sonars, today your little, your bubble that you're in, has much more power of the technology on the computer. What's in front of you in 2023, 2024, we could not even imagine it 20 years ago. So what you have is an underwater bubble with so much capability at your fingertips that did not exist before.
Diane M. Byrne:Yeah, really good point, because technology is really the, I would say, the most exciting game changer, if you will. It's what technology allows you to do and your teams being able to take advantage of the advances and then show the consumer world what the new possibilities are. Patrick, would you add anything to that?
Patrick Leahey:Yeah, absolutely. We live in a very exciting time indeed where advances in materials technology, in electronics, in software and, you know, analytical software, has allowed us to create ever more capable, deeper diving and more extraordinary machines. We've got greater endurance. You've got systems from lighting and imaging systems to virtually everything that you incorporate into a sub, with capabilities that we could only dream of 10 years ago or 20 years ago or, you know, 40 years ago, which is when I started in this business. So, to look at the capabilities that exist today, you know anything from a sonar to a camera system or a light or a battery really has transformed, and these transformative technologies have allowed us to create ever more capable machines, which is, I think, part of why they've become so ubiquitous. Let's face it you can build a sub that's simpler to operate, it's easier to maintain, it's more reliable and it can do more.
Charles Kohen:So it's a very exciting moment and we're all living it and just do that and do that within code, within regulatory. We don't have to go and be crazy about it and, like what Patrick's saying is, these advancements are done within the framework of the guidelines we all follow.
Diane M. Byrne:You know, let's talk about the classification and the accreditation a little bit more, because as much as the average person, even people outside of yachting, they understand and they respect what safety regulations are meant to do. The interesting thing I find within yachting is that as much as owners representatives, their maritime lawyers, sometimes the management companies, all the people who are advising the owners, as much as they are telling their clients, okay, here's what class is going to require, the owners still don't really fully understand what classification is. Generally speaking, they know it's safety, but they don't really understand the nuances. So if you had the opportunity to sit with an owner and owner's family, the people who are going to be using these subs, and they said well, what is classification? What does that do? What does it mean? How would you put that in layman's terms? Patrick, why don't you start?
Patrick Leahey:Well, I would say that, first of all, certification, classification, the accreditation process is a lifelong commitment. It stays with the vehicle for the entire lifetime of the craft. It begins at inception, when you conceive of the vehicle and you start doing calculations and analysis. You procure materials. Those materials are approved and certified. Then you fashion those materials into parts. Then those parts are put together into assemblies, those assemblies are tested.
Patrick Leahey:So it's kind of a soup to nuts process, goes right from the very beginning all the way through to the completion and delivery of the vehicle, the successful testing of that sub once it's finished, and even carries through to the approval of the individuals who will be tasked with the responsibility to operate and maintain it. So it's an all-encompassing thing and it's an essential part to not only the design and engineering that goes into a craft but the continued operation and maintenance of it for the remainder of its life. It has to be renewed annually. So it's not something that you get and it's over with. It's a commitment that you make as a manufacturer and the certification agencies make as an agency that's overseeing it, as well as to a client, to ensure that that craft maintains or is maintained within in accordance with the rules of the certification agency, and as well those of the manufacturers that create these machines.
Charles Kohen:And it's, I think Patrick points out, a very important point. It's over the life cycle management of the vessel what I'd normally tell owners is because they're more familiar with airplanes.
Charles Kohen:It's like the aerospace where you can have experimental airplanes and you have FAA approved airplanes and the difference is really in it's not making a vehicle and having an FAA approved airplane and the airbus or the Boeing that's going to be used by British Airways or American Airlines is very different from an experimental one. So the process, the rigor, the professionalism in having a formally classed underwater vessel is in that same caliber of the airplanes you board when you fly from airport to airport and there's a lot of code, there's a lot of discipline, there's a lot of rules behind it which us, as manufacturers, we abide to and, as Patrick says, over the life cycle management of that vessel. The same way an airplane is.
