A frantic search has turned into a race against time as crews search for the missing Titanic submersible in an area twice the size of Connecticut and 2.5 miles deep.
Mike Reiss, a writer and producer of "The Simpsons," and his wife Denise Reiss took the same expedition last year and shared their eerie experience.
Mike said it was the same vessel he was in last year as he explored the 100-year-old sunken ship. Denise said he took a paper and pen on the trip so he can write his last jokes or notes, in case anything happened.
“It's a long waiver you sign,” said Mike. “I remember seeing ‘death’ three times on page one.”
He and his wife were supposed to go on the expedition together, but she tested positive for COVID, keeping her on the mothership during the expedition.
“Mission control that they have there that follows the sub, they can tell me where the sub was located, what was happening and I got the sense that the mission control was in communication with the sub,” she said.
“There’s no furniture inside the submarine, there’s a very comfortable piece of carpeting and it has these ceiled mesh walls that are curved,” said Mike.
As Denise waited nervously for about 10 hours, Mike says it was a one-of-a-kind voyage that made him feel safe no matter how deep they were falling.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
“I went from sea level to 2.5 miles down and back and I never felt the pressure change in my ears, it was not even as uncomfortable as like a 10-floor elevator ride,” said Mike.
Nearly a year after, the couple, just like the rest of the world, is tracking the massive search now focused in an area where Canadian aircraft detected underwater noises Tuesday.
Denise and Mike say they know at least two of the five passengers.
“I remember the first second I heard about it, it gave me a chilling feeling, I just knew it was our submarine, we didn’t know Stockton was aboard, that was another shock later,” said Denise.
The submersible is expected to run out of air by Thursday at 4 a.m. or sooner, according to health experts.
“I think people are starting to get tired or they may be panicked or they're trying not to be, we don’t know about the power so it may be cold, if people are cold they are shivering they are using more oxygen, and we may see some organs already starting to fail,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong of UCSF.
Regardless of how difficult this search can be and the extreme conditions crews are dealing with, the coast guard made it clear that they’re hopeful and this is still a search and rescue operation.
