Member Profile: Faith Ortins
Faith Ortins is a lifelong diver, and her love for the ocean and devotion to educating people about safe diving practices drive her dive career.
Search Results for: education
DAN DISPATCH: DAN Receives the 2023 NAUI Award for Innovation
Every year the National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI) recognizes individuals and organizations that make significant contributions to advance the sport of diving and have a noteworthy impact on the dive industry. In 2023 Divers Alert Network received the Award for Innovation, which NAUI presents to those who provide significant innovations to diving and dive education.
FAST FACTS GUIDE: EARS, PFO, DCS, & MORE!
DAN’s Fast Facts Guide packs a lot of information into one simple, easy-to-read guide, and covers several key topics: CLICK HERE to View the PDF or below for the FlipView […]
Abaco Cave Diver Evacuation
Just before Christmas, a DAN member who was diving in Abaco, Bahamas, experienced an incident that resulted in decompression illness. When he contacted DAN and tried to access the benefits of his DAN membership and insurance, he did not receive the level of service he should have. Although we are still collecting information about DAN’s response to this incident, we can offer the following additional context to what was previously reported.
Larry Brown
A READER RECENTLY BROUGHT TO OUR ATTENTION that over the years multiple Alert Diver contributors have credited a particular dive instructor with providing training that saved their lives.
The Life and Legacy of Tokitae
HER NAME WAS TOKITAE, which means “nice day, pretty colors” in the Coast Salish language. The Lummi Nation knows her as Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut, which is a historical reference to the Penn Cove area, where she was captured along with other young southern resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) in August 1970 near Whidbey Island, Washington, when she was about 4 years old.
SCUBAnauts
FOR MORE THAN 20 YEARS the nonprofit marine science education program known as SCUBAnauts International (SNI) has introduced young people ages 12 to 18 to informal science education through underwater exploration. While many youth organizations exist in the dive industry, this group’s scientific rather than recreational nature and its strong foundation in dive safety give SNI a unique identity.
Commercial Diving Safety
FOUR SCUBA DIVERS BECAME TRAPPED and died while working in an offshore pipeline in 2022. This incident was a harsh reminder that commercial diving is a “hazardous occupation that presents many dangers that far exceed the risks in sport diving,” as highlighted in The Simple Guide to Commercial Diving. The typical risks in recreational diving, such as decompression sickness and pressure-related injuries to the ears and lungs, are still present, but commercial divers regularly face additional hazards — such as zero visibility, contaminated water, and pressure differentials — all while simultaneously operating industrial tools.
Diving and Dying for Lobster
WITH CLEAR, WARM WATER, dozens of excellent dive sites, and the second-largest barrier reef in the world nearby, Roatán, Honduras, is a premier dive destination and a popular stop on […]
Diving for Artificial Reefs
IN JUNE 2019 I MADE MY FIRST DIVE after eight months of repairing our home in Mexico Beach, Florida, from the ravages of Hurricane Michael. After finally recovering from the storm, I resumed doing underwater surveys as a volunteer diver for the Mexico Beach Artificial Reef Association (MBARA).
