Virgin Oceanic
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| Limited liability company | |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Founder | Richard Branson |
| Parent | Virgin Group |
| Website | www |
Virgin Oceanic (originally Virgin Aquatic) is an undersea leisure venture of Newport Beach, CA businessman Chris Welsh and Sir Richard Branson, part of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group. The brand was first reported in a 2009 Time Magazine interview. The flagship service provided by Virgin Oceanic was intended to take visitors to the deepest parts of the ocean; however, as of late 2014, the project has been put on hold until more suitable technologies are developed.
The company is offering a shallow water "wet" submersible, Graham Hawkes's Hawkes Ocean Technologies Deep Flight Merlin named Necker Nymph after Branson's private island in the British Virgin Islands, Virgin Limited Edition Necker Island. The Necker Nymph uses the Necker Belle as its mothership.
The shallow dive program utilizes the scuba-sub Necker Nymph, a HOT DeepFlight Merlin. It is a three-place sub, with two passengers and one dive pilot. All three are required to wear scuba gear.
The company plans to launch a deep sea submersible capable of carrying its passenger to extreme ocean depths. The deep sea adventure will be supported by the 125-ft super-catamaran Cheyenne mothership, and plans to use the HOT DeepFlight Challenger sub to make dives to the depths of the worlds oceans. Both the catamaran and the submersible were formerly owned by Steve Fossett, who had modified the racing catamaran to become the mothership for his planned oceanic dive record attempt. After Steve Fossett's death the project went on hold until Chris Welsh purchased the equipment from Fossett's estate and restarted the endeavor. The attempt on Challenger Deep was first announced in April 2011.
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