Caissons, Compressed-Air Work and Deep Tunneling

Do you know how underground tunnels are made? The working spaces, or caissons, are pressurized with compress air. But in the 19th century, many laborers had an unexplained illness after returning to atmospheric pressure.

An old photo of workers building tunnels and bridges

Aquarium Diving

Aquarium divers are crucial in keeping the habitats clean and the animals healthy. To be come an aquarium diver requires additional training and learning how to apply their old skills in new ways. Learn more about aquarium diving.

Aquarium diver swims next to a shark

Ice Diving

When I was young I read about Antarctic expeditions and was mesmerized by the alien worlds found under the ice. As incredible as it looked, I never imagined seeing it for myself. I enjoy all types of diving and underwater environments, and ice diving was another unique and challenging realm to explore — one that required furthering my dive education and skills. 

Diