Market Research (Raw): Recreational & Tourist Submarines

NOTE: This is a raw compilation of industry research which has not been substantially edited or curated. It is essentially my notes from researching the recreational submarine and submarine tourism industries. Use it as a reference if you are trying to find specific information or a source for specific information. I don’t recommend reading it from beginning to end.

NOTE 2: I will use the terms submarine and submersible interchangeably.

The recreational submarine industry was born in earnest when George Kittredge formed “Kittredge Sports Subs, Inc.” in 1970 and began selling DIY plans for his Mark 2 personal submarine. Later, the Kittredge began manufacturing full subs, and as of 2023, Kittredge subs are likely still the most numerous recreational subs in existence.

Types of Businesses in the Private Submarine Industry

Submarine manufacturers (e.g. Triton Submarines LLC)
Submarine component manufacturers (e.g. Stanley Plastics Ltd)
Shallow water submarine tour operators (e.g. Atlantis Adventures LLC)
Deep water submarine tour operators (e.g. OceanGate)

Recreational Sub Manufacturing

There are 7 companies around the world which currently offer (and have built at least 1) recreational submarine(s). Those companies are described in the table below.

	Company	Popular Sub Models
1	Triton Submarines LLC (Florida)	Triton 3300/3 – Base Price: ~$4 Million – Max Occupants: 3 – Type: Dry / Pressurized – Max Operating Depth: 1,000 meters (3,300 feet)
2	U-Boat Worx B.V. (Netherlands)	Super Yacht Sub 3 – Base Price: $3.15 Million – Max Occupants: 3 – Type: Dry / Pressurized – Max Operating Depth: 300 meters (1,000 feet) C-Explorer 3 – Base Price: $2.3 Million – Max Occupants: 3 – Type: Dry / Pressurized – Max Operating Depth: 300 meters (1,000 feet) Nemo 2 – Base Price: $645,000 – Max Occupants: 2 – Type: Dry / Pressurized – Max Operating Depth: 100 meters (1,000 feet)
3	SEAmagine Hydrospace Corporation (California)	Aurora-3C – Base Price: $3.5 Million – Max Occupants: 3 – Type: Dry / Pressurized – Max Operating Depth: 460 meters
4	Nuytco Research Ltd. (Canada)	Curasub – Base Price: $2.2 Million (This price may be out of date) – Max Occupants: 5 – Type: Dry / Pressurized – Max Operating Depth: 300 meters (1,000 feet)
5	Area58 Innovation Inc. (Canada)	SportSub III SS – Base Price: $120,000 – Max Occupants: 3 – Type: Wet / Ambient Pressure – Max Operating Depth: 40 meters (130 feet)
6	International Submarine Engineering Ltd. (Canada)	The company does not advertise standardized designs. However, the company built Microsoft Cofounder Paul Allen’s private sub, Pagoo, which reportedly cost $12 million. Pagoo can take 8-10 occupants to a depth of 1,000 feet.
7	Sub Aviators LLC *Worked with Nuytco on the Orcasub	Orcasub Model 02KS & 02KT – Base Price: – Max Occupants: 2 – Type: Dry / Pressurized – Max Operating Depth: 2,000 feet Orcasub Models 03KS and 03KT – Base Price: – Max Occupants: 2 – Type: Dry / Pressurized – Max Operating Depth: 3,000 feet

What is Triton’s Annual Revenue?

Triton Submarines LLC is a private company that doesn’t publish their financials. I reached out to the company and requested revenue data, but they declined to provide it. However, they did provide data on the total number of subs the company had produced since it was founded in 2008.

Sub Model	Number Sold (2008-2023)	Estimated Average Unit Price
Triton 1000/2	2	$3 Million
Triton 3300/3 (Mk 1 and 2)	10	$4 Million
Triton 3300/1 MD	1	$4 Million
Triton 1650/3 LP	3	$3 Million
Triton 1650/7 C	1	$5 Million
Triton 3300/6	2	$5.5 Million
Triton 7500/3	1	$5 Million
Triton 660/9 AVA	2	$3 Million
Triton 660/7 AVA	1	$3 Million
Triton Deepview 24	1	$7 Million
Triton 36000/2	1	$38 Million
Total	25

Some of the above craft have not yet been completed however:

The second Triton 3300/6 will be delivered fall 2023.
The first Triton 660/9 AVA will be delivered in October 2023 to Scenic (a cruise company).
The second Triton 660/9 AVA will be delivered in summer 2024.
The Triton 660/7 AVA will be delivered in spring 2025.

Using the data from the table, the company’s total sub sales should be around $134 million. However, only one Triton 36000/2 has ever been built, and it was built around 5 years ago. Since then, it has been listed for resale so there isn’t as much incentive for someone to order a brand new one. Excluding that sub from sales, our revised estimate of the company’s lifetime sub sales is $96 million. Assuming that has mostly occurred during the last 10 years and that sales are gradually increasing, we can estimate that Triton’s 2022 sub sales were likely around $10-20 million.

However, Triton sells more than just subs. It also sells services, including:

Expedition support (logistics, science, and film production) for adventure tourism companies that want to offer expeditions that include a submersible.
Sub maintenance services.
Technical services to install sub support systems onboard a superyacht or expedition boat.

Triton also sells spare parts and consumables.

Additionally, there are several ways which Triton could be making money (although I do not know if they are actually doing these things):

Selling insurance (like Tesla).
Selling product warranties.
Providing financing to customers purchasing subs (interest revenue).
Selling subscriptions for regular updates to navigational data and sub software.
Selling sub piloting courses.
Submarine leasing.
Government contracts to produce specialized submersibles for special uses.

Supposing that Triton generates half of its total revenue from sources other than sub sales, then Triton’s total 2022 revenue would be $20-40 million.

Next, let’s use a totally different way to estimate Triton’s revenue and see if we get a similar result.

A simple but generally reliable way to estimate a company’s revenue in the absence of other data is to look at the number of employees the company has, and then multiply that by the typical revenue per employee for the industry that company is in.

