Flower Garden Banks Photo Gallery

Jesse Cancelmo provides a bonus photo gallery of images from Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

Making Avatar: The Way of Water

Upon its release in December 2022, Avatar: The Way of Water drew huge attention from the dive community for its remarkable underwater scenes.

Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) pilots the skimwing

Grand Cayman Impressions

Dive photojournalists often go to the same places but rarely at the same time. In 2006, however, Alex Mustard participated in an imaging event called Digital Madness, and I was there to cover it for a magazine. That was our only time diving together on Grand Cayman.

Southern stingrays

Borneo

I rarely know as little about a destination before embarking on a liveaboard charter as I knew about Borneo. I had been to Borneo before, but it was after a […]

Dive guide Natalia Athinaiou snorkels above a pristine staghorn coral forest off Kakaban Island.

Galápagos

The seven days in the Galápagos went by too quickly, and I was ready to come back before I had even left. The Galápagos National Park and the tour operators greatly respect the destination, and conservation is their primary goal. Even with all the protections in place, the fishing industry, climate change and ocean health pressure the archipelago. Every tourist dollar that goes into the Galápagos adds persuasive emphasis that this is a place that deserves ongoing and stringent protection.

hammerhead shark

The Art of Dive History

THE UNKNOWN HAS ALWAYS BEEN FERTILE GROUND for mythology, and the oceans have long inspired legends and tales of gods and monsters.

Les Burke is wearing a full Mark V hardhat and suit

The Resplendent Reefs of South Africa’s Port Elizabeth

It is difficult to step out from the shadow cast by a famous family member long in the spotlight and to stake one’s own claim and create a different identity. I was reminded of this while reflecting on my relationship with diving in South Africa. 

A pyjama catshark

Saint Lucia

Looking down from space, the Windward Islands resemble an emerald necklace floating in the sea. Viewed from underwater, when you are immersed in that warm, blue sea and surrounded by colorful reefs bustling with life, the Windwards take on new dimensions.

Red erect rope sponges and orange elephant ear sponges

Tonga’s Gentle Giants

Humpback whales feed in polar waters during the summer and then migrate to tropical or subtropical waters to breed during winter. Various locations offer seasonal whale-watching, but swimming with them is legal in only a few places — Tonga is one of them. Every year its warm and sheltered waters provide a nursery for the whales, which gather there between July and October after a long migration from Antarctica.

mother humpback whale supports her calf

Fjords of Norway

TRAVELING THROUGH THE FJORDS and on the rivers has always been an important part of life in Norway and Scandinavia. Witnessing the beauty of sunsets from front-row seats on the fjords or chasing the northern lights as they dance on dark autumn and winter nights are experiences not to be missed. Discovering what is hidden below the dark surface in the unfathomable underwater realms here is just as fascinating for visitors who choose to dive in Norway.

Scuba diver with Helmet jellyfish