More than a century after the Titanic’s sinking, those with money to spend can enjoy a luxury trip to tour the luxury boat’s final resting place. Blue Marble Private, a London-based travel company, will be offering dives to the site beginning in 2018.
Robert Ballard and his team of divers discovered the wreckage almost 32 years ago and interest in the Titanic’s story has been high ever since. But these underwater tours could be people’s last chance to see the sunken ship.
According to 2016 research, extremophile bacteria, which could eat away the remains, was found on the ship. Blue Marble’s trip will transport people to the wreckage site in a purpose-built titanium and carbon-fiber submersible. The trip will cost a whopping $105,129 per person, but despite the steep cost, the first voyage is fully booked.
In a press release announcing this once-in-a-lifetime experience, Blue Moon said that, after inflation, the price is equivalent to what it would cost to take a first class trip on the boat when it set sail for the first and only time in 1912. But this price is almost twice as much as the $59,000 a company called Deep Ocean Expeditions charged to bring people to the site in 2012. The cost earns visitors three full days of diving, with dives lasting up to three hours.
This gives visitors the chance to explore all the wreckage and debris from the ship, which supposedly hides numerous precious artifacts. Although the first trips are already full, more are planned for the summer of 2019.
Another travel company, called Bluefish, has announced plans to offer tours of the site in 2018 and 2019. A life-sized replica of the ship is also being constructed in China and Northern Ireland is home to the Titanic museum for those with shallower pockets and a fear of deep sea diving.
