A glass-bottom boat is a boat with sections of glass, panoramic bottom glass or other suitable transparent material, below the waterline allowing passengers to observe the underwater environment from within the boat. The view through the glass bottom is better than simply looking into the water from above, because one does not have to look through optically erratic surface disturbances. The effect is similar to that achieved by a

diving mask A diving mask (also half mask, dive mask or scuba mask) is an item of diving equipment that allows Underwater diving, underwater divers, including scuba diving, scuba divers, free-diving, free-divers, and snorkeling, snorkelers, to see clearly u ...

, while the passengers are able to stay dry and out of the water.

Use

Glass-bottom boats are used for giving tours, as they are usually designed to allow the maximum number of

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity on ...

s to view out the glass bottom. Glass-bottom boats are in use in many seaside tourist destinations as well as lake towns. Typical tours in these boats include views of underwater flora and fauna,

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...

shipwrecks A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. It results from the event of ''shipwrecking'', which may be intentional or unintentional. There were approximately thre ...

, and other underwater sights.

History

The glass-bottom boat was invented in 1878 by two men, Hullam Jones and Philip Morrell, in

Marion County, Florida Marion County is a county located in the North Central region of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 375,908. Its county seat is Ocala. Marion County comprises the Ocala, Florida Metropolitan S ...

. Jones outfitted a dugout canoe with a glass viewing box at the bottom, which allowed tourists to view the clear waters of

Silver Springs, Florida Silver Springs is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Marion County of northern Florida. It is the site of the Silver Springs, a group of artesian springs and an historic tourist attraction that is now part of ...

. Eventually, the spring was purchased by Col. W.M. Davidson and Carl Ray, who developed a gasoline-powered glass-bottom boat in 1924.

Gallery

File:20150704 - 019 - Tobermory, Ont. - Wreck of the "Sweepstakes" (view through glass-bottom boat).jpg, View of a shipwreck in

Tobermory, Ontario Tobermory is a small community located at the northern tip of the Bruce Peninsula, in Bruce County, Ontario. It is part of the municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula. It is northwest of Toronto. The closest city is Owen Sound, south of Tober ...

, Canada File:Glass bottom boat interior.jpg, The interior of a glass-bottom boat File:1934 glass bottom boat.jpg, The oldest operational glass-bottom boat in Florida File:Glasbodenboot.jpg, upUndersea windows on the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glass-Bottom Boat Boat types Glass applications Glass architecture Tourist activities

Use

History

Gallery

See also

References