EVERY PHOTOGRAPHER HAS A DREAM SHOT. For a long time mine was to see a particular natural predation: a leopard seal hunting a penguin in Antarctica. When I traveled to Antarctica for the first time in 2018, I thought it would be a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Little did I know I’d be venturing back repeatedly over the next few years.
READERS WILL KNOW THE BYLINE “David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes” from scores of National Geographic magazine features. Working as a team they have photographed the wild ocean from the tropics to both polar regions and even some rather unusual aquatic realms in between.
NORTH AMERICA’S GREAT LAKES have long provided a natural transportation corridor to the continent’s interior. The Anishinaabe people — the region’s original inhabitants — utilized the Great Lakes for trade, passage, and nourishment and developed a rich culture centered around them.
THE THREE GASES GENERALLY used in recreational and technical diving are oxygen, nitrogen, and helium. Nitrogen is the most abundant and is usually the default gas, but no one seems concerned about its purity, although the U.S. Compressed Gas Association (CGA) provides purity levels, or grades, for various applications.
THE QUESTION PEOPLE MOST FREQUENTLY ASK us about our years of dive travel involves our favorite place to dive. This can be a delicate topic, especially when visiting a resort with resident staff or management nearby. We unfailingly reply, “Where we’re diving now.”
I have learned to read the minute details of each athlete’s technique and interpret the impending risk that arises as they push themselves in pursuit of a personal-best performance.
DIVING IN THE TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS guarantees plenty of beauty and excitement. This British overseas protectorate entices tourists with the slogan “Beautiful by Nature.” The Caribbean waters throughout the islands offer breathtaking vertical walls, frequent close encounters with pelagics, and opportunities to observe an incredible diversity of fascinating marine life.
MINORS HAVE BEEN DIVING FOR DECADES, but the incidence of scuba diving injuries among them remains poorly studied.
I WAS READING SYLVIA EARLE’S FOREWARD TO Our Ocean, Our Future: Palau, a lovely coffee-table pictorial book by Michael Aw, David Doubilet, and Jennifer Hayes. Earle opened by remarking on when she’s asked about the best place to go diving. Her usual answer is, “Almost anywhere, 50 years ago.”
AS A WILDLIFE OFFICER, I spend countless hours on the water. As an instructor for the National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI), I have also spent a lot of time teaching and diving.
