Environmental Page

Pictured are some of the students of the St. Boniface Nursery School with Subby the seahorse while on their visit at Atlantis Submarines in the Shallow Draught, as part of their project entitled "Water, Water Every Where".

Friday the 4th of June, 2010 the St. Boniface Nursery school students visited Atlantis Submarines Barbados and spent some time with one of our Co-Pilots Afiya Taylor. Afiya taught this very excited bunch all about the Submarine tour, the reef and how important it is protect our environment. The purpose of this visit was to aid them in completing a school project entitled "Water, Water Everywhere: Sub-theme from the Sea to the Shore"

To their delight, those lucky seventy-five children also had the opportunity to meet our friendly mascot Subby the seahorse, who they were very eager to hug. They took group photographs with Subby and also did a short sightseeing tour on our pier where they had a closer look at the submarine and the transfer vessel.

Atlantis Submarines "Living classroom" outreach program has been be enhanced to educate children about protecting the marine environment, and also teach basic ways to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle and the impact they can make in greening Barbados. Along with Our Mascot Subby the Seahorse Atlantis Submarines will bring focus and attention to our beautiful underwater world and its beautiful creatures and how our lifestyle can affect them.

These tours are available year round for schools, camps and social groups. Subby and the Atlantis Staff can also pay you a visit at your request. You can also meet and have fun with Subby at our monthly Birthday parties where we celebrate your birthday with you and family and friends.

In 2009 Atlantis Submarines was the first attraction in the world to achieve double certification from "Green Globe and Green Certifications" in recognition of our active efforts to reduce our carbon footprint and "Go Green". Our attraction offers the unique opportunity to take guests underwater to experience the beauty of the underwater world in an authentic submarine.

Atlantis Submarines Barbados Inc

April 22nd 2010

Given the significance of the celebration of Earth day, we take this opportunity to laud the vision of the founder and CEO of Atlantis Submarines International, Mr. Dennis Hurd, for the vision in creating Atlantis Submarine as a sustainable tourism venture designed with environment in mind. Apart from creating jobs and earning foreign exchange it has certainly raised the awareness of the importance of the coral reefs especially to the school children that experience this "Living Classroom".

The full economic impact of reefs is not clearly understood by many of us living in the islands but the research done by the Caribbean Reef Education and Training Initiative points to a number of pertinent facts that seek to quantify the economic impact of coral reefs. If we consider reefs in their role in the creation of the white, sandy beaches that lure tourists to the Caribbean, they account for one in six Caribbean jobs and about US$ 15 billion a year to the region's income. Additionally, since they serve as a nursery for many fish species, reefs play a large role in getting about 500,000 tonnes of the region's food to the table.

Earth Day is a good opportunity to remind us of the role that we can play in protecting the reefs that protect our shores and in so doing protect our own livelihood and our future.

December 12th 2009

THE University of the West Indies (UWI) has come to the aid of the Caribbean's dying coral reefs.

In collaboration with the European Union (EU), UWI officially launched an almost 1.5 million-dollar project yesterday on board the Atlantis Submarine's vessel, Atlantis 15, that will seek to use higher education and professional training to empower Caribbean people to save their rapidly dying coral reefs.

Read the full article here.

Atlantis Submarines Barbados has launched their Friendly, Educational and very Entertaining mascot, 'Subby' the seahorse. Subby will bring focus and attention to our beautiful creatures underwater and how our lifestyle can affect them, and our environment by teaching and reminding everyone to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

Subby was launched at our first monthly birthday celebration on the 30th of May, 2009 on our 11:00am Submarine dive. The guests were treated to complimentary Birthday cake, drinks and photos with Subby. The kids and adults really enjoyed frolicking with Subby. Daniel Arthur celebrated his 9th birthday on this day and had a fantastic time with family and friends and Subby and the Atlantis Submarines staff.