Triton Submarines is a leading brand manufacturer of an expensive luxury product. The table below shows the revenue per employee for various somewhat similar companies.

Company	Revenue Per Employee in 2022
Ford	$914,000
Tesla	$637,000
GM	$939,000
LVMH	$426,000
Malibu Boats	$403,000
Boeing	$444,000
Apple	$2.40 Million
Intel	$478,000
Leggett & Platt	$259,000
IBM	$210,000
Patagonia	$500,000
Average	$692,000
Median	$478,000
Lowest	$210,000
Highest	$2.40 Million

Triton’s website lists 27 employees. However, it doesn’t appear to list any low level employees. Is that because the company doesn’t have any or are they just not listed on the “Team” page? Also, Triton has a subsidiary located in Barcelona, but I don’t see a lot of repeated titles or Spanish names which indicates to me that the website probably does not include employees of the Barcelona location.

Wikipedia estimates that Triton Submarines LLC has 50 employees. That would make sense if the Barcelona location was a bit smaller than the primary Florida location and if low-level and sales employees were not listed on Triton’s website.

Putting together our estimate of employees with our estimates for revenue per employee, the table below shows various revenue estimates for Triton.

Estimated # of Employees	Estimated Revenue per Employee	Estimated Revenue
50	$210,000	$10.5 Million
50	$478,000	$23.9 Million
50	$692,000	$34.6 Million
50	$2.40 Million	$120 Million

Triton is almost certainly not at an Apple level of profitability. Additionally, the companies used as references for revenue per employee are large public companies which are almost always more efficient than small private companies like Triton. So it’s reasonable to assume that Triton’s 2022 revenue was in the range of $10-35 million. That’s pretty similar to our previous estimate based on Triton’s unit sales.

Best Guess: Triton Submarines generated $15-35 million in total revenue in 2022.

What is U-Boat Worx’ Annual Revenue?

U-Boat Worx has 78 employees according to LinkedIn. Using the same industry statistics as we used above to estimate Triton’s revenue based on number of employees, here are my estimates for U-Boat Worx:

Estimated # of Employees	Estimated Revenue per Employee	Estimated Revenue
78	$210,000	$16.38 Million
78	$478,000	$37.28 Million
78	$692,000	$53.98 Million
78	$2.40 Million	$187.2 Million

By the methodology used for Triton, that would give U-Boat Worx an estimated 2022 revenue of $16-54 million.

However, according to a New York Times article from August 2022, U-Boat Worx had only sold 40 subs since it was founded, with 15 more in production. The same article said that U-Boat’s subs typically sold for $2.5-3.5 million each. Using those numbers, we can produce a set of sales estimates:

Total Subs Sold	Estimated Average Cost Per Sub	Estimated Total (18-Year) Sub Sales	Estimated 2022 Sub Sales (Assuming 10 Equal Years of Active Sales)	Estimated 2022 Sub Sales (Assuming 10 Sales in 2022)
40	$2.5 Million	$100 Million	$10 Million	$25 Million
40	$3.5 Million	$140 Million	$14 Million	$35 Million
55	$2.5 Million	$137.5 Million	$13.75 Million	$25 Million
55	$3.5 Million	$192.5 Million	$19.25 Million	$35 Million

That gives us a range of $10-35 million for sub sales. Since U-Boat Worx has been focused on making progressively cheaper subs, I’d guess the true 2022 sales number was on the lower end of that range ($10-20 million). However, the company also sells services (e.g. a 2-week pilot training course for $1 million, as well as maintenance services and sub chartering). It might also collect commissions on financing and/or insurance sales. If we assume, as we did with Triton, that 50% of total revenue comes from sources other than submarine sales, then we get a total revenue estimate of $20-40 million.

That’s strictly within the $16-54 million range we got by just looking at employee numbers, which is good.

Best Guess: U-Boat Worx generated $16-40 million in total revenue in 2022.

Tourist Submarine Manufacturing

The personal recreational sub market is a kissing cousin to the tourist sub market. Tourist subs are subs that are larger than personal subs and are manufactured for the purpose of being operated by resorts, cruise lines, and adventure tourism companies.

There are only a handful of tourist submarines in the world today.

Mobimar is a Finland-based marine engineering company that has built around half of the roughly 30 “traditional” tourist subs in operation around the world today.

Triton has just entered the tourist sub market with its DeepView sub model. So far, Triton has only sold one of these subs. The customer was Vinpearl, a Vietnamese resort company.

“Traditional” tourist subs can carry 20-70 passengers and only go 50-150 feet deep.

However, U-Boat Worx sold at least two subs to the cruise industry, and Triton has sold at least one. Each of these was a sub-10-passenger sub that could go at least 600 feet deep.

Despite Mobimar’s historical market leadership in the tourist sub manufacturing market, I think it’s safe to say that Triton and U-Boat Worx are the future.

However, all of the above is in reference to “shallow water” tourism. There is also a niche industry of “deep water” tourism (lower than scuba divers can go).

Some deep water tour operators manufacture their own subs while others order them. Here is a list of companies that have have manufactured at least one sub within the last 20 years which has been used for deep water tourism:

OceanGate
Triton
Stanley Submarines
U-Boat Worx
Nuytco Research

Shallow Water Submarine Tour Operators

These are tours that go no deeper than 200 feet. There are estimated to be around 30 tourist subs operating around the world.

