Since Atlantis Submarines closed down during the COVID-19 pandemic, Grand Cayman has been without a submarine for tours. Now, an Australian company has brought a bright yellow one to the island and plans to start taking people for dives later this year.
DownUnder Submarines owner and operations manager Andrey Alexeenko told the Cayman Compass that his Sydney-based company has had Cayman in its sights for a few years.
Alexeenko explained that even before COVID, staff at Atlantis had been in contact with him, and that’s how he was even aware that Cayman had a market for submarine tours.
“When Atlantis shut down, people from Atlantis got in touch with me, asking if I wanted to relocate to the Cayman Islands,” he said. “It took a while, a couple of years, to do it.”
Alexeenko visited Cayman last year, and has been getting in touch with the people who maintained the previous submarine, as well as with companies that liaise with cruise ships, and is getting ready to launch.
The sub’s pilot will be coming from Spain, and initially six to eight local staff members will be hired and trained to work on the vessel, he said.
As well as selling dive trips to tourists and residents, the company also intends to offer educational trips to students from local schools.
Alexeenko says he’s still looking for more investors to come on board, as the company is already planning to operate more than one sub in Cayman.
The Subcat Catalonia that DownUnder Submarines has brought to Cayman can hold 28 passengers and two crew members.
Alexeenko noted that the Atlantis submarine could carry twice that number and was “quite busy”, so, he says, “we expect working with just one Subcat won’t be enough” to meet demand.
He says he’s hoping investors will come on board to help the company scale up its operations.
Passengers will be able to board the sub, which has 14 glass view ports, in central George Town, and Alexeenko says there will be five to six dives per day, going down to 100 feet.
Unlike the Atlantis submarine, the 64-foot-long Subcat doesn’t require a tender boat to take passengers to the submarine, as it is a vessel that can operate and move on the surface. And passengers won’t have to climb down a ladder to get inside the sub; rather they can board via a horizontal hatch, “so it’s also suitable for people struggling with ladders”, Alexeenko said.
DownUnder plans to launch the first dives at the beginning of the tourism season in November.
For more information, email [email protected].
Related Videos
