Courtesy of Virgin Limited Edition

If last week was anything to judge by, it’s almost time for our long winter of discontent to melt away into a spring of mild vexation. All the early signs of a thaw were present – the sun shining gaily for hours on end, the snow melting to reveal months of accumulated litter and, most tellingly, the annual shedding of Techeye’s winter backhair.

In celebration of these blessed signs – and completely ignoring the likelihood that winter’s icy claw will descend upon the land again soon – Techeye started researching gadgets for the summer season.

In the course of reading about bikinis sand-and-sea-themed gear we came across Hawkes Ocean Technologies’ DeepFlight Merlin, a “new class of high-performance, positively buoyant ‘open cockpit’ submersible.” The first of these subs has been purchased by Virgin Limited Edition (VLE) and christened the Necker Nymph, a suitably coquettish name for a vessel that only 0.00001 percent of the world’s population will ever come within nitrogen-narcosising distance of.

Any chance you have of riding on the Necker Nymph depends mainly on the girth of your wallet – access comes included with seven nights’ exclusive hire of the Necker Belle, VLE’s mega-luxury catamaran, which will run somewhere between $88,000-113,000. Alternatively, you might be able to commission Hawkes Ocean Technologies to build you a new one, which would probably cost around $660,000.

It’s going to take Techeye a few months of saving, but we’re taking the latter route so that we can zoom around in something a little tougher sounding than a “Nymph.” We’re thinking our sub could be called “Waterpus the Facemangler” or “The Aquamaim.” Something cool like that.

Courtesy of High Gear

The environmentally conscious can take heart from the knowledge that the craft (purportedly) has “zero environmental impact” and that its positive buoyancy will keep it from landing on reefs. Reef-haters should seek alternative transportation.

Techeye realizes that not everybody can afford to spend some quality time with this new sub, so we’ve also found a summer-oriented gadget that even the most miserly will love – Highgear’s SolarPod. This $50 solar charger actually makes orange look somewhat stylish (a grand feat in itself) and it weighs just 68 grams.

The SolarPod works with most modern phones as well as iPods, and, unlike so many of its ilk, it appears to be fairly efficient – a full charge of its 3.7V 650 mAh Lithium-Ion battery is achieved after eight hours of sunlight or four hours of USB connection. For the camping-inclined, the gadget’s carabiner carry clip will be an attraction.

Please note, the SolarPod and the DeepFlight Merlin aren’t meant for simultaneous enjoyment. Use the former underwater and you’ll be out of a solar charger and a phone; meanwhile, the latter is much more fun if you stick it where the sun don’t shine (much).