the community submersibles project

Four thousand dollars, a few propane tanks and a coat of paint is all you need to visit the depths of the oceans. At least, that’s the case if you’re Shanee Stopnitzky, marine scientist and director of the Community Submersibles Project: a volunteer initiative focused on making deep-sea exploration accessible to those of us with faded childhood dreams of becoming a marine biologist.

Only a few years old, the California-based project is the culmination of a string of happy coincidences. “I’d been known in my community for building weird watercrafts,” Shanee says, like an ‘art boat’ named Artemiid – a kinetic sculpture that glowed with light, shot blue fire, and was modelled on an aquatic life form. (Picture