World's first underwater luxury resort

One thing can be guaranteed about a stay at the Poseidon resort in the Bahamas, there is no chance your holiday will be ruined by the rain.

Anyone planning to fork out $1,500 for a night at the five star hotel complex should however have a close affinity with water.

For the $53m resort, boasting all the facilities associated with modern luxury travel will be sunk 20m below sea level surrounded by coral reef.

Teetering on the edge of a 2000m trench off the island of Eleuthera, the resort is designed to attract nature lovers and turn others on to the splendours of the marine world.

Poseidon is the brainchild of underwater systems engineer Bruce Jones who, inspired as a boy by the diver Jacques Cousteau, has long chased the dream of underwater living.

Construction work on his project could begin as early as next February, provided he can acquire the necessary permits and guarantee the Bahamian authorities that his complex poses no threat to the fragile Caribbean environment.

Mr Jones, who has also been developing luxury submarines for the super-rich, says there will be no shortage of entertainment for his guests.

Visitors will descend via an escalator to one of 22 hermetically sealed cabins, each equipped with their own private coral reef garden where guests can operate their own fish feeders.

As well as the region's famous groupers, holidaymakers will be able to marvel from the comfort of their own Jacuzzi at passing squadrons of eagle rays, spiny lobsters and patrolling reef sharks.

But the operators say they can guarantee the wildlife will remain safely on the outside.

A high-tech carbon fibre door opens outward to maintain the unit's watertight integrity, while the whole complex is built of steel frame in which are set special three-inch-thick acrylic window sections.

There will be a visiting celebrity programme and regular guest lecturers are planned.

Diving lessons and expeditions will be available onsite and a swim with the dolphins programme may be implemented.

Excursions on a deep diving submarine are also likely, while there are plans for a revolving restaurant, bar and conference facilities.

"We have been working on the capability and engineering for the past three years and now we're at the permit stage, which we hope to get in January," said Mr Jones, 49, president of US Submarines Inc.

"It will be the most unique hotel property in the world, without question, there is no other like it where you can spend a dry night underwater in a spectacular natural coral reef setting," said Mr Jones.

The jewel in Mr Jones' underwater crown will be the resort's two-room, $20,000 a night penthouse suite, which will be "hung" over the side of the aquatic shelf.

It will only be accessible by submarine, which the American engineer can also supply.

The new resort differs from existing underwater destinations such as the Jules Undersea Lodge off Key Largo in that guests will not have to get wet at any stage, except in the Jacuzzi of course.

Visitors to the Florida submarine hotel have to don wet suits and dive down to reach it.

Scientists have also long dreamed of establishing a permanent seabed headquarters to study the deep ocean but the project has lost momentum.

However, Mr Jones faces his stiffest competition from Dubai where architect Joachim Hauser's ultra-luxurious Hydropolis is slated to be built off the Gulf state's Jumeirah coast.

The area already hosts the world's first seven star hotel, the Burj al-Arab and The Palm, two vast man made tourist islands said to be visible from space.

Mr Jones will be hoping for more success from his underwater holiday resort than it has in the luxury submarine market.

The most expensive design offered by his company is the $80m Phoenix 1000, a 213ft leviathan with a 3500 nautical mile surface range and a submerged endurance of 6 hours at 10 knots, 50 hours at 5 knots or 140 hours at 2.5 knots.

US Submarines still has to find a buyer for one of its state-of-the-art Phoenix designs.

It did come pretty close, even getting to the contract stage.

But the buyer was one of the dotcom billionaires whose bubble burst in the 1990s.

- INDEPENDENT