Underwater Real-Estate: Sleeping With Sharks & Dining With Rays
If luxurious and outlandish real-estate properties get your juices flowing, then I suggest you read on. Architects and some mega-wealthy businessmen in Dubai are visualizing and actively planning a futuristic, largest-in-the-world, underwater luxury hotel. If you were to view it, you would probably believe you were catapulted into the a time warp to, perhaps, the year 2500. This breath-taking architectural marvel will be named ‘The Water Discus Hotel’—‘discus’ referring to the rounded design throughout a major portion of the behemoth structure. The futuristic styling, with above and below sea-level construction, unarguably could pass for an ‘out-of-this-world’ piece of real-estate not located on Earth, but Mars, perhaps?
Underwater guest rooms’ see-through walls provide an almost-panoramic view of the local sea life in real-time—sharks, sea turtles, sting rays, reefs, sea anemones—you name it. When you’re ready to retire for the evening, a large HDTV screen above the king-sized bed would provide the option of revealing illuminated, real-time aquatic activity and oceanic beauty located only feet away, beyond the thick (really thick) glass walls that keep the sea-water at bay.
You’re Joking, Right?
This is not your typical real estate development project like you would find with Dun Hill Homes or Century 21. A Polish deep-ocean technology firm and a local Dubai shipyard, both specializing in offshore construction, will spearhead the project.
Whether you arrive at this piece of Heaven-on-Earth by private boat or helicopter—yes, there is a helipad which adorns one of the multiple, disc-shaped rooftops– the underwater portion will offer 11,000 square feet of unsurpassed beauty that will feature 21 guest rooms, all 33 feet below the waves. A diving center with a decompression chamber, for training purposes, and air locks will lead divers straight into the ocean without the necessity to rise to the water’s surface. If scuba diving doesn’t flip your flippers then you might be in the mood for snuggling into a 3-passenger submersible for deep-sea exploration or do some jet skiing or enjoy the underwater scooters. A spa, a spacious garden and open terraces above the waterline only begin to create a mental image of what this paradise-in-the-sea has to offer.
The Hotel’s Construction:
If, for whatever reason, the hotel should need to be moved, it can be! Buoyant and detachable surface discs can be disconnected from the main structure and act as life boats in the event of an unexpected disaster—don’t know about you, but that would make me feel just a tad insecure–nonetheless the complex is being designed to ensure safety at all times, even during devastating weather conditions.
Five beams, which would support this water wonderland, are to be fixed to the seabed; and believe it or not, this hotel, being actually in and on the ocean, is designed to withstand a fairly high tsunami, capable of flooding cities along the coast— I’d rather take my chances on higher ground, thank you very much! Interestingly, though, should an event occur, such as a powerful earthquake, that could cause a need to leave the hotel, the underwater disc—you know, the area filled with the 21 suites—would automatically surface so patrons could ‘abandon ship’—uh huh…
The Monitoring System:
This beyond-reality hotel will house a monitoring program that will be integrated with an international earth-quake and weather warning system. A multitude of video cameras and unmanned underwater vehicles will pick up warnings in the event of an on-coming disaster. But if that doesn’t reassure you, the hotel remains in contact with the ‘real’ world at all times through a ship radio station system and a satellite telephone—I’ll take my chances on land…
About the Author: From Nebraska, Karen is devoting much of her time to writing as a retired educator. Her diverse authoring covers many things from food to real estate.
License: Creative Commons image source
