Iowa Man Builds Mini Sub So His Parakeet Can Dive With Him

A tiny green parakeet just became the world's most unlikely underwater explorer, and the internet can't stop watching.

Steven Lawyer, an Iowa attorney, built a miniature submarine for Bebe, his white-winged parakeet, so his feathered companion could join him on a snorkeling trip in the Bahamas. The bird spent 15 minutes hovering about three feet below the surface, peering at tropical fish and coral through the clear walls of his custom capsule.

The "Bebosphere" started as a clear food storage container. Lawyer fitted it with two air connections, a one-way valve for bubbles to escape, and a paintball cylinder of filtered air strapped underneath. Lead weights were carefully trimmed until the whole assembly floated at neutral buoyancy, right alongside the snorkelers.

Safety came first. An oxygen meter inside the capsule would sound an alarm if air quality dropped. That matters extra for birds, who process oxygen more efficiently than mammals and show signs of bad air long before humans notice anything wrong. It's the same reason miners once carried canaries underground.

Before anyone booked a flight, Bebe practiced in the family sink, then the bathtub. Lawyer watched for stress signals: tucked head, clamped wings, distress chirps. None appeared. The bird hopped into the capsule on his own each time.

The couple chose a sheltered harbor they knew well, with no dangerous currents and calm water. Snorkelers stayed within arm's reach the entire dive.

Sunny's Take

The story went viral fast. Four million Instagram views led to coverage on local news and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Some viewers loved it. Others worried about consent and whether a parrot in a jar counts as adventure or stress.

Lawyer's response stayed simple. Bebe chose to hop in. The bird has tagged along on family activities for years, ever since stepping onto Lawyer's fingers at a Florida pet store in 2020. To this household, bringing their parakeet underwater felt like the natural next chapter.

So many people insisted the footage was AI-generated that Lawyer filmed a follow-up video holding the actual capsule, walking viewers through every valve and cylinder to prove it was real.

One coral reef in the Bahamas now holds a memory that evolution never planned for: a six-inch parakeet in a homemade submarine, choosing curiosity over caution.