Sub Tour	Adult Ticket Price	Child (<13 Years Old) Ticket Price	Max # Passengers	Dive Time
Atlantis Submarines – Maui	$148	$66	48	40 min
Atlantis Submarines – Waikiki	$148	$66	48	40 min
Atlantis Submarines – Kona	$148	$66	48	40 min
Atlantis Submarines – Aruba	$114	$95	48	40 min
Atlantis Submarines – Barbados	$112	$59	48	40 min
Atlantis Submarines Cozumel	$115	$75	48	40 min
Atlantis Submarines – Grand Cayman	$115	$75	48	40 min
Atlantis Submarines – Guam	$99	$49	48	40 min
Down Under Submarines – Submarine Dive Experience	$253	$143	27	30 min
Submarine Safaris – South Tenerife	$59 – $62	$36 – $38	44	45 min
Submarine Safaris – North Tenerife	$71 – $75	$43 – $46	44	45 min
Submarine Safaris – Lanzarote	$61 – $64	$40 – $43	44	45 min
Seogwipo Submarine	$41	$30	66	20 min
Jeju Udo Island Submarine	$36	$31	66	20 min
Vinpearl Submarine Nha Trang at VinWonders resort	$60	$40	24	30 min
Odyssey Submarine Bali	$95	$65	36	45 min

According to Mobimar as well as Stanley Plastics, roughly the shallow sub tour market carries about 1 million paying passengers each year.

Some tourist subs have minimum age limits (which are typically around 2-4 years old). Additionally, some tourist subs charge 150% of the listed adult price for solo travelers (to get the normal price at these locations you need to have at buy at least 2 adult tickets). Given that information and given the demographics of both the U.S. and Europe are skewed older, it seems plausible to estimate that at least 2 adult (read: 13 years and older) tickets will be sold for every 1 child (read: 2-12 years old) ticket that is sold.

If we use that 2:1 ratio to compute a weighted average ticket price for each of the sub tours listed above and then use the number of seats on each sub to compute a weighted average ticket price for the entire industry, we get $86 as our estimated average ticket price.

At 1 million passengers per year, that implies the shallow submarine tour market is roughly $86 million per year.

How Profitable Is The Shallow Submarine Tour Industry?

We start with the estimate that the shallow sub tour industry generates $86 million in annual revenue from 30 submarines.

The Triton DeepView 24 costs $7 million, and various online sources quote the price for different Mobimar subs at between $3 million and $6 million. To be conservative, let’s use $6 million as our average sub price and assume the annual cost of maintenance, repairs, and property insurance is 10% of the sub value.

Total Industry Maintenance Costs = 0.1 x ($6 milion x 30) = $18 million

Submarine tours are largely self-advertising since people take videos and pictures while onboard the submarines and post them on social media where they get a lot of attention. However, the industry still incurs some costs for sales (especially in the form of revenue share with cruise lines, hotels, and and other travel companies that send customers to the subs). Let’s assume the industry spends 10% of revenue ($8.6 million) on commissions.

A sub will typically have a pilot, a crew member, and 1-2 divers that accompany the sub for part of its journey to chum the water so that more fish are visible to the passengers. I’m going to estimate the average pay for each of these roles (keeping in mind that some are in third world countries):

Job	Estimated Industry Average Annual Pay
Pilot	$50,000
Crew Member	$30,000
Scuba Diver	$40,000

Assuming 1.5 divers on average, that implies an onboard labor cost of

($50k + $30k + 2 x $40k) x 30 = $4.8 million

Let’s round that up to $6 million to account for some backoffice support personnel.

We’ll assume an average moorage rate of $2,000 per month per sub ($720,000 per year for the industry).

Now let’s estimate electricity costs (almost all tourist subs use electric motors).

The DeepView 24 has a 240 kWh battery. Assuming that battery is drained once per day (Triton claims the battery can last for 14 hours of touring) and assuming an average electricity cost of 15 cents per kWh, that would imply the total annual electricity cost for a single sub is

(240 kWh/day) x (365 days/yr) x ($0.15 / kWh) = $13,140/yr

We’ll round that up to $24,000 per year to account for fuel costs while used on the surface (some tourist subs use diesel or gas motors on the surface).

Which means the industry as a whole would consume $720,000 of electricity and fuel per year.

Now let’s consider liability insurance. We don’t have access to liability insurance rates for sub businesses, so we’ll look at something similar. Water parks are historically more dangerous than tourist subs, so we should probably have similar rates. According to various sources, U.S. amusement parks spend around $100 per month per $1 million of general liability coverage. Since a single passenger sub typically carries 50 passengers or less, we can conservatively estimate a single sub would need no more than $50 million of general liability coverage. That would mean the industry as a whole would spend:

$5,000/mo/sub x 12 mo x 30 subs = $1.8 million

each year on general liability insurance.

Let’s assume another $5,000/mo/sub for office space near the marina where the sub is kept. This is not strictly necessary and may be overestimating since e.g. real estate in the Caribbean is quite cheap compared to the U.S. and Europe.

Expense	Estimated Annual Amount
Inspections, maintenance, repairs, and property insurance	$18 million
Labor	$6 million
Sales, commissions, and advertising	$8.6 million
Moorage	$720,000
Electricity & fuel	$720,000
General liability insurance	$1.8 million
Office rent & utilities	$1.8 million
Miscellaneous software & services (bookkeeping, email, website, registered agent, phone service, etc)	$1.1 million

Total annual expenses	$38.74 million

We’ll round that up to $40 million to be conservative.

That implies the tourist sub market generated

$86 million – $40 million = $46 million

of pre-tax profit (an 53% margin).

There are numerous places where our estimate may have gone astray, but it seems plausible that a well-run shallow submarine tour business could be VERY profitable.

Deep Water Tourism Companies

Company	Tour	Ticket Price	Max # Paying Passengers	Dive Time	Max Depth
OceanGate	Titanic Tour	$250,000	3	8-10 Hours	12,500 feet
EYOS	Challenger Deep	$750,000	1	13 Hours	35,900 feet
Stanley Submarines (a.k.a. Roatan Institute for Deepsea Exploration)	Cayman Trench (Honduras)	$1,200	2	1 hour	2,000 feet
Substation Curacao	Discovery Dive	$200	4	40 min	300 feet
Substation Curacao	Wreck Dive	$350	4	1 hour	450 feet
Substation Curacao	Explorers Dive	$500	4	1.5 hours	600 feet
Substation Curacao	Deep Dive	$650	4	2 hours	1,000 feet
Substation Curacao	Research Dive	$800	4	2 hours	1,000 feet
Seabourn Cruise Line	Polar Expedition Dive	$899	6	45 min	<1,000 feet
Genting Cruise Line (Acquired Crystal Cruises)	U-Boat Worx C-Explorer 3 (300m)	$599	2	20 min	<1,000 feet
Scenic Eclipse	U-Boat Worx Cruise Sub 7	$795	6	40 min	<1,000 feet

Scenic has also purchased a Triton which will be delivered within the next couple years.

