The HEXOS Experiments In the Simulation Tunnel (HEXIST) are part of the continuinge Humidity Exchang Over the Sea program (HEXOS). It is actually an international cooperative subprogram focused on the local interactions between spray droplets and the turbulent fields of velocity, temperature, and humidity. It incorporates numerical modelling and wind tunnel experiments. In order to study separately the generation of droplets, their transport and diffusion by turbulence, their evaporation, and their deposition, a new experimental approach has been designed, based on the generation of spray droplets by the bursting of bubbles produced by aeration devices immersed in the water tank of the large air--sea interaction simulation tunnel at the Institut de M¿canique Statistique de la Turbulence, Marseille, France. This paper presents this approach, the experimental setup, the governing equations, and the results of the feasibility experiments. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1988