[PSUBS-MAILIST] First submarine dive

[Antoine Delafargue <antoine.delafargue@gmail.com>]

Hello all,

 

I had a nice experience last week, I took a dive for the first time in a sub, a tourist sub on the coast of one of the Canary Isles.

For a guy that has thought about building a submarine for a few years without touching one,

it is quite exciting (though not to the point to pee in your pants ;-0 )

the sub itself was a big (100ton) 18m long cylinder, moved by 6 15kW orientable thrusters, quite slow, but with very good viewing (two seats for a large 22" window)

the dive lasted for about 45mn, went down to 45m depth. The feeling of a very slow motion free fall when the ballasts are purged felt weird (It did not feel like there was a HBT on the sub).

But the best was to see my 3yr old son's face glued to the window, as a big sting ray with a diver playing with it passed by our window...

 

cheers

Antoine