Jacques Cousteau's old underwater garage is now a thriving reef

Jacques Cousteau’s old underwater garage in the Red Sea is now a thriving coral reef. That seems fitting and a great tribute. In the early 1960’s Jacques and his team built the first underwater lab called the Conshelf I and spent a week underwater at 37ft. This was followed by the Conshelf II shown in this video where they spent more than 30 days. I read a bit on this in the fantastic “Life and Death in a Coral Sea” - essentially Jacques blog from his travels in the late 1960’s in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. I highly recommend this book if you can find it. From his ease at identifying everything he saw underwater by Latin names to numerous examples of his engineering genius, it is a fascinating read and provides great insight into this legendary aquatic pioneer.

For more on man’s efforts to live underwater, check out this great BBC article:
BBC - Future - ?I have lived underwater?

 

Wow- Awesome video, thanks for sharing.

 

Glad you liked it.
The Red Sea is a special place.

 

Yep, and Jacques Cousteau was a special person- may his legacy live forever. Always loved his documentaries on marine life and his efforts to preserve it.

Wonderful video. Glad to see something good come from something good.

 

Thanks for sharing very cool.

 

awesome!! used to love jacques when i was growing up...still do!!

 

A great man and video.Thanks Matt.Remember this??

 

Cool. Is that the Calypso? What is the story with it now? If it's on dry dock that might be a good sign.

 

Great video thanks!

 

Yes, it is. Here's their site, Matt. It appears restoration has been halted, unfortunately.

Calypso restoration | About Us | Cousteau