I’ve had some epic vacations at Sandals Resorts. From shipwrecks in Grenada to dolphins in Jamaica, the adventures and the scuba diving have been tops! Paired, in fact, with luxurious and stress-free stays on the resorts – what extra might you ask for? How about an astronaut? And, an aquanaut? How about each – collectively?!
In August 2024, I used to be fortunate to dive at Sandals Royal Curaçao alongside aquanaut Fabien Cousteau, NASA astronaut Scott Parazynski, and their unimaginable Proteus Ocean Group (POG) staff in Curaçao as they ready for the subsequent part of PROTEUS™. This cutting-edge undersea analysis station and sensible ocean platform will change the best way we discover and relate to the ocean. Conceived because the Worldwide House Station of the Sea, it’s going to be the boldest, raddest, latest, and most superior platform that’s ever existed for us to grasp what goes on beneath the waves and, extra importantly, why and the way that impacts life above the floor, too.
EPIC sounding, proper? Spoiler: the go to didn’t disappoint!
Pictured: [Sandals Royal Curaçao’s](https://www.sandals.com/royal-curacao/) customized Newton Dive Boat.
A Custom of Excellence
As an explorer and storyteller myself, I’m at all times looking out for brand spanking new and weird tales concerning the sea. When the POG staff invited me alongside for his or her web site go to and persevering with research, I virtually ran to the airport!
The day I arrived in Curaçao, I checked into my stunning Sandals room and rapidly bought prepared for the massive press convention saying the challenge’s subsequent part: the finalization of PROTEUS™’ location. The occasion was hosted within the U.S. Consulate Common property in Willemstad. Because the solar went down with a beautiful view over the ocean, Cousteau and Parazynski launched themselves and PROTEUS™ to the gang – and positioned this monumental achievement throughout the context of a storied historical past of exploration, schooling, conservation, and collaboration.
It’s at all times been about connecting folks to the oceans, Cousteau reminded us. His grandfather was Jacques-Yves Cousteau: oceanographer, filmmaker, and co-inventor of the primary scuba tools. Fabien, his first-born grandson, has inherited his grandfather’s renaissance method to sharing and defending our oceans. What a legacy, I believed to myself as Cousteau confirmed an image of him on his well-known grandfather’s shoulders. Just like the elder Cousteau, Fabien additionally employs cutting-edge expertise, huge concepts, and a multifaceted method to serving to folks see, perceive, and study to like our blue planet.
Pictured: Fabien Cousteau on the U.S. Consulate Common property in Willemstad, Curaçao.
When Parazynski took the stage, it grew to become clear that he additionally is not any stranger to daring adventures and new frontiers. A veteran of 5 House Shuttle flights and 7 spacewalks, this astronaut’s newest mission included a dramatic, unplanned extra-vehicular exercise (EVA) to restore a life photo voltaic array. He shared this story and others on the press convention. He’s additionally in america Astronaut Corridor of Fame and the primary individual to have flown in area and summited Mount Everest – Earth’s highest level. Informal, I mused as I watched him joke with the viewers effortlessly and make connections between what we had been doing right here undersea and what he’d achieved in his profession as an astronaut.
Now, they’re becoming a member of forces with an elite staff of masterminds and visionaries to deliver PROTEUS™ to life. With their spectacular resumes, it’s clear these explorers know how one can dream huge and execute on a plan. And, now, we get to expertise it first hand!
Pictured: The PROTEUS Crew
Location, Location, Location
So, why Curaçao?
This tropical island is thought for its seashores and wealthy underwater world, however there are lots of paradisical locations on the map. What makes Curaçao particular?
From Cousteau himself, I realized that, in contrast to most different Caribbean coral reefs, Curaçao’s are literally accreting – or rising and constructing upwards. This means a wholesome reef that may extra seemingly hold tempo with the local weather disaster and different environmental challenges. How uncommon and the way vital to review!
Pictured: Curaçao’s thriving underwater life.
Curaçao’s authorities, companies, and persons are keen to interact with this new endeavor. They belief that PROTEUS™ will kickstart the native blue financial system on the island and create new jobs and alternatives for ocean safety and financial sustainability.
“Our authorities has been working with the PROTEUS™ staff, and we consider it would put Curaçao in a different way on the map,” Muryad de Bruin, the Counterpart Director at Curaçao Vacationer Board, instructed me. “Having that challenge right here in Curaçao is a really distinctive factor. It’s very stunning, and it’ll add to our sustainable growth on the island when it comes to tourism and our financial system. It’s a fantastic factor.”