Additionally, there are companies such as Waterproof Expeditions which offer recreational subs (often U-Boat Worx or Triton subs) for charter rather than for single tours.

Estimating OceanGate’s Revenue

Court filings show that OceanGate took at least 28 people to the Titanic in 2022. Assuming that each of those passengers paid the currently advertised price of $250,000 for their ticket, and assuming no additional people went to the Titanic last year, then OceanGate’s Titanic tourism revenue would have been $7 million in 2022.

Best Guess: OceanGate generated $7 million of revenue in 2022.

How Big is the Scuba Diving Industry?

The following are estimates and approximations from various sources:

Around 1 million people get PADI certified each year, globally.
There are approximately 2.5 million active divers (i.e. went diving within the last 12 months) in the U.S.
There are approximately 6 million active scuba divers globally.
There are approximately 11 million snorkelers in the U.S. and 20 million snorkelers globally.
Recreational scuba diving and snorkeling contribute about $11 billion to U.S. GDP, according to DEMA. DEMA is a biased source so this probably includes travel where someone happens to snorkel.
The global recreational scuba diving equipment market size (revenue) was $1.95 billion in 2019 and is forecasted to reach that level again for 2023.

Related Markets

If we want to understand how big the recreational submersible market could get or how big the submarine tourism market could get, then it helps to look at some broadly related industry. Interpret the data in the following table as VERY rough but approximate numbers.

Global Market	Estimated Size in 2022
Recreational scuba diving equipment	$2.0 Billion
Luxury yachts	$7.0 Billion
Super yachts	$2.5 Billion
Super yacht industry (including yacht builds, repairs, services, berths, crewing, etc)	$26.0 Billion
Recreational boats	$17.0 Billion
Dirt bikes	$12.0 Billion
Cruises (including expedition cruises)	$30.0 Billion
Supercars (Porsche, Bentley, Ferrari, and Lamborghini together hold >70% market share)	$16.0 Billion

Annotated Bibliography

[1] “5 Deeps expedition completed“. September 14, 2019.

The 5 deeps expedition was an ocean expedition that included a full circumnavigation of the globe and a Triton 36000/2 submersible dive to the deepest point in each of the world’s 5 oceans.
Overall, 39 dives were conducted, a new world depth record was set (10,924 meters), and several world firsts were accomplished.
“[The] EYOS Expeditions team have together completed over 1200 expeditions…” — Rob McCallum (EYOS Expeditions founder)
“We deliver around 60 expeditions a year for our clients, and all of them require a customized approach…” — Rob McCallum
“The scale of the [5 Deeps Expedition] surprises most people; we have coordinated over 1,100 flights, dealt with 54 Government entities and had to provide logistical support to some of the most remote parts of the world.” — Rob McCallum
“The expedition’s primary platform, the 68-meter vessel DSSV Pressure Drop, underwent a $15 million refit to prepare her…”
The expedition spanned 10 months and was broken into 12 distinct expeditions.
One of the unmanned robotic landers (named Skaff) became trapped at 10,920 meters and was unable to return to the surface. However, the team was able to deploy additional landers, navigate them back to Skaff, and release Skaff back to the surface. “This was the deepest salvage/rescue ever undertaken… For the first time in history we have a tool that can be used to recover objects from any depth.” — Rob McCallum

[2] Acrylic Viewports.com

This website is owned by Stanley Plastics Limited, the company which manufactures the acrylic spheres and hemispheres used by both Triton and U-Boat Worx.
Stanley Plastics also manufactures the acrylic viewports for (almost?) all tourist and commercial subs.
Stanley claims that the best tourist submarine operations have well over 100,000 passengers per year, and that altogether, the world’s submarines carry half a million tourists every year.

[2] Allied Market Research: Adventure tourism market

This report claims the global adventure tourism market in 2022 was $367 billion and will grow at a CAGR of 28.7% to reach $4.6 trillion by 2032. That seems like an absurdly bold prediction to me, and I don’t buy it. It’s also nearly twice the CAGR predicted by Grand View Research.
Australia, New Zealand, and India are a few of the most popular adventure travel destinations.
Adventure tourism has surpassed traditional mass tourism in popularity (a claim that Grand View Research agrees with in their market research report).
Soft adventure activities are low-risk and include walking, climbing, cycling, camping, and scuba diving.

[2] Allied Market Research: Dirt bike market

According to this report, the global dirt bike market was $9.1 billion in 2021.

[3] Allied Market Research: Luxury yacht market

This report claims the luxury yacht market size was $5.8 billion in 2020 and expected to grow with a CAGR of 8.0% from 2022 to 2031.

[4] Atlantis Adventures

This company offers tourist submarine rides in Maui, Kona, and Waikiki. Up to 48 passengers can be carried to depths below 100 feet in Maui or Kona. Waikiki’s sub has 64 seats.
Tickets are $148 for adults and $66 for kids 12 and under.

[5] Atlantis Submarines

This is the parent company of Atlantis Adventures.
The company has 10 subs that operate across 3 locations in Hawaii, 4 locations in the Caribbean, and 1 location in Guam.

[5] “Australia’s first tourist submarine launches on the Sunshine Coast“. January 20, 2022.

“Down Under Submarines” has opened for business in Mooloolaba on Queenland’s Sunshine Coast, offering sub tours up to 30 meters deep.
The SUBCAT-30 can operate on the surface as a catamaran or can dive as a submarine.
Down Under Submarine Director Andrey Alexeenko said the first dive tour will take visitors up to 18 meters deep about 1.5 nautical miles out from Point Cartwright.
The article references “Yellow Submarine Cruise” and “Visit Sunshine Coast” but does not clarify whether or not these entities are affiliated businesses with Down Under Submarines.
The Submarine Dive Experience (30 minutes underwater, 20 minutes surface travel each way) will cost $253 for adults. The Yellow Submarine Cruise will cost $55 for adults.