Diane M. Byrne:Those are some really good analogies. I appreciate that thanks Offer. You've taken a number of owners and their families and charter guests on some pretty interesting and pretty spectacular dives over the years. Maybe those of us in the media could possibly be partially at fault for referring to subs as water toys. I think we might mistakenly give the impression that it's a sub is almost like a jet ski or a sea dew right that it's something you hop on board and within a one minute poof you're off and running. I know there's some training that you've gone through to operate safely. So again, if you were sitting down with an owner and their family, what would you say to them to put them at ease in terms of what you know and how you know it?
Ofer Ketter:Okay, so absolutely actually sitting here with Charles in the room, my first ever sub dive was with him in Cocoa Silent in 2004, after I had already been a scuba diver and an underwater photographer and an underwater explorer for at least a decade or more.
Ofer Ketter:Prior to that, and adding on to what Patrick and Charles were saying, the operators, the pilots, the crew, are another link in that chain of safety and in that chain of protocol, and in that chain we rely on the engineering, we rely on the capacities of the vehicles, but then we learn with the engineers what this machine can do, what is its strong points and where are its limitations. We learn about the safety systems, we learn about redundancy, we learn about procedures, what to do if and so. All that sort of completes the process of the purchase, of starting way before the purchase. But for the owner it completes the process of the purchase when there is a trained, capable crew that can now take this machine that looks amazing on deck or in the tender garage but actually take you to another planet literally and take you to see things that you couldn't see on a jet ski or on a tender. So that's a little bit about of that point of view regarding that question.
Diane M. Byrne:Now, when you are going to embark on a dive with them. Do you go through any safety protocols with them in advance or point out anything that they need to know?
Ofer Ketter:Absolutely. The passengers have to go first and again, building on everything that's been said before, but by class and by regulations. There is a very detailed briefing. Just like you sit in an aircraft and listen to the flight attendant, go through all the emergency procedures and what to do if same thing happens in a sub, and it's very clear and it's very straightforward as to this is what we're going to experience when everything goes right, because that's also a very important part is to set expectations as to how you're going to feel in the sub.
Ofer Ketter:The briefing is not just about the emergency situations. It's, first and foremost, about what to expect, what you're going to feel, what you might see, etc. Etc. It's a different environment. And then you also go over the what ifs, and the what ifs are, on the one hand, in a, designed in a way that not to install any unnecessary fear but, on the contrary, to say listen, everything has been thought of. Okay, here are the main scenarios which are extremely unlikely to happen. But if they do, here is one, two, three, four, five, the steps that you can assist with if required. Basically, so, yes, it's a very, very clear process and it's part of the briefing.
Diane M. Byrne:Right right.
Charles Kohen:I mean I think you're Diane on your question of the what. It's not a toy on the ship. In the yachting industry, some versables are not just an additional toy that you can simply put on board and use, whether you just throw it overboard and use it it's. It's not like that, it's. It's more closer to having a helicopter on board and it happens to be on the water helicopter and but it at the beginning, when they were starting to put helicopters on on the yachts in the 80s, the first one everybody was saying you're crazy, a helicopter on a private yacht, that is unheard of, you know. And then and now it's the busiest tenderer on the boat and with the subs.
Charles Kohen:Back in the early in the late 90s, early 2000s, the idea of putting a sub on it on the private yacht was crazy. It's, it's a crazy idea and that has evolved. That has evolved a lot in finding a proper way to do it properly, professionally, safely. The same way helicopters are now operated properly and safely from a yacht. It, the sub on board, does not have the complexity of a helicopter. It's not. It's not in that caliber, but it's not just a tender, it's in between both right right it's, it's, it's not.
Charles Kohen:It's not in the same complexity, but it does have a system that we put on place on the yachts of protocol of operation. The training is not just the pilot, the training is for the crew on how you operate safely. And a submersible from a ship and it's in between that tender and the helicopter. It has its own niche where it is. It can be set up properly without. It's not this crazy engineering. It's not a space shuttle launch every time you use the sub, but it does require more attention than just a tender right, right.
