DATELINE: 27th July 2001

TROPICAL DIVES - IN BRITAIN
Fancy diving in clear, warm water in midwinter? You won't have to leave the UK to do it from October 2002, if an ambitious multi-million pound project goes ahead.
Subsea Explorer Ltd, the company associated with organising recreational trips to the Titanic, Bismarck and North Pole, plans to build 24 indoor dive centres around the world. And the first is to be built close to the M6/M1 junction in the Midlands - not far from the UK's leading inland dive site, Stoney Cove.
The "undersea adventure facility", which will cost around £20 million to build, will allow year-round all-weather diving and is said to be ideal for training as well as for family entertainment.
The company is now looking to sign up members: "We reckon we need about 12,000 to make the project viable," says Managing Director Craig Shaw. "We already have more than 30,000 subscribers on our website, so we're off to a good start."
Subscriptions would cost £150 a year, though day tickets would also be available. Designed to represent a "tropical paradise", the development will centre on a giant marine aquarium, with graduated depths down to 25m.
It will contain artificial reef and wreck sections which can be switched overnight as required, and a large selection of tropical marine life, including shark and ray pool areas. "Maintenance alone will cost £4 million a year," says Shaw.
There will be a dive centre with instructors and a buddy-up scheme for lone divers. Subsea Explorer promises continuous underwater surveillance with a rapid-response rescue team and on-site medical facility, including recompression chamber.
While not counting on the possibility, Subsea Explorer is talking to training agencies to see if there is any possibility of the site being recognised for open-water certification.
Non-divers will be catered for with swimming and snorkelling pools, a gym and health spa, creche, shops, bar and restaurant, all on a tropical theme.
Subsea Explorer intends to build other centres around the world, including North America, the Middle East and continental Europe.
The company has made its name rapidly by buying up rights to visit the Titanic and the Bismarck over a five-year period and using its website www.subseaexplorer to sell once-in-a-lifetime submarine trips to the wrecks for wealthy adventure-seekers.
"The exercise has cost us a lot of money but it could never have bought the high level of publicity we have received as a result," says Craig Shaw, who adds that it was always intended that the main thrust of Subsea Explorer would be its all-weather resorts.

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