Story suggested by Bob a.k.a. Tinker Connolly Monday 15 March
The continent of Atlantis was an island
Which lay before the great flood
In the area we now call the Atlantic Ocean
So great an area of land, that from her western shores
Those beautiful sailors journeyed
To the South and the North Americas with ease
In their ships with painted sails…
Hail Atlantis! Way down below the ocean
Where I wanna be, she may be…
or
Under the sea
Under the sea
Darling it’s better
Down where it’s wetter
Take it from me
It seems crazy to be talking about settling Mars when there is so much space under the sea.
In modern times, it was probably the intrepid underwater pioneer Cousteau and his Conshelf research habitat built under water in the 70’s that sparked interest in the possibility of living underwater.
Under sea habitation could alleviate over-population problems, or guard against the possibility of natural or man-made disasters that render land-based human life impossible.
Skylab has clearly demonstrated that it is possibleto survive for long periods out of the atmosphere. The difference with underwater is increased pressure as opposed to no pressure.
The pressures at any deeper than 1,000ft (300m), would require very thick walls and excessive periods of decompression for those returning to the surface, but there is plenty of sea bed above that level.
Energy can be generated harnessing wave action or placing solar panels on the surface.
The air composition needed to sustain the aquanauts depends upon the depth of the habitat. Current habitats use compressors to constantly push fresh air from the surface down tubes to the habitat. Growing plants using natural or artificial light could be used to generate a fresh supply of oxygen, or other methods could be developed to produce oxygen.
Water can be created using condensation or desalinisation. Depending upon the size of the colony, human waste could be treated and released into the environment.
A number of ideas and proposals are under consideration and undersea mining and marine fish farms are significantly large industries.
The sea is being recognised as an opportunity for expansion. Let us hope we can clean up pollution before we start living there. And keep it clean. And minimise our impact on a different eco-system….
Any bets we can do that? Thought not.
sillysocksonfriday 
Captain Nemo and the Underwater City…. a la Jules Verne…..crayfish and prawns for breakfast….BUT I still need Springbok biltong that you can break with your hands and the dust of the Kalahari with its 45C and 0% humidity or being chased by a musthy heffalump at iMfolozi.
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