Imagine yourself strapped snugly inside your own personal submarine.
Your head might be surrounded by a transparent canopy, giving you a 360-degree view of an ocean wonderland.
With the touch of a small lever near your left hand, you command this sleek, 16-foot sub to go into a deep dive. On your right, a joystick lets you steer in any direction you choose: forward, back, left or right.
Essentially, you'd be piloting your own underwater exploration mission.
Options might include checking out an ancient shipwreck or snuggling up close to a gigantic whale.
The technology seems all so James Bond -- except it's real.
The sub is called the DeepFlight Dragon. Price tag: about $1.5 million.
Sir Richard Branson owns one. So does Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz.
But DeepFlight doesn't expect you to buy one. Instead, right now, you can operate a DeepFlight submarine at a posh resort and be an explorer for a day. Operating the sub is relatively simple, designers say, requiring minimal training.
The Dragon is just one of many personal submersibles now on the market. There are more than ever before, say experts, thanks to emerging technology.
These underwater ships sport cool names like Scubster, the Triton and SEAmagine. Some operate partly above and partly below the waterline, like the so-called semisubmarine, EGO-Compact. Another one, the Seabreacher X, jumps out of the water like a wild marlin on a hook. It's a steal at only $80,000.
Fuente: edition.cnn.com
