By Dana Niland
CJ Contributor

Subsea technology company Aquatic Submarines will embark an an expedition to the bottom of Belize’s Great Blue Hole this fall.

Partnering with Ocean Unite co-founder and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson; documentary filmmaker and ocean conservationist Fabien Cousteau (grandson of famed ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau) and submarine partner the Roatan Institute of Deep Sea Exploration, Aquatica will send multiple submersibles to collect scientific data, including a complete sonar scan of the interior.

The company has also enlisted a team of scientists, explorers and filmmakers to share the mysteries that lie at the bottom of the Great Blue Hole, according to The Confluence, which represents the company.

Situated in the center of Lighthouse Reef off the coast of Belize, the Blue Hole is a giant marine sinkhole that is 1,043 feet in diameter and 407 feet deep.

The site part of the larger Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In 1971, Jacques Cousteau named it as one of the top five scuba diving sites in the world.

The Aquatica mission, which will be captured by a videographer who is also a marine biologist is inspired to further ocean education, conservation and scientific research.

Led by entrepreneur and adventurer Harvey Flemming, Aquatica is an emerging company in the manned submersible technology space.

The company will send its Stingray 500 submarine as one of the two vessels that will ventures to the bottom of the Great Blue Hole for the expedition this fall.

— CJ