Diane M. Byrne:And then there's also the aspect of some of the owners wanting, and the crews wanting, to support ocean conservation organizations, and so they will allow the sub to be used by scientists and researchers who, perhaps in the Bahamas or perhaps some other part of the world, want and need data on the marine life that's in the area. So that's also a serious use, and a proper use, of a very complex piece of machinery and that opens all sorts of opportunities to the scientific world that these yacht owners happen to be able to provide for them. So, yeah, that sort of underscores it too, and you know, on that line offer, I want to bring you back in here for a second. What are some of the really cool discoveries and experiences that owners and guests have had when you've been with them in some of the subs?
Ofer Ketter:We'll need a separate podcast for all of the stories, but just to name a few. Definitely, and adding to what you mentioned just previously in your comment about conservation, we did that. We did quite a few owner trips to the Galapagos. The Galapagos, you know, one of the most interesting and unique ecosystems on our planet, one that is very protected and very regulated. And so working with owners that own submersibles allows the government of the Galapagos and the National Park and the scientific research stations to have access to a submersible, which they don't have, you know, is part of their toolbox, and so that allowed us to explore places that have never been explored by humans. And one of those dives I remember was into an island. I think it was Genoa or a, I don't remember the name, but it was a extinct volcano crater that is flooded, and so the ships actually anchor inside that that flooded crater and then people go on land and visit. But no one has ever taken a submersible down to the bottom of that crater. And I had the opportunity, because we had a permit from the Galapagos, to take the owner. It was two man subs, it was me and the owner. We were the only people in the submersible and we started going down and when I started to get a bottom reading I think it started getting a reading at about for a bottom of about 250 meters is about 850 feet and and as I'm going down, there's I have an external temperature gauge which shows me the water temperature and I have, obviously, the internal temperature, which is which is our AC system. But and then, as I'm going down and the water is getting really, really dark, not just because we're going deep, but there was something actually almost like making the lights look like your iPhone flashlight and this is weird and then I look out at the temperature gauge and it's actually starting to rise and it's becoming very warm and as, as we're reaching the bottom, we actually realized that a be, the, the, the volcano, is active. This, this was unknown to anybody. We actually came back up with with sulfur, active sulfur, and we registered the temperature reading.
Ofer Ketter:So you know, that's an example that that that's the first of discovery that would not have been a, would not have happened without a sub in a man sub going down and actually witnessing it with our eyes, and the owner was, you could imagine, extremely excited by that. We've had, we've had discoveries of, you know, obviously deep, deep water species that have never been seen before in different remote locations. We've even we even discovered a 2000 year old Roman ship sunk just outside Capri. So you would be there, you know, with all the all, the, all the mega yachts in summer in Capri, but nobody sticks their head underwater, definitely nobody goes down to the bottom, and not with an archaeologist from, you know, the Italian ministry of antiquities, and we documented the first find of a 2000 year old shipwreck. And I think just just to end this, because, like I said, we need a separate podcast just for stories, but there's one that sticks out which actually happened in the Sea of Cortez, in in in Mexico, where we were on a relatively long submersible project and before it started, we do we, we normally do, and this is this is true to all of our expeditions we do a reiki, we do some sort of a preparation before clients arrive, and so we did some dives.
Ofer Ketter:In this case, the owner had actually funded universities from Mexico to come on board and join him for the submersible dives in the Sea of Cortez, and during that week that we were pre diving, we had our camera recording because, you know, we didn't know what we were going to see and we assumed that the scientists would be interested in any type of information. And so when we got back to the ship the night before we were to depart with with the guests, we gave those it was still DV tapes. Back then we gave, we gave the tapes to the to the scientists and said here you know, go, you have, you have many hours of looking at the deep, the deep ocean floor. And they woke us up in the middle of the night, so excited, and they said you have to come and see this video frame. And so we, we went to join them in the video room and on the monitor was a grouper. And we're like, okay, why are you waking us up in the middle of night to see a grouper which is obviously a very common fish?
