[Alert Diver Category:] Incident Insights

During a recent dive trip to Chuuk, I really wanted to see the San Francisco Maru wreck. I never imagined, however, that I would have a near-death experience immediately upon entering the water. 

I have been a fossil geek my entire life. In 2012 I moved to Charleston, South Carolina, and in the past 10 years I was able to turn a hobby into a living. Scuba diving for megalodon teeth in the nearby fossil-laden rivers, such as Cooper River, seemed like the most logical step seven years ago, and I haven’t looked back since then.

You might know me already or at least know about me. I came to Key Largo, Florida, in 1978 to open Captain Slate’s Atlantis Dive Center. Early on I had an affinity for the marine life on our reefs, and my earliest mentor, Steve Klem, had established ongoing fish-feeding activity on the City of Washington wreck.

I am a 55-year-old avid diver who made about 300 dives in 2023, most of which were coldwater shore-entry dives near San Diego, California, to below 100 feet (30 meters). […]

Few people were diving in the freezing ocean around St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, in the winter of 1986. I still had my Poseidon Unisuit, which I had used for several years of commercial diving in British Columbia in the late 1970s. I had not been in the water for several years but wanted to get started again.

People expect recreational diving to be an enjoyable experience of adventure and fun. Divers are explorers and retain a sense of optimism regardless of how many dives they have done. While we dive with great expectations, incidents do occur — often when we least expect them.

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.