Doug Elsey on Sublimnos, Subigloo, and Canada’s Underwater Habitat Legacy | Deadfoot Diver Podcast
Episode notes
On the Deadfoot Diver Podcast, host Curtis interviews Canadian diving pioneer Doug Elsey, who shares how Jacques Cousteau inspired him to start diving in the 1960s, earn early NAUI certification, and use commercial diving to pay for engineering and ocean engineering studies. Elsey recounts joining Dr. Joe MacInnis’s Sublimnos underwater habitat project in Tobermory for $15 a week, running public and research programs, working with National Geographic photography, and meeting figures such as Philippe Cousteau and David Doubilet before the program ended after a University of Toronto student died under the ice. He describes Sublimnos’s later use as a training bell, its move to Picton where it now rusts in a field, and efforts to return it to Tobermory. Elsey also discusses Subigloo’s design and Arctic expeditions, including early deep helium/trimix under-ice dives, regulator anti-freeze improvisation, and the Rolex he earned for Arctic work.
00:00 Recording 1 - Sep 14, 4:21 PM
01:08 Introductions
03:50 Getting Started in Diving
10:50 The Sublimnos Project
25:36 Subigloo & the Arctic
31:04 Saving Sublimnos
48:05 The Rolex Story
53:17 Funny Joe McGinnis Stories