The Exploration of the Blue Hole

by McNab Editorial Team

A Place of Discovery

Type “Belize” in any search engine and the first thing to pop up is the famous Great Blue Hole. In 1971, famed oceanographer Jacques Cousteau featured the great Blue Hole on a television series called “The Undersea World of Jaques-Cousteau”. On an episode entitled “Secrets of the Sunken Caves”, Cousteau navigates his ship, the Calypso, through The Belize Barrier Reef to explore the Blue Hole for the first time. Cousteau was also a pioneer of Marine Conservancy. He famously said, “The future is in the hands of those who explore and from all the beauty they discover while crossing perpetually receding frontiers, they develop for nature and for humankind an infinite love.”

The data gathered from that first exploration is much of what we know about the Blue Hole today. As the need to protect our seas and marine increases so does the need for more research. 47 years later, another historic exploration is being led by a group of ocean advocates that includes Jacques grandson, Fabien Cousteau. Fabien is the founder of the Fabien Cousteau Ocean Learning Center. Like his grandfather, he is a passionate advocate for the protection of marine habitats and life.

Exploration Technology

Just like the Calypso’s state of the art equipment of the time, the sponsors of this expedition have spared little expense with tech gear and vessels. The partnership between Aquatica Submarines, Ocean Unite, and Virgin Group founder, Richard Branson makes for an impressive show of modern technological advances. Two industry-leading submersibles will be used for the expedition, namely Aquatica’s STINGRAY 500 and RIDE’s IDABEL. These small submarines can remain submerged for 12 hours and can reach depths of 500 and 3000 ft (respectively). A team of renowned scientists, explorers, and filmmakers make up the crew. Moreover, They will collect scientific data and document the expedition. Watch this historical journey live-streamed on December 2nd! Sir Richard Branson and Fabien Cousteau will be the hosts. This landmark exploration is definitely worthy of your viewership. Discover the wonder of Belize’s Great Blue Hole!

Also, Watch Jacques Cousteau’s exploration of the Great Blue Hole here:

Article by CC+L team

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