[3] Blue Marble Private – Trips

This company offers luxury trips (including submarine trips) to ultra high net worth individuals

[3] Charter-A-Sub.com

Super Yacht Sub 3 (up to 300 meters deep, 3 occupants)
C-Explorer 3
This appears to be a subsidiary of U-Boat Worx.

[4] Chesapeake Submarine Service Inc.

This Maryland-based company offers several sub-related services including underwater search and recovery, piloting instruction, and sub leasing/rentals.
The company offers piloting instruction out of Lake Denton in central Florida using a K-350 sub.

[5] Community Submersibles Project

[4] “Cruise industry news 2022 market report: fastest growing market segments“. May 17, 2022.

Luxury and expedition cruises are the fastest growing market segments of the cruise market.
The luxury segment has grown 119% since 2012 to an annual passenger capacity of 721,078. The market segment is expected to reach nearly 1.2 million passengers by 2027.
The expedition market is smaller than the luxury market but has been growing even more dramatically over the past 10 years, from approximately 67,000 passengers in 2012 to 367,557 passengers in 2022 (449% increase).

[2] “Dawn Wright successfully dives Challenger Deep“. July 13, 2022.

Dawn Wright (Chief Scientist at Esri) and Victor Vescovo completed a successful dive to the bottom of the Challenger Deep.
Victor Vescovo is the founder of the ocean research company Caladan Oceanic.
The expedition was led and coordinated by Rob McCallum, founder of EYOS Expeditions.
A series of maps and data from the dive were made available on Esri’s ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World.
During the expedition, Vescovo and Wright successfully tested a first of its kind, full-ocean-depth “side scan” sonar built by France’s Deep Ocean Search.

[1] Deep Ocean Expeditions Brochure – Mir Submersibles (Archived from Deep Ocean Expeditions Website in 2007)

[1] DEMA (Dive Equipment Marketing Association) 2023 Diving Statistics

There are approximately 2.5 million active divers (i.e. went diving within the last 12 months) in the U.S.
There are approximately 6 million active scuba divers globally.
There are approximately 11 million snorkelers in the U.S. and 20 million snorkelers globally.
Recreational scuba diving and snorkeling contribute about $11 billion to U.S. GDP.

[1] “Dives to the Titanic — possibly the last — are back on the calendar for 2019“. June 8, 2018.

Blue Marble Private’s planned May 2018 Titanic submersible expedition experience did not happen on schedule due to electrical damage from thunderstorms and lightning during testing trips.

[1] Down Under Submarines

The Submarine Dive Experience is about 1.5 horus long: 20-25 minutes surface travel each way, plus 30-40 minutes underwater. Adult tickets are $253 while child tickets are $143. Concessions are separate. Photos are separate. Memorabilia are separate.
There is no toilet onboard.
Food and water are not provided unless in an emergency (or possibly via purchase).
The sub can transport up to 27 passengers plus 3 crew members.
The sub was built in Spain in 2002 by Nodosa shipyard and designed by Mr. Oriol. Originally, the sub was named “Subcat Catalonia”.
The current company that owns the sub imported it into Australia in 2018. It took 2 years to refit and then another to comply with 3 maritime authorities: Vanautu Flag, American Bureau of Shipping, and Australian Maritime Authority.
The company also offers the “Yellow Submarine Cruise” which does is on the subcat but involves no actual diving. The cruise is about 1 hour and costs $55 for adults and $33 for children.

[1] “End of an era for tourist trips to ghostly wreck of Titanic“. April 10, 2012.

[1] “Expedition cruising is one of this year’s biggest travel trends“. January 14, 2023.

“Expedition cruises are often the last bastion of novelty for wealthier travelers. Most have been to major cities around the world and have visited the obvious natural wonders one can see. But few have the fortune of having been to, say, Antarctica or the Galapagos. Those expeditions are the culmination of a life of travel for many already well-traveled individuals.” — Jeff Galak (Associate professor of marketing at CMU’s Tepper School of Business)
“Adventure travel is proving to be the break-out travel trend of the decade. We’re seeing tremendous excitement from guests across geographies and generations to get that bucket-list trip on the books today.” — Noah Brodsky (Chief Commercial Officer for Lindblad Expeditions)
Expedition cruises are small (16-250 passengers), go to destinations normal cruises can’t (e.g. Antarctica), and are focused on education and exploration. “There is usually a focus on nature, wildlife, and off-the-beaten-track experiences in remote areas, and a degree of physical activity is usually to be expected.” — Edward Granville (COO of tour operator Red Savannah)
Dinner shows are replaced by lectures on marine life and Antarctic history.

[3] “Experiential travel is a growing trend“. 2022.

Back in 2014, a destination management company and a travel industry media company released a report that stated “Intense global demand for travel experiences that resonate on a deeper emotional level is driving travel brands to develop a product that is more adventurous, more personalized, and more attuned to local culture, inspiring consumers toward a path of self-discovery.”
Experiential/adventure travel is one of the fastest-growing tourism market segments.
“67% of opulent or well-to-do travelers want to spend their money on activities rather than a nicer hotel. Travelers are going beyond the concept of relaxation, leisure and traditional sightseeing.”
According to Tripadvisor’s Experiential Travel Trends research, the “hottest souvenir” to bring back from a trip is a new skill. Experiences like salsa dancing classes and surf lessons are growing in popularity.
Eventbrite’s nationwide research of millenials showed that 69% want to live “one-of-a-kind” experiences that put them in touch with the culture of the places they visit.
A survey conducted by EasyJet (a low-cost Swiss airline) found that 55% of travelers scheduled trips inspired by images they saw on their instagram feeds.
A survey taken by Schofields, a UK-based holiday rental home insurance provider, showed 40% of millennials consider the “instagrammability” to be their most important priority when choosing a destination. Instagram and social media turn experiences into currency, so this is partly partially why young adults are increasingly desirious of experiential travel. However, wealthier adults are often more private, and wealthier adults are driving categories like expedition cruises, so clearly Instagram is not the only factor at play.
“Numerous experts are calling experiential travel the future of tourism.”

