Australia’s first tourist submarine, to be based on the Sunshine Coast, is surging full steam ahead after achieving new milestones.
As DownUnder Submarines Pty Ltd makes final touches to a $2 million refit of Australia’s first tourist submarine, the $3 million SUBCAT-30, company founder Andrey Alexeenko is buoyed by recent sea trials in Spain of a similar vessel to his “yellow submarine”.
“It shows the great capabilities of SUBCATS,” he said.
His company has been benefitting from widespread publicity and interest in the unique tourist venture as DownUnder Submarines heads towards the first above-surface promotional tours of the Brisbane River in July.
The SUBCAT is expected to arrive at its new home, based at Rockliff Seafoods on Mooloolaba Spit, in August.
If all goes to plan, Mr Alexeenko is confident underwater tours will be introduced from September for Coast residents and visitors, once further data collection, safety drills with the Mooloolaba Coast Guard and initial above-surface tourist cruises have been completed.
Towards that aim, Mr Alexeenko said the first crewman for the SUBCAT-30, which will fly under a Spanish flag, had arrived for duty.
“He has been held up in Sydney in quarantine despite having full vaccination and being a part of the maritime crew,” he said.
“Queensland has changed the rules for maritime crew in the recent protocol of May 7.
“He will be in Brisbane on June 27.
“The other person is still in Spain on stand-by.”
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Mr Alexeenko said he had advertised employment positions for local ship masters with dual citizenship (European and Australian) “which is our option for crewing a foreign-flagged ship”.
“Currently, I am in contact with a few locals as a back-up,” he said.
“We are planning to start the crew training from July 1.”
A total of 27 passengers will join two highly-trained tourist submarine pilots and a customer service host on each dive tour, which will last an hour and 40 minutes aboard the 65-tonne SUBCAT.
Measuring 19.5m long and 6m wide, the SUBCAT is the only passenger vessel in the world that is a hybrid submersible, meaning it can travel on the surface of the water like a normal vessel but can dive like a submarine when it arrives in the diving area.
Passengers will take advantage of 14 viewports, each with a video monitor providing a real-time view from four cameras installed on the exterior of the vessel.
Two seating areas are available – at the aft, accessed by flat deck spaces on the sides, and inside a pressure hull the size of a small aircraft cabin – and once the vessel has arrived at the dive site, passengers will be able to stand up and walk around.
For the comfort of passengers, the sub will only operate in conditions up to a 1.5m swell while in transfer, and 1.25m swell at the dive site.
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The sub, which can descend to 30m and travels at a relatively slow speed of 8 nautical miles per hour, aims to meet all federal Australian Maritime Safety Authority and State Government requirements before taking passengers into the wonders “down under” – the corals, reef life and marine creatures around partially wind-protected Old Woman (Mudjimba) Island with its spectacular underwater cliff on the western side, and possibly the ex-HMAS Brisbane wreck.
A support vessel will operate alongside the tourist submarine to communicate with divers and other boats in the area, to give the SUBCAT resurfacing permission, and to monitor changing weather conditions for the sub.
One unique feature of the SUBCAT-30 is that its cabin (pressure hull) is above the water.
“Numerous viewports provide a view of what is happening on the surface before and during a dive,” Mr Alexeenko said.
“At the dive site, they actually see the breaking water on the dive and re-floating.
“No other submarines in the world can do that because they have the passenger cabin submerged at all times. So, those passengers have to negotiate a vertical ladder which takes them below water level and a submersible begins its decent.
“They can’t see how the air escapes from the ballast tanks, making water to boil while viewports are disappearing below the surface. Most people are excited just to see that, no matter what’s underwater.”
Normal dive ticket prices will be: $253 per adult including GST, seniors $215 and children aged 2 and over $143.
SUBCAT-30 also would be available for charter for weddings, special functions and corporate events.
Bookings are now available for the first Mooloolaba one-hour above-surface cruises and the Mudjimba Island dives at www.downundersubmarines.com