Awe and Marvel
On our dive day, we explored Klein Curaçao, one of many island’s most well-known dive websites. I watched, with delight, as Cousteau darted concerning the reef with the eagerness and pleasure of a brand new diver. Regardless of diving since he was 4 years outdated and amassing 1,000s of dives on this planet’s most unimaginable oceans, Cousteau nonetheless eagerly identified a lazy scorpionfish (Scorpaena plumieri) to me, resting in a sponge.
Pictured: Tiffany Duong and Fabien Cousteau put together for a dive on Sandals Royal Curaçao’s customized Newton Dive Boat.
Huh, Fabien Cousteau is stating reef fish to me like all excited dive information would. How cool, I believed to myself, as he made positive I noticed our little venomous buddy. He’s nonetheless bought his sense of marvel, even in spite of everything these dives. He’s nonetheless fascinated by the tiniest fish, and loves to point out folks what he finds. That’s so superior.
Persevering with to float across the level, I watched Cousteau once more linger over one thing cool on the reef – although this time tall constructions instantly caught my eye. Wait, is that … I do know that form. Pillar coral – and alive! So alive!
Pictured: Scuba divers observe Curaçao’s thriving pillar coral.
Pillar coral (Dendrogyra cylindricus) is a tough coral discovered that was as soon as widespread and ample on many western Atlantic and Caribbean reefs. Nonetheless, local weather change, environmental stressors, and stony coral tissue loss illness (STCLD) have killed a lot of it and threaten their continued survival. The species is now getting ready to extinction. The truth is, within the Florida Keys (the place I stay), it’s so unhealthy, I believed I’d by no means see stay pillar coral once more in my life.
And but, there was Fabien Cousteau, observing an enormous colony, proper off Klein Curaçao! I used to be so amazed, I nearly forgot I used to be underwater. I swam over simply in time for Cousteau to present me a understanding nod. Then, it was my flip to stare at this stunning coral.
Picture Credit: Tiffany Duong
Pillars are lined in coral polyps that make them look “fuzzy” typically. They sway within the ocean currents, and it’s mesmerizing to look at them. I stayed floating there, attempting to immortalize their picture in my thoughts, till the remainder of the group was getting tiny in entrance of me. I begrudgingly left the pillar coral to catch up, solely to find a second and even third huge colony only a bit additional. What is that this magical place?!, I believed.
Again on the boat, I shared my shock and pleasure about seeing stay and thriving pillar corals. “They’re actually one thing, aren’t they,” Cousteau smiled again. They positive are.
The Chopping-Fringe of Exploration
For our second dive, we toured the potential web site for PROTEUS™. Whereas building hasn’t began, it was thrilling to think about what it would seem like.
Pictured: A PROTEUS Rendering
For me, scuba diving and the ocean are typically actually “analog” actions; I take within the calm, take a look at some fish, and simply benefit from the simplicity of the underwater world. In distinction, PROTEUS™ will probably be something however analog; as an alternative, “The challenge will probably be half of a bigger platform made up of a community and ecosystem that’s alive. People, expertise, robots, and the marine setting will all be working collectively at PROTEUS™,” the staff’s robotics lead Dr. Mark Patterson tells me.
So, what precisely is deliberate? Listed below are a number of of my favourite details about this futuristic hub:
- An ocean expertise ecosystem
- Sustainable, nature-inspired design
- Modular performance to maximise collaboration alternatives
- Media, streaming, and academic outreach capabilities inbuilt
- Ocean monitoring administration instruments
- Community of different undersea habitats
- Capability to stay and work underwater 24/7!!!
Briefly, this facility would be the chopping fringe of exploration, ocean analysis, and dwelling in excessive environments. The staff described how the ability and close by ecosystems can be used to coach NASA astronauts like Parazynski in an underwater facsimile of outer area. Then, the built-in studio could possibly be used to real-time share analysis, discoveries, and academic assets with the world.
“There will probably be simulation environments the place astronauts will have the ability to follow the sandy flooring duties that they’ll carry out on the moon or maybe, someday, on Mars,” Parazynski defined. “There will probably be alternatives to check out payloads and different life assist tools for the Worldwide House Station – take a look at them out in an setting that’s very accessible and, as soon as they’ve been vetted, they are often launched into area.”
Pictured: PROTEUS staff members and Sandals Royal Curaçao dive store staff members.
Embracing the Future
As we pulled again into the dock, everybody on the staff was high-fiving, hugging, and taking selfies – celebrating the profitable deployment of extra ocean sensors for his or her international community. It was an superior second to be part of, and one which wouldn’t have been attainable with out the assist and hospitality of Sandals Royal Curaçao.
Pictured: Sandals Royal Curaçao