[2] “EYOS leads first dive to RMS Titanic in 14 years“. August 20, 2019.

“EYOS Expeditions staff have again led a successful expedition to the RMS Titanic, deploying the Triton 36000/2 submersible ‘Limiting Factor’ to conduct several dives on the wreck over a 10-day period.”
The article quotes EYOS Expeditions founder Rob McCallum saying “this is the first dive that anyone has done since our last dive in 2005. No one has seen the Titanic since…” However, I’m not sure that is true…. [TODO: WHY?]
The 2005 expedition referenced by Rob was conducted by EYOS using two Mir submersibles and involved 20 dives in total.
The 2019 EYOS expedition arrived on site on July 29, and then conducted 5 dives over the next week.
“Until now, only 157 clients have had the opportunity to dive on the Titanic but many films and documentaries have been produced for a variety of international broadcasters.”
“…diving on the Titanic is a complex and difficult undertaking, with currents up to 4 knots. Even though our onboard team has over 200 Titanic dives to their credit, we cannot take anything for granted.” — Rob McCallum

[3] Grand View Research: Adventure tourism market size & trends

The global adventure tourism market size was $282 billion in 2021 and is projected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.2% from 2022 to 2030.
The soft adventure tourism segment represented 65% of the total adventure tourism market in 2021. Soft adventure activities include trekking, hiking, cycling, camping, and scuba diving (among others). Rising demand for soft adventure activities among older age groups is expected to drive market growth.
The article claims that the “hard adventure” segment represents over 20% of revenue marketshare and “other” (neither hard nor soft) activities represent 10-15%. Hard adventure is growing quickly in Europe.
Couples represented 40% of the adventure tourism market by revenue.
The U.S. is lagging behind Europe and Asia in terms of adventure tourism market size and growth. That may mean there is an opportunity for entrepreneurs in the U.S.
From 2000 to 2019, the number of international tourists rose from 680 million to more than 1.5 billion, according to the UN World Tourism Organization and IMF staff calculations.

[4] Grand View Research: Off-road motorcycle market size & trends

This report claims the global off-road motorcycle market was $14.34 billion in 2021.

[5] Grand View Research: Yacht market size & trends

This report claims the global yacht market size was $8.91 billion in 2022 and expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.8% from 2023 to 2030.

[4] Gulf Business: “Triton Submarines braces for the next wave of experiential tourism”. July 24, 2020.

The article claims Victor Vescovo’s Tritan 36,000/2 submersible (named the “Limiting Factor”) cost $37 million.
Triton Submarines has around 50 employees split between their headquarters in Sebastian, Florida and their “Submersible Supercenter” in Barcelona.
The article claims Triton hand-builds fewer than 10 submersibles a year.
The “popular” Triton 3300/3 costs approximately $4 million.
Triton’s least expensive sub dives to just 305 meters and costs $2.7 million.
The Triton DeepView 24 costs $6.76 million.
The Triton 3300/6 costs $5.35 million.
Triton exhibits at the annual Dubai International Boat Show and has sold at least one sub to a Dubai client.

[3] Heli Subsea OY

Heli Subsea OY (previously named Lamor Subsea Ltd) is a manufacturer of emergency helicopter simulators for emergency training (including underwater escape simulators). However, the company also manufactured (or at least participated in the manufacture of) tourist submarines such as the Meiren Yu Submarine.

[4] How much does it cost to climb Mount Everest in 2023?

Most people will pay between $40,000 and $50,000 to climb Everest in 2023, but some will pay up to $160,000 for their experience.

[4] Hydrospace Group Incorporated

This company provides hydrostatic pressure testing for submersible windows and domes.
The company also builds submersible dome and window assemblies and hyperbaric chambers.

[5] Innerspace Science

This organization is owned by several submarine nerds, including several people who have built one or more subs.
The organization helps connect private subs to educational and scientific users.

[3] “Inside James Cameron’s deeply dangerous quest to reach the bottom of the ocean“. December 23, 2022.

According to this EYOS article, Victor Vescovo funded the entire 5 Deeps Expedition which involved $50 million for the sub and the ship plus $1 million per month for each of the 10 months at sea. That doesn’t exactly line up with other data though. A Gulf Business article disclosed the cost of the Trieste 36000/2 as roughly $37-38 million, and a different EYOS blog article disclosed a refit cost for the 5 Deeps Expedition ship of $15 million. That would add up to at least $52 million and doesn’t include the cost of the ship itself (only the ship refit and the submersible).
Rolex sponsored James Cameron’s 2012 expedition to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
In 2022, Vescovo sold his submersible, the Limiting Factor, and its mother ship to Gabe Newell, the billionaire founder of the Steam gaming platform. “My finances were getting tighter,” said Vescovo.

[4] International Submarine Engineering Ltd – Company History

This web page discloses that ISE (International Submarine Engineering) was the company that built PAGOO, Paul Allen’s private 8-passenger, 1000-foot diving depth recreational submarine.
This web page also discloses that ISE built ODYSSEY, a general-purpose tourist submarine for use by a tropical sub tour company.

[5] IRS Partial Interest Rule — 26 CFR 1.170A-7

This section of IRS regulations applies to how a submarine owner can and cannot get tax deductions by donating usage of the submarine to a qualifying nonprofit.

[5] JFD Global DSAR (Deep Search And Rescue) Submarine Rescue Vehicle

[4] Magellan company info

Magellan is a UK company founded in 2015.
Magellan develops, builds, and operates ROVs rated for 6,000 meters. It also builds and operates subsea testing and sampling rigs and winches with up to 10,000 meters of rope.
The company primarily serves the oil and gas industry by providing deep underwater inspections, data collection, and emergency response. However, the company also inspects pipelines and undersea cables.

