For the first time in history, an authentic underwater research habitat is open to the average person - sport divers and even those who have never before dived. The Jules' Undersea Lodge is located in Key Largo, Florida.

Visit Innerspace and experience what was once only a dream of science
fiction writers: living within the sea! Enjoy underwater luxury from a 1:00pm check-in until an 11:00am check-out. You will earn an Aquanaut certificate while enjoying unlimited diving for certified divers. Visitors may spend multiple days underwater without surfacing.

When guests visit Jules’ Undersea Lodge, they discover that the name is no marketing gimmick. Just to enter the Lodge, one must actually scuba dive 21 feet beneath the surface of the sea. Jules’ really is underwater. Diving through the tropical mangrove habitat of the Emerald
Lagoon and approaching the world’s only underwater hotel is quite an experience. Even from the outside, Jules’ big 42 inch round windows cast a warm invitation to come in and stay a while, relax and get to know the underwater world that so few of us have even visited.

Entering through an opening in the bottom of the habitat, the feeling is much like discovering a secret underwater clubhouse.

The cottage sized building isn’t short on creature comforts: hot showers, a well stocked kitchen complete with refrigerator and microwave, books, music, and video movies. Breakfast and dinner are included. And, of course, there are cozy beds, where guests snuggle up and watch the fish visit the windows of their favorite underwater “terrarium”.

Jules’ Undersea Lodge manages to reach a perfect balance of relaxation and adventure. Guests sometimes describe their visit to inner space as the most incredible experience of their lives.

Although the underwater hotel may sound like the latest tourist fun spot, Jules’ Undersea Lodge actually began its existence as La Chalupa research laboratory, an underwater habitat used to explore the continental shelf off the coast of Puerto Rico. It also served as the site of the historic 1995 sea-space link-up in which ocean pioneers Scott Carpenter and Ian Koblick spoke with astronaut Mike Gernhardt aboard the space shuttle Endeavor.

The mangrove lagoon in which Jules’ is located is a natural nursery area for many reef fish. Tropical angelfish, parrotfish, barracuda, and snappers peek in the windows of the habitat, while anemones, sponges, oysters and feather duster worms seem to cover every inch of this underwater world. Guests of the Lodge explore their marine environment with limitless air supplied by 100 ft. long “hookah” lines, instead of heavy scuba tanks. The hookah lines are actually a remnant of La Chalupa’s deep ocean exploration, where high pressures required much more air than a normal scuba tank could supply.

The entire structure of Jules’ Undersea Lodge is underwater, sitting up on legs approximately five feet off the bottom of the protected lagoon. The Lodge is filled with compressed air, which prevents the water from rising and flooding the rooms.

A five by seven foot “moon pool” entrance in the floor of the building makes entering the hotel much like surfacing through a small swimming pool. Divers find themselves in the wet room, the center of three compartments that make up the underwater living quarters. The wet room is where divers leave their gear, enjoy a hot shower

and towel-off before entering the rest of the living area.

Designed for comfort, the air conditioned living space has two private bed rooms and a common room. The eight by twenty foot common room is a multi-purpose room providing the galley, dining and entertainment areas.

Each of the bedrooms and the common room is equipped with telephone, intercom, TV/VCR and a stereo sound system. The main focus of attention is the big 42 inch round window that graces each room. “Waking up to view a pair of angelfish looking in your bedroom window is a moment you'll never forget”, states owner and co-developer Ian Koblick.

Habitat operations are monitored by the Mission Director from the land-based “Command Center”, located at the edge of the Emerald Lagoon. The control center is connected to Jules’ Undersea Lodge by an umbilical cable which delivers fresh air, water, power and communications.

“The entire facility is monitored 24 hours a day by our staff”, says Koblick, “the Lodge has independent support systems as well as redundant backup systems. We’ve taken every step to ensure a safe yet exciting adventure for our guests”.

The staff of Jules’ Undersea Lodge remains on duty 24 hours a day to provide whatever services the
quests may need. The Lodge’s luxury packages include the services of a “mer-chef who scuba dives down to the hotel to prepare and serve a gourmet dinner for the guests. Birthday or anniversary celebrations often include surprise bouquets of flowers and cakes. Late night snacks can even include the underwater delivery of a pizza from a local shop.

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