I HAVE BEEN A CERTIFIED DIVER since 1986 and have logged hundreds of recreational and technical dives. Since 2014 I have primarily been doing technical rebreather diving with a close group of experienced rebreather divers from Northern California. During the summer of 2019, our group visited Lake Huron’s Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Michigan […]
DIVING TAKES PLACE in an environment that is dynamic both in and out of the water. Challenging and changing situations can happen even while traveling to a dive site. Balance exercises can help improve your ability to maintain or regain stability on a rocking boat. Wearing scuba gear changes your weight distribution and center of […]
WEATHER, SILTY SEDIMENT, time of day, or water movement are just a few natural factors among the range of possible causes that can influence the visibility at your dive site. Low-visibility diving can be quite enjoyable, but it depends on the circumstances and your comfort level. Why do people dive in low-visibility environments? Some divers, […]
Q: During dive training in the pool, I couldn’t breathe after clearing my mask with my regulator in my mouth. After surfacing, I took six to eight wheezing breaths and then could breathe normally again. It’s possible I inhaled water during the exercise, but my instructor and I could not recall when or how that would have […]
PEOPLE WHO HAVE FILLED scuba cylinders, refilled oxygen cylinders, or boosted a gas mix are familiar with using flexible hoses. Some hoses are covered with a durable rubber or thermoplastic jacket, while others appear even sturdier with a braided stainless-steel mesh on the outside. Correctly specified hoses are rated to pressures of up to 6,000 […]
STOCKTON RUSH AND HIS TEAM AT OCEANGATE made history on July 10, 2021, when they reached the Titanic — at a depth of approximately 12,500 feet — in Titan, the only submersible of its kind. The dive proved that this unique cylinder-shaped, carbon fiber and titanium five-person submersible can explore this wreck and was a […]
WHEN IT COMES TO THE OCEAN, we know when to go and when to stay away. If it is standard practice to check conditions before a dive, shouldn’t we ask […]
MY FELLOW DIVERS WERE ECSTATIC AFTER A TWILIGHT DIVE on the Okinawa wreck near Pompano, Florida, in early June 2019. I was shooting wide angle and hadn’t paid much attention to small creatures during the dive, but they had found the holy grail for macro photographers: nudibranchs — in this case, regal sea goddesses (Felimare […]
I REMEMBER SITTING AT MY COMPUTER while thinking about all the ibuprofen I had been popping for the past 18 hours and wondering why I still had the dull, aching pain in my shoulder. Could this be more than soreness from carrying gear back and forth from our shore entry point or exertion from a […]
Hometown: Phoenix, Arizona Years Diving: 34 Favorite Dive Destination: Little Cayman is special because of the conservation work our team has done through the Grouper Moon Project and the time I’ve spent there […]