When Was the Last Time You Were on a Submarine?

May 19, 2022 | General Information

Hawaii is lucky enough to have three islands where you can take a submarine ride. Atlantis Submarines operates from Waikiki Beach on Oahu, from Kailua-Kona on the Big Island and from Lahaina on Maui! If you haven’t taken one of these adventures you are missing out and here is why.

These submarines are the real deal. They are not a glassbottom boat that sits on the top of the water and views through a port underneath. No these are actual submarines that submerge to a depth of 100′ or so and then stay at that depth for perhaps 40 minutes.

If you were a scuba diver you would have a hard time staying at that depth for that long without having to come up to a shallower depth to decompress.

Unlike submarines that are used by the military these submarines have immense window portholes right at your seat for you to view outside the vessel and you can turn around and view over the shoulder of the person behind you from the porthole on the opposite side of you as well.

It’s not many people who can say that they have cruised around at the bottom of the ocean. You are there long enough to get a feeling for this environment and get a sense of what it must be like to live there permanently as the fish do.

What if the submarine somehow runs out of power, will you be lost at the bottom like a sunken ship. On the contrary, the vessel is actually buoyant and the ships motors force it down. If they ever were to run out of power the ship would simply rise to the surface.

Are you claustrophobic? This is usually not a problem. You can see out of the sub from every angle and the rush of fresh air that continuously floods the cabin allows you to breathe deeply. Only the severely afflicted will have a problem with this vessel.

One very cool thing that will happen as you descend is that you will see the colors outside the sub and inside where you are sitting change as the light is filtered by the water above. The colors of your clothes will change and the person next to you will change hues as well.

The entire experience from the shore boat you catch on land to and from the submarine is only 2 hours so you can fit this ride easily into your day.

This might be the perfect tour to do on one of the rare rainy days you may have on your vacation. You don’t have to worry about the rain getting your submarine wet. It’s wet already.

If you have children, this is your ticket. They will likely get more excited about going on this excursion than any of the other activities you take them on. The only catch is they have to be a minimum of 3′ tall.