One Woman's Dive into the Future with PROTEUS™ and Sandals Royal Curaçao

I’ve had some epic vacations at Sandals Resorts. From shipwrecks in Grenada to dolphins in Jamaica, the adventures and the scuba diving have been tops! Paired, of course, with luxurious and relaxing stays at the resorts – what more could you ask for? How about an astronaut? And, an aquanaut? How about both – together?!

In August 2024, I was lucky to dive at Sandals Royal Curaçao alongside aquanaut Fabien Cousteau, NASA astronaut Scott Parazynski, and their incredible Proteus Ocean Group (POG) team in Curaçao as they prepared for the next phase of PROTEUS™. This cutting-edge undersea research station and smart ocean platform will change the way we explore and relate to the ocean. Conceived as the International Space Station of the Sea, it’s going to be the boldest, raddest, newest, and most advanced platform that’s ever existed for us to understand what goes on beneath the waves and, more importantly, why and how that affects life above the surface, too.

EPIC sounding, right? Spoiler: the visit did not disappoint!

A Tradition of Excellence

As an explorer and storyteller myself, I am always on the lookout for new and unusual stories about the sea. When the POG team invited me along for their site visit and continuing studies, I practically ran to the airport!

The day I arrived in Curaçao, I checked into my beautiful Sandals room and quickly got ready for the big press conference announcing the project’s next phase: the finalization of PROTEUS™’ location. The event was hosted in the U.S. Consulate General property in Willemstad. As the sun went down with a gorgeous view over the ocean, Cousteau and Parazynski introduced themselves and PROTEUS™ to the crowd – and placed this monumental achievement within the context of a storied history of exploration, education, conservation, and collaboration.

It’s always been about connecting people to the oceans, Cousteau reminded us. His grandfather was Jacques-Yves Cousteau: oceanographer, filmmaker, and co-inventor of the first scuba equipment. Fabien, his first-born grandson, has inherited his grandfather’s renaissance approach to sharing and protecting our oceans. What a legacy, I thought to myself as Cousteau showed a picture of him on his famous grandfather’s shoulders. Like the elder Cousteau, Fabien also employs cutting-edge technology, big ideas, and a multifaceted approach to helping people see, understand, and learn to love our blue planet.

When Parazynski took the stage, it became clear that he also is no stranger to bold adventures and new frontiers. A veteran of five Space Shuttle flights and seven spacewalks, this astronaut’s latest mission included a dramatic, unplanned extra-vehicular activity (EVA) to repair a life solar array. He shared this story and others at the press conference. He’s also in the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame and the first person to have flown in space and summited Mount Everest – Earth’s highest point. Casual, I mused as I watched him joke with the audience effortlessly and make connections between what we were doing here undersea and what he’d done in his career as an astronaut.

Now, they’re joining forces with an elite team of masterminds and visionaries to bring PROTEUS™ to life. With their impressive resumes, it’s clear these explorers know how to dream big and execute on a plan. And, now, we get to experience it first hand!

Location, Location, Location

So, why Curaçao?

This tropical island is known for its beaches and rich underwater world, but there are many paradisical places on the map. What makes Curaçao special?

From Cousteau himself, I learned that, unlike most other Caribbean coral reefs, Curaçao’s are actually accreting – or growing and building upwards. This indicates a healthy reef that can more likely keep pace with the climate crisis and other environmental challenges. How rare and how important to study!

Curaçao’s government, businesses, and people are eager to engage with this new endeavor. They trust that PROTEUS™ will kickstart the local blue economy on the island and create new jobs and opportunities for ocean protection and economic sustainability.

“Our government has been working with the PROTEUS™ team, and we believe it will put Curaçao differently on the map,” Muryad de Bruin, the Counterpart Director at Curaçao Tourist Board, told me. “Having that project here in Curaçao is a very unique thing. It’s very beautiful, and it will add to our sustainable development on the island in terms of tourism and our economy. It’s a great thing.”

