Luxury travel company Blue Marble Private will offer diving expeditions to the world-famous Titanic wreck site beginning in May 2018. For a mere $105,129 per person, tourists can explore the wreck off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada during an 8-day expedition. Participants will descend more than two miles (3.2 km) below the surface of the Atlantic in a titanium and carbon-fiber submersible to see the shipwreck and surroundings. With the Titanic continually deteriorating, this is an opportune time to see it before it disappears completely.
OceanGate Expeditions created the purpose-built submersible, which is fully booked with nine people for the first voyage. Blue Marble has further expeditions planned for the summer of 2019. Blue Marble says the ticket costs the same as a first-class ticket on the Titanic’s maiden voyage, once adjusted for inflation. A ticket on the one and only voyage cost $4,350.
Numerous expeditions have visited the ship, including controversial salvage trips for public displays since a joint French-American expedition discovered the wreckage in 1985. Tourists have rarely visited the wreckage however. The last was a group in 2012, hosted by Deep Ocean Expeditions at a cost of $59,000 per person.
“Since her sinking 105 years ago, fewer than 200 people have ever visited the wreck, far fewer than have flown to space or climbed Mount Everest,” says Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate Expeditions. “This is an incredible opportunity to explore one of the most rarely seen and revered landmarks on the planet.”
What does $105,129 buy?
Tourists joining the 2018 expedition will get a helicopter or seaplane flight from St. John’s in Newfoundland to the expedition support yacht above the wreck. They’ll spend three days learning about the ship’s workings, and how to operate the sonar and underwater navigation systems. The tourists will help the expedition team with during the dives.
There will be three potential days of diving, conducted day and night for three passengers at a time. The descent time will be approximately 90 minutes and dive time will be three hours. Divers can expect to explore different regions of the wreck, including the deck, bow, grand staircase cavern and an extensive debris field. Blue Marble Private’s founder Elizabeth Ellis stated the submersible crew may conduct 3D- and 2D-sonar scans or searches for the ship’s boilers, propellers and other landmarks during the dives.
The Titanic lies in two main pieces, around 1900 feet (600 m) apart, with the bow in good condition. The stern disintegrated during impact with the seabed in April 1912, and the midships lies as scattered pieces on the seabed. The debris field of hundreds of thousands of artifacts covers an area of 3 by 5 miles (4.8 8 km). It includes passengers’ personal effects, machinery and furniture.
Los Angeles-based luxury-travel company Bluefish is also taking reservations for their 2018-19 expedition. Their trip features a similar itinerary and includes one 11- to 12-hour dive on Titanic for $59,680.
