Craig Nelson, MD

As someone who loves, teaches, and works in the world of scuba diving while also focusing on community service and improving safety, I am often surrounded by amazing people, such as Craig Nelson, MD.

Craig Nelson

A Simple Twist of Fate

We are the product of our cultures and our life’s experiences, but a simple twist of fate can alter our life’s trajectory. That’s what happened for Jade Hoksbergen. It’s hard to imagine, given her underwater photography, that she was afraid of the water as a child.

A pair of juvenile longfin batfish.

Beauty and Brawn

At 18 feet (5.5 meters) above sea level, Solares Hill is the highest point of land in Key West, Florida.

Jim Hench (right) installs a sensor at Eastern Dry Rocks with Mission: Iconic Reefs specialist James Emm.

Discovery of the Dunraven

Wreck diving became the rage of dive tourism in the wake of the 1977 blockbuster movie The Deep.

Soft corals grow on the upturned stern of the Dunraven wreck.

Adrift

Have you ever asked yourself, “What is my biggest fear in diving?” My fear has always been getting lost at sea. I am a technical diving instructor with almost 4,000 dives, and I’ve done plenty of boating, drift diving, and dealing with current.

After being lost for six hours, the author speaks to his wife as the Coast Guard arrives.

Farewell

After 26 years at DAN, I am moving on to the next chapter of my career. I’ve served as president and CEO of DAN for 16 years, but my involvement with the organization started even earlier.

Bill Ziefle headshot.

Shark Bite While Spearfishing in Abaco

On a sun-drenched afternoon in the Bahamas, my friends and I sailed out for what we thought would be a routine spearfishing trip. We anchored off the remote southern tip of Abaco, between Sandy Point and Hole in the Wall, and found ourselves alone in the blue-green expanse. As we freedived beneath its surface, the clear water was alive with groupers, cubera snappers, and reef sharks.

Robert Porter spearfishing.

Trapped in Ice

Sir John Franklin’s expedition in 1845 to search for the Northwest Passage ended in tragedy when HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, with their combined 129 crew members, vanished in the Canadian Arctic, seemingly without a trace. 

Parks Canada underwater archaeologist Marc-André Bernier.

When Anatomy Affects Aid

Cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death across the world, particularly in out-of-hospital settings, where timely recognition and response are critical to survival.

A person administering CPR to a mannequin during CPR training.