Poseidon Adventure In Eleuthera

        

Posted by: Editor on Dec 20, 2006 – 12:12 PM
exoticlocations  No, we’re not talking about trying to escape from a capsized cruise ship. What we’re talking about is a five-star luxury underwater resort 50 feet (17 meters) under the sea off Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas where adventure seekers can shell out 1,500 clams a night for a room.

Poseidon, currently in the final design stages and scheduled to be completed in two years, will be the first of its kind.

Bruce Jones, who has spent 17 years designing and selling submarines for private use, has 40 million U.S. dollars invested and claims he has a realistic sense of what it takes to launch an underwater venture. His company constructs and sells luxurious submarines ranging in price from 1 million dollars to 80 million dollars.

“I think there are a tremendous number of people who would be interested,” said Jones, “including anyone who is looking for a different experience.”

Each room will feature fortified, transparent acrylic walls that look out onto coral gardens. There will be controls in each room that guests can use to adjust the lighting of the underwater worlds outside their windows and to release food for fish swimming just outside. The rooms will also feature individual Jacuzzis for those who may be inspired by their surroundings to get wet.

Jones grew up with a grandfather in the marine construction business and quickly got a feel for the water. He started diving at age 9, wrote letters to the Jacques Cousteau — inventor of the modern underwater breathing apparatus we call “scuba” — in grade school and, by the 1980s, began doing consultations for those interested in the submarine business.

By 1993, he was running his own company, U.S. Submarines, which designs and builds submarines for resorts and individuals.

Unlike the Jules Undersea Lodge — the only undersea hotel now in existence, located off the coast of Key Largo, Fla. — guests at the Poseidon won’t need to put on a wet suit and dive to their accommodations. They also won’t need to worry about changing pressure levels since the accommodations will be maintained at above-surface pressure.

Instead, they can glide to the underwater resort by escalator.

Xinhuanet
www.chinaview.cn