Ofer Ketter:And and they said, no, actually, that grouper, that species, we had already reported it as an extinct species due to overfishing. Therefore, what you just found is probably the only living grouper of that kind. And not only that, we have to go back and find it because, because, if it's the only one, we need to see it and which we did because we had we talking about technology, we had enough technology even back then, to trace our track and, with the timecode of the video, find the actual reef where we had filmed that grouper. And we found the grouper. And so you know that there's a lot. There's a lot that goes on. Once you put your head under water and you go deep, the truth is you don't know what you're gonna find that's what it's all about.
Diane M. Byrne:That's awesome, that's awesome.
Charles Kohen:I think, if I can, there are a lot of locations that yacht owners and people are used to dive, locations that they've been to before, but they become a very different place by the time you have a sub and you go further and you can rediscount the location you think, patrick, have your clients ever shared some pretty cool discoveries with you, or have you been with them?
Patrick Leahey:Yeah, we've. I mean just to mention a few highlights, as Offer just did. We filmed the giant squid, for example. The first time in human history that anybody had seen the giant squid in its natural environment, and we didn't just capture a glimpse of it, we filmed it for 22 minutes in high definition from about 680 meters, over 2000 feet, to 930 meters, over 3000 feet. So you know, just to name a few, we filmed documentaries about deep sea sharks and filmed some of the most incredible footage of deep sea sharks. That culminated in a documentary that was seen and frequently shown on Shark Week.
Patrick Leahey:You know we've been incredibly fortunate. We filmed the deepest ever fish, I think we actually I actually physically saw it through the window at 8,000 meters. I'm sitting there looking at this little tiny fish, not that big, called a Swire snail fish, but knowing that that's like as deep as a fish can ever go and knowing that I'm putting my eyes on it pretty exciting, that's awesome. Yes, we've really been fortunate, and I think one of the things that encourages people to keep coming back for more dive experiences is this idea that every time you get in one of these brilliant machines, you are an explorer. You're likely to see something that nobody's ever seen before, and there's something you know fantastic about that idea, and I believe that's one of the reasons human-occupied vehicles submersibles are becoming so popular on vessels.
Diane M. Byrne:Yeah, absolutely Charles. We had lost you for a second there and you were going to relate something that a client had told you, I believe.
Charles Kohen:I'm sorry, you know it's, I think, what you touched on on the citizen science part.
Charles Kohen:We've found new species I'm sure Patrick's groups have also where all of a sudden you go to a location and you discover the location.
Charles Kohen:We found this shark species in French Polynesia by from a yacht while we were just doing excursion dive and we found a species that nobody knew lived in the South Pacific and they wrote a whole scientific paper about it and it was a prickly shark, which is a very deep shark and the scientific community did not know it lived in the South Pacific at all. And we were cruising at 700 meters with the submarine and all of a sudden this massive shark showed up and it was like is this normal? Because I wasn't sure, is this a normal sighting? And shared it. The yacht shared it with the Marine Research Center in French Polynesia and everybody got really excited and they wrote a whole scientific paper and that you did not know that the species lived. And it's an example of the citizen science that happens from simply going deeper than 100 meters. The moment you go deeper than 100 meters, you, you, you're in a completely new world and it's astounding how little we know it is absolutely astounding that we don't know that much.
Charles Kohen:We have a fairly good sense of the macro topology, of the general, the generalities of it, but the specifics, the moment you go deeper, you have the propensity of, without even trying, I'm sure Patrick's group and ours groups and our clients and everybody has made a number of discoveries without even really trying to do. It is just by going, and there's only so much you're going to do with cameras, putting cameras on the water, putting sensors. You know, at one point we still need the astronauts to be on the water, they still have a role to play and I think it's an exciting open theater that the private we, what we bring to the table is not just the scientific community but the yachting industry also to participate in understanding and discovering that world.
Diane M. Byrne:Yeah, ray Dalio. For anybody who follows Ray Dalio of Ocean X his, his statement over and over again about how we know far more about space than we do beneath the surface of the water is is just so true, and it really is astounding to think, and not to take anything away from the astronauts. Of course I think it's important to explore space and I'm a longtime science geek myself. It was my favorite subject when I was in about second or third grade in school. It's still a big treasure to me, but the fact that we know so little about what's beneath the surface is just not excusable. So the more we explore, the more we discover and and the better off we become as humans. I really think there's so much to learn.
