Titanic Shipwreck Vacations Are Now A Thing
Do you have $125,000 just burning a hole in your pocket? Are you dreaming of a vacation spot so exclusive and socially distant someone would have to sail eight days and dive 12,600 feet into the ocean to catch a glimpse of you? Did you religiously watch both VHS tapes of the 200 minute James Cameron cinematic epic that was Titanic on repeat throughout the late '90s? Well, do I have good news for you -- Titanic scuba vacations are now apparently a thing, Bloomberg reported.
Starting next summer, travel company OceanGate Expeditions is offering chartered tours for "citizen scientists" (a.k.a. customers willing to shell out six figures) who will be "actively assisting the team aboard the submersible and the ship in roles such as communications, navigation, sonar operation, photography, and dive planning," according to the organization's website. "If this was just another money-losing wealthy person's activity, I don't see how it scales," Rush told the publication. "We don't take passengers, we don't do trips, we don't do rides. We're doing an expedition." Who needs to pay for an entire college degree to become a scientist when you can just buy your way onto a science boat. Life hack!
Despite this hefty price tag and a global pandemic/recession, OceanGate's president, Stockton Rush, says Covid-19 has not dampened interest in the expedition, which would mark the first time guests have visited the wreck in 15 years if all goes according to plan, which apparently is a rare occurrence. This is Rush's third attempt to visit the Titanic, his previous trips respectively thwarted by lightning and boat vendor issues.
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While Rush told the financial publication he's not trying to turn the protected site/potential mass grave into a hot new tourist destination, he was clear about his goal of securing that bag -- although let's be real, pretty much no one had doubts about his intentions. Considering Rush said he needed to charge at least $100,000 to make a profit, the low, low, price of $125,000 sounds like a hard bargain.
Yet there is one catch in all of this -- Rush controls the aux cord on the ship he worked with NASA and Boeing to create, bumping a playlist full of oldies, jazz, rock, and definitely not "Yellow Submarine" by The Beatles. "I hate that song," he explained. If there was ever a time to play that song ...
Moral of the story? Enough money can take you near, far, or wherever you (you being the Titanic shipwreck) are. Here's to hoping this expedition ends less tragically than the century-old boat's first trip!
To follow Carly near, far, or wherever the hell she happens to be, find her on Instagram @HuntressThompson_ and on Twitter @TennesAnyone.