[5] Mobimar

Mobimar Ltd. is a marine engineering company in Finland that (among other things) designs and builds tourist submarines.
Mobimar claims to have built about half of the 30 tourist submarines that operate year-round.
The most profitable submarine operation sites, using Mobimar Mark V submarines, have well over 240,000 passengers per year, according to Mobimar. Altogether, the world’s submarines carry a million tourists every year.
Mobimar Mark III-V tourist submarines have (or continue to) operate(d) in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Red Sea, South Pacific, North Pacific, Yellow Sea, and East China Sea.

[2] National Geographic: Rolex deep-sea history

On January 23, 1960, the Swiss-designed, Italian-built Trieste submersible became the first crewed vessel to reach the bottom of the Challenger Deep (the deepest point of the ocean, within the Mariana Trench). An experimental Rolex Deep Sea Special wristwatch was attached to the exterior of the Trieste during the entire trip, reaching a depth of 35,814 feet, and it supposedly successfully withstood the pressure without breaking (although I have not seen evidence that it was functioning while underwater).
On October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier in an airplane, the Bell X-1 Glamorous Glennis. Supposedly, he was wearing a Rolex watch while he was in the plane.
Rolex continues to actively sponsor renowned marine researchers and ocean exploration.
Rolex Oyster watches (of which the Rolex Deep Sea Special was an example) have also [TODO: FINISH]

[3] “Nemo personal submarine gets big price cut as production ramps up“. September 9, 2022.

U-Boat Worx mostly builds custom boats, but it is doubling down on making its “Nemo” models into cheaper production subs that can be purchased by more people.

[4] Nuytco Research

This company produces the Orcasub (capable of diving to 2,000 feet) and the Dual Deepworker (available in 2,000 foot and 3,300 foot depth limit versions).

[5] “OceanGate Expeditions faced hurdles in executing its excursions to the Titanic. Here’s what else we know about the company“. June 22, 2023.

“OceanGate faced a series of mechanical problems and inclement weather conditions that forced the cancellation or delays of trips in recent years, according to court records. The scuttled excursions led to a pair of lawsuits in which some high-paying customers sought to recoup the cost of trips they said they didn’t take. The complaints alleged the company overstated its ability to reach the Titanic wreckage.”
Henry Cookson Adventures Ltd., a London-based travel company entered into an agreement with OceanGate in 2016 to take up to nine passengers to the Titanic in 2018. Henry Cookson tried to recover roughly $850,000 it had paid to OceanGate.
“At least 28 people visited the Titanic with OceanGate [in 2022], according to a November court filing from an adviser to the company.”

[5] “Owner doubles diving pleasure with 2 Triton subs“. February 14, 2017.

At the time of the article, Triton had apparently sold seven Triton 3300/3 subs. That’s just one of their models, and the article was written over 6 years ago. Given that the Triton 3300/3 had only been released in 2012, that means more than one Triton 3300/3 sub had been sold every year.
The Triton 3300/3 has an acrylic sphere pressure hull that is 84 inches in diameter and 6.5 inches thick.

[1] PADI 2021 Worldwide Statistics

PADI issued more than 28 million diver certifications from 1967-2021.
There were more than 128,000 PADI professional members around the world as of 2021.
There were 6,600 PADI Dive Centers and Resorts worldwide in 2021.

[1] PBS: Deep-Sea Machines

In 1971, the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Florida built an acrylic and aluminum submersible for scientific research. In 1973, while being used by another institution, the submersible became tangled in the cables of the sunken destroyer Fred T. Berry. It was trapped for over 24 hours before the rescue vessel A.B. Wood retrieved it with a grappling hook. However, by then, two of the four crew members had died of suffocation.

[1] PBS: Submersibles through time

1953: Trieste (would eventually take the first men to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in 1960)
1964: Alvin (would help discover the Titanic in 1965)
1971: Johnson Sea-Link
1976: Clelia
1987: Mir 1 and 2
1996: Deep Flight 1
1997: DeepWorker 2000

[1] Personal Submersibles Organization

This website is the true nerd forum for DIY submersible builders and personal sub owners.

[1] Polaris Market Research: Recreational boat market size & trends

According to Polaris, the global recreational boat market was $16.3 billion in 2021 and expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.5% until 2030.
This number includes yachts, sailboats, personal watercraft, and human-powered inflatable boats.

[1] Scuba diving equipment market size 2021-2025

This article claims the global recreational scuba diving equipment market size was $1.95 billion in 2019, dipped during the pandemic, and is set to reach $1.95 billion again in 2023.

[1] Seabourn Cruise – Submarine Expedition

These sub excursions use 6-passenger + 1-crew U-Boat Worx subs.

[1] SEAmagine Hydrospace Corporation

SEAmagine makes 2-7 person submersibles with depth ranges from 100 meters to 2,300 meters.
This California based company was founded in 1995.

[1] Seogwipo Submarine

The company began offering submarine tours in 1988. The location of the tours is either Jejudo Island or Seogwipo Munseom Island.
The original submarine “Maria” could accommodate up to 48 people. Since 2003, the company has used “Jiah”, a 67-person submarine built by Mobimar in Finland.

[1] Sport Sub

The 3-person “commercial grade” SportSub III has a base price of $120,000. A surface to pilot communication system can be added for an additional $14,300, and other miscellaneous accessories can be added for lesser prices.
The company offers pilot training for $7,000 + expenses.
Subs are built to order and delivered in about 12 weeks, subject to backlog.
The SportSub has a 40 meter dive depth.
The website seems outdated and buggy. I’m not sure the company is still active.

[1] Stanley Submarines

This is Karl Stanley’s company. He built a submarine which he uses to operate deep sea tours down to 2,000 feet (or sometimes 3,000 feet).
Karl, his sub, and his company are based at Half Moon Bay in West End, Roatan, in the Bay Islands of Honduras.
Karl’s sub is named Idabel.
Karl charges $1,200 per hour for dives. If you want him to drop bait so you can see more, that’ll be $500.
The company partners with Roatan Luxury Yachts to offer multi-day charters to neighboring islands.