December 8th 2008 – Green Certification

December 8th 2008 – Green Certification website reads "Congratulations to Roseanne Myers and her team for successfully reaching the Green Certification in alliance with Green Globe Int. Atlantis Submarines Barbados is the first to have reached the new combined award in the Caribbean. The Green Globe Award is the only certification recognized by tour operators worldwide." Roseanne Myers General Manager for Atlantis submarines Barbados says, "This is a fantastic achievement for us and it signals that we have started down a positive path to measuring and eventually reducing our carbon footprint as well as increasing our overall positive impact on the social and natural environment. We already had a number of safety, quality, preventative maintenance, programs in place but we did not realize that the Green certification would include an assessment of these as well environmental education and management systems. Most of all it was paperless and painless though we have lots more work to do!"

The management of Atlantis submarines Barbados seized the opportunity with the slowdown in business due to the economic crisis to make good use of this unusual gift of time and it has certainly paid off. A number of areas where we can improve our environmental responsibility and save money have been identified. There is the added benefit because Atlantis Submarines Barbados is now part of the Green Certifications Inc. ⁄ Green Globe Int. team and will be included on all of their websites, appropriate press releases, trade show, collateral, mail or e-mail to the travel trade, consumers, general public, corporations and meeting and incentive planners.

Atlantis Submarines in Barbados is an authentic submarine which is part of the largest fleet of recreational submarines in the world and daily takes guests to depths of 130 feet and deeper to explore the natural reef off the west coast of Barbados

Check out some fun facts about coral in Barbados

Boulder Star Coral

Photographer: Ramon Roach

Many different lobes comprise one colony of this coral. The Boulder Star Coral (Montastrea annularis) is a scleractinian (hard) coral with a skeleton of limestone. Each Circular bump on the surface of the coral is a corallite, and the home for an individual coral animal (polyp).

Brain Coral

Photographer: Ramon Roach

A close up of the boulder brain coral. The Boulder Brain Coral (Colpophyllia natans) is a scleractinian (hard) coral with a skeleton of limestone. In this species, the corallites of each polyp are joined to create the valleys and ridges seen here, which produce a pattern similar to that of the brain.

Brain Coral rain Coral

Photographer: Leigh Weatherhead

A Blenny peeks out from a starlet coral. Blennies (Family Clinidae) are usually difficult to spot as they change colours to blend in with their backgrounds, and usually only their heads are visible. Each individual corallite of the starlet coral (Siderastrea sp) can be clearly seen.

Pink Tipped Anemone

Photographer: Ramon Roach

The Giant Anemone waves its tentacles. Anemones belong to the same Class as the corals, and like them, their tentacles contain stinging cells called nematocysts. The Giant Anemone (Condylactis gigantean) is the largest of the Caribbean anemones. Contact with them tends to result in mild irritation of the skin.

Magnificent Feather Duster

Photographer: Ramon Roach

Feather Duster living amongst a colony of Yellow Pencil Coral. The Magnificent Feather Duster (Sabellastarte magnifica) is a sessile (stationary) marine segmented tube worm. The flexible tube, which is composed of glued-together fine sand, is hidden within a colony of Yellow Pencil Coral (Madracis mirabilis). The head of the worm is encircled by featherlike radioles which serve a dual purpose; they act as gills and capture plankton for food.

Green Turtle

Photographer: Gregory Sealy

A Green Turtle nestled within a coral reef. The Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas), the largest of all hard shelled sea turtles is listed as threatened in the Caribbean. It is unique in that it is herbivorous, feeding primarily on a diet of algae and sea grass, which gives its fat a greenish hue. Green turtles are observed regularly in our nearshore waters; however their nesting population numbers less than five.

Spotted Moral Eel

Photographer: Renata Goodridge

Moray looking out from the reef. The Spotted Moray (Gymnothorax moringa) usually hides in dark holes in the reef during the day. Normally they are not aggressive animals, but when provoked they can inflict painful bites.

Fuzzy Pillar Coral

Photographer: André Miller

A tube worm lives within a pillar coral colony. The Pillar Coral (Dendrogyra cylindrus) is one of the few hard corals in which the tentacles of the polyps are extended during the daytime, giving the animal a fuzzy appearance.

Sea Rod

Photographer: Ramon Roach

A Sea Rod colony bends in the stiff current. Sea Rods (Plexaurella sp) are corals, but not the reef-building kind. They are called gorgonians and have a central skeleton made of a protein called gorgonin from which they derive their names and their flexibility. All Gorgonians filter the water for the plankton on which they feed.