Ofer Ketter:Yes, to add on that point of the humans, conservation, I've noticed over the years, has taken a very important role in in the yacht dives that we do. And, and when I mean conservation, it's first of all knowing the environment that needs conservation. Because because if you, if you don't put your head deep underwater, you'll never know that there's a algae growing and killing reefs because the temperature's higher than it ever was, or that there's ghost nets and fishing lines laying over the reefs, or that there's plastic bottles in the deepest locations on the planet. Unless you actually see it with your own eyes, you don't, you don't understand that and then you don't understand why it needs conservation. And so we've seen a lot of that, especially with the, the younger generation of of passengers, which normally tend to be, you know, the children of the owners, which are much more connected today because of, you know, social media and and and and everything that goes on. So they, they do hear about it, but to actually see them in the submersible, looking outside and saying, and I remember this.
Ofer Ketter:This kid asked me why is there a mini bar Coca-Cola can sitting on the bottom here? I didn't know that it was. It was actually a full size Coca-Cola can, but his eyes saw it as a mini bar. A Coca-Cola can because because of distortion, but you know, but it's like I said, yes, that's where it, that's where it ends up.
Ofer Ketter:You know, you have to see it sitting there on the reef at hundreds of meters, or diving in the med and realizing that the temperature of the med has never been even near what it is today, and then seeing everything covered in the seagrass or a, and actually there are no reefs because they've all been, you know, warmed up. But then suddenly going to places like Solomon Islands, to the most remote parts of the ocean, and seeing reefs that look like, you know, in a Disney movie, and they're all. They're all screaming with color and life. So it the conservation aspect. Even if, even if someone is not necessarily interested in in the science of it, just the fact that you witness what it looks like underwater creates change in humans, I believe.
Diane M. Byrne:Definitely. Well, we've got about a minute left. I do have one last question for all of you. If you were to sit with an owner or a guest charter guests and owners family member, it doesn't matter who might still be on the fence saying oh you know, I always thought about it, but oh you know, I'm kind of hesitating. What would you say to them to help change their mind to actually climb in the sub and take the dive? Patrick, why don't you start?
Patrick Leahey:I would start by saying that submersibles are the most magical machines on the planet, because they transport you to a place in our world that you simply couldn't visit any other way, and you just don't know what kind of extraordinary adventures lie in wait. So, if you are curious, if you're inquisitive which I think most human beings are the opportunity to get in a sub is something that you just simply can't pass up, because it will leave an indelible impression, because you get to see it with your own eyes, and I can almost guarantee you it will change your perception of the deep sea forever.
Diane M. Byrne:Charles, what would you say?
Charles Kohen:I 100% agree with Patrick just said, because it is being in situ, to be there, is very, very different from watching it on television or on your computer and being immersed on the water, especially once you cross the 100 meter barrier, you're in a completely new world and actually participating in being there is the most. It can transform your understanding and you look at the planet differently.
Diane M. Byrne:All, for what would you add?
Ofer Ketter:Yeah, perfectly said. So it's hard to add, but I would say that really there's not many more opportunities today to become a real explorer, a true explorer, and find something that has never been witnessed before. And the submersibles are the best and probably the only way today to do something like that, to have that experience, to feel what it's like to see a place or see an animal, or see a view and a scene for the first time ever witnessed.
Diane M. Byrne:Well said Well. Thank you all three of you for being here today and sharing not just the technical insight and the safety insight, but also the magical insight into the world of submersibles. I am positive that the listeners have learned a lot. I certainly have. I've been joining a lot of notes while you all were talking and I just want to leave right now and go jump on a sub. I want to go see a really cool fish that nobody knows exists.
Diane M. Byrne:Well, everybody. If you'd like to learn more about each of their companies, you can visit their websites. C-magine is C-Maginecom, that's S-E-A-M-A-G-I-N-Ecom. Triton Submarines is TritonSubscom, that's all one word. And Submerge is Submergecom, that's Sub-Mergecom. Until next time, everyone, I'm Diane Byrne.