[1] Submarine Safaris

This company operates two 46(ish) passenger submarines on two different islands. Each sub cost over 3 million Euros to buy.
The company has carried out over 52,000 dives, with nearly 2 million guests. That implies an average of 38 passengers or less per trip (about 80% occupancy).
Tenerife sub ticket prices cost 54-69 Euros per adult and 33-42 Euros per child.
Lanzarote sub ticket prices cost 56-59 Euros per adult and 37-39 Euros per child.
Group rates and submarine charters are also available.

[1] Substation Curacao

This is a submersible tour company based on the Caribbean island of Curacao.
The business owns and operates two subs: A C-Explorer 5 (built by U-Boat Worx) and “The CuraSub” (built by Nuytco Research).
The company offers five different tour experiences (pictures included in each): (1) 40 minute Discovery Dive to 300 feet for $200 per person, (2) 1-hour Wreck Dive to 450 feet for $350 per person, (3) 90 minute Explorers Dive to 600 feet for $500 per person, (4) 2-hour Deep Dive to 1,000 feet for $650 per person, and (5) 2-hour Research Dive to 1,000 feet for $800 per person.
The company has an affiliate, Subcenter Curacao, that offers a 1-day introduction to submarine piloting course for 4,000 euros (about $4,400).

[1] “The quest to make submarines more affordable“. New York Times. August 22, 2022.

“In 2007 we went to the Monaco Yacht Show to introduce our subs to boaters and people thought it was a joke… They thought we were this crazy group of students with a prototype, and nobody thought it was real. Then a trickle of superyacht owners began to buy them, and now everyone with a yacht over 150 feet is at least considering one.” — Erik Hasselman (commercial director for U-Boat Worx)
According to the article (dated the 22nd of August 2022), U-Boat Worx has sold 40 subs to date and has 15 more in production.
U-Boat’s subs tend to be priced from $2.5 million to $3.5 million.
U-Boat Worx offers a 2-week training course to Nemo sub owners that includes theory and 20 training dives. The training costs $1 million.
According to Mr. Hasselman, the catalyst for the personal sub’s raised profile was the cruise industry after U-Boat Worx delivered its first sub to a cruise line in 2015. “…that changed the general perception because it’s big business. If a cruise company is doing something, then it must be proven and foolproof.”
Seabourn Cruise Line offers Arctic and Antarctic cruises that offer 45-minute polar dives starting at $899.
Carl Allen, an entrepreneur who sold his family’s business in 2016, owns Walker’s Cay (an island in the bahamas) and a Triton sub. Carl uses the bus to go treasure hunting below 150 feet and claims to have found gold bars and a large emerald.

[1] Titanic (1997 film) box office revenue metrics

Production budget: $200 Million
Worldwide box office revenue: $2.22 Billion

[1] Triton: Exploring opportunities for a compact charter platform

Triton estimates that you could charter one of their subs for $20,000 per day.

[1] “Triton Submarines announces new partnership with James Cameron and Ray Dalio“. December 14, 2022.

Ray Dalio and his son Mark co-founded OceanX, a philanthropic initiative that supports ocean science. The organization’s marine science and media vessel, the OceanXplorer, is already equipped with a pair of Triton submersibles that have played a role in producing BBC’s Blue Planet II and the National Geographic/Disney series OceanXplorers.

[1] “Triton Submarines now offering luxury subs for charter“. October 4, 2012.

[1] Triton Ultra-Deep Submersible Models

[1] “Troubled waters: angry customers left behind as yellow submarine sails into sunset“. April 3, 2023.

This article says that Down Under Submarines had its maiden voyage with paying customers on December 25, 2021, but that pandemic pressures and regulations still affected bookings in early 2022. Unreasonably bad weather also apparently pressured the company, resulting in cancelled tours. The company failed to communicate adequately with some of its customers, and this article claims that while the DownUnderSubmarines website is still up, it is not accepting online bookings.
A De Brett Seafood Wharf spokesperson said that DownUnder Submarines had moved their SUBCAT-30 from the Parkyn Parade wharf base. “They moved their operation late [in 2022]… They’re not here… I believe out of country — somewhere overseas — but I’m not entirely sure.”

[1] U-Boat Worx

[1] Verified Market Research: Global adventure tourism market

This report claims the global adventure tourism market size was $316 billion in 2022.
The report claims the market size will grow at a CAGR of 15.74% from 2023 to 2030, reaching $1.16 trillion.
This report claims North America is the largest global adventure tourism market (which contradicts Grandview’s market research report which claims both Europe and Asia-Pacific are larger).

[1] Vinpearl Submarine Nha Trang

This Vietnam based sub tour operation uses a Triton DeepView 24 sub.

[1] Waterproof Expeditions: Charter a Submarine

[1] WebArchive (March 19, 2018) of “The Bluefish: Visit the Titanic” (posted March 2, 2017)

The article advertises two identical upcoming expeditions to the Titanic, each limited to a maximum of 20 divers. The expeditions will be 13 days long aboard the Akademik Keldysh, a Russian owned and operated vessel.
The dives would use the Mir 1 and 2 submersibles and are expected to last for 11-12 hours.
The cost (including 1 dive) is $59,680. The cost for non-divers who want to take the voyage is $10,000.
The article says that the prices above were for the 2005 dive and may be higher for the 2018/2019 dives.
NOTE: As late as November 12, 2020, the webpage still advertised “accepting reservations” for the 2018 and 2019 expeditions. Thus, it is unclear if either expedition ever happened.

[1] Wikipedia: Deep Star 4000 submersible

[1] Wikipedia: Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV)

[1] Wikipedia: Mir submersibles

[1] Wikipedia: Nautile submersible

[2] Wikipedia: Robert Ballard (discoverer of Titanic wreck)

[3] Wikipedia: Titanic (1997 film)