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R
ecently, on a great white shark expedition
to Guadalupe Island, photographer Amos
Nachoum received a radio call. It was
submersible technology savant Graham
Hawkes. He and Virgin Group chairman
Richard Branson were in the neighborhood testing
Hawkes’ new submersible, the DeepFlight Super Falcon,
and they wondered if it would be OK to come cruise with
the great white sharks around the boat where Nachoum
was diving. It had to be a rather surreal experience for
the group in the cage to see these two celebrity explorers
cruising alongside 14-foot sharks in the crystalline depths
of Guadalupe.
Hawkes described the experience from his perspective
inside the sub: “We were there to train Richard Branson
to fly the Super Falcon, and these were the first great
whites we had seen, although I’m certain they were not
the first ones to see us. We were a little nervous, not
knowing if the sharks might view us as a bigger shark
and want to challenge us to a territorial battle. But in
the end it was a hell of a blast — two Englishmen flying
underwater and sharing a passion for seeing big animals
in their natural environment.”
The childlike excitement generated by the big animal
encounters enabled by the Super Falcon is obvious in
Hawkes’ voice as he describes a three-hour ballet with
a manta ray and then later his stealthy approach from
below of the resident hammerhead sharks that hang in
the depths off Roca Partida in the Socorro Islands. In this
case, venture capitalist and ocean enthusiast Tom Perkins
shared the second canopy and the adventure as they cut
the throttle and drifted in total silence toward the school.
Viewing big marine life in the twilight zone (as
Hawkes calls the area beneath sport-diving limits but
still illuminated by sunlight) is one of the principal
reasons the Super Falcon was designed. Another compact
submersible, the DeepFlight Challenger, was designed to
dive 37,000 feet in the Mariana Trench and to the deepest
points in the world’s other four oceans — a project now
being undertaken by Deep Sub LLC in conjunction
with Virgin Oceanic. The Super Falcon integrates many
of the innovations of the Challenger prototype but is
DIVE SLATE
14
|
WINTER 2012
Graham Hawkes
and Richard
Branson soar into
the depths off
Guadalupe Island
in the DeepFlight
Super Falcon.
Below: The Super
Falcon can be
launched from a
trailer and requires
no support vessel,
dramatically
increasing its
operational
capabilities.
The Future of
Underwater Flight
1 4
/ T h E F u T u R E o F u N d E R W a T E R F l I g h T
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/ d a N m E m b E R p R o F I l E
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/ A L E R T D I V E R g o E S d I g I T a l
2 0
/ h a R v E S T I N g d I v E R S u p d a T E
2 2
/ R . W . “ b I l l ” h a m I l T o N : p R I N c E o F g a S E S
2 2
/ o N l I N E v I d E o l E c T u R E S
2 3
/ S c o p o l a m I N E u p d a T E
2 4
/ c R y o g E N I c a l l y F R o z E N c o R a l
2 5
/ d a N T R a v E l I N S u R a N c E
2 5
/ d a N c a l E N d a R o F E v E N T S
COUR T E S Y GR A H AM H AWK E S
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