Awe and Wonder

On our dive day, we explored Klein Curaçao, one of the island’s most famous dive sites. I watched, with delight, as Cousteau darted about the reef with the eagerness and excitement of a new diver. Despite diving since he was four years old and amassing 1,000s of dives in the world’s most incredible oceans, Cousteau still eagerly pointed out a lazy scorpionfish (Scorpaena plumieri) to me, resting in a sponge.

Huh, Fabien Cousteau is pointing out reef fish to me like any excited dive guide would. How cool, I thought to myself, as he made sure I saw our little venomous buddy. He’s still got his sense of wonder, even after all those dives. He’s still fascinated by the tiniest fish, and loves to show people what he finds. That’s so awesome.

Continuing to drift around the point, I watched Cousteau again linger over something cool on the reef – though this time tall structures immediately caught my eye. Wait, is that … I know that shape. Pillar coral – and alive! So alive!

Pillar coral (Dendrogyra cylindricus) is a hard coral found that was once common and abundant on many western Atlantic and Caribbean reefs. However, climate change, environmental stressors, and stony coral tissue loss disease (STCLD) have killed much of it and threaten their continued survival. The species is now on the brink of extinction. In fact, in the Florida Keys (where I live), it’s so bad, I thought I’d never see live pillar coral again in my life.

And yet, there was Fabien Cousteau, staring at a huge colony, right off Klein Curaçao! I was so amazed, I almost forgot I was underwater. I swam over just in time for Cousteau to give me a knowing nod. Then, it was my turn to stare at this beautiful coral.

Pillars are covered in coral polyps that make them look “fuzzy” sometimes. They sway in the ocean currents, and it is mesmerizing to watch them. I stayed floating there, trying to immortalize their image in my mind, until the rest of the group was getting tiny in front of me. I begrudgingly left the pillar coral to catch up, only to discover a second and even third big colony just a bit further. What is this magical place?!, I thought.

Back on the boat, I shared my shock and excitement about seeing live and thriving pillar corals. “They’re really something, aren’t they,” Cousteau smiled back. They sure are.

The Cutting-Edge of Exploration

For our second dive, we toured the potential site for PROTEUS™. While construction hasn’t started, it was exciting to imagine what it will look like.

For me, scuba diving and the ocean tend to be really “analog” activities; I take in the calm, look at some fish, and just enjoy the simplicity of the underwater world. In contrast, PROTEUS™ will be anything but analog; instead, “The project will be part of a larger platform made up of a network and ecosystem that is alive. Humans, technology, robots, and the marine environment will all be working together at PROTEUS™,” the team’s robotics lead Dr. Mark Patterson tells me.

So, what exactly is planned? Here are a few of my favorite facts about this futuristic hub:

• An ocean technology ecosystem
• Sustainable, nature-inspired design
• Modular functionality to maximize collaboration opportunities
• Media, streaming, and educational outreach capabilities built in
• Ocean monitoring management tools
• Network of other undersea habitats
• Ability to live and work underwater 24/7!!!

In short, this facility will be the cutting edge of exploration, ocean research, and living in extreme environments. The team described how the facility and nearby ecosystems would be used to train NASA astronauts like Parazynski in an underwater facsimile of outer space. Then, the built-in studio could be used to real-time share research, discoveries, and educational resources with the world.

“There will be simulation environments where astronauts will be able to practice the sandy floor tasks that they’ll perform on the moon or perhaps, one day, on Mars,” Parazynski explained. “There will be opportunities to test out payloads and other life support equipment for the International Space Station – test them out in an environment that’s very accessible and, once they’ve been vetted, they can be launched into space.”

Embracing the Future

As we pulled back into the dock, everyone on the team was high-fiving, hugging, and taking selfies – celebrating the successful deployment of more ocean sensors for their global network. It was an awesome moment to be a part of, and one that wouldn’t have been possible without the support and hospitality of Sandals Royal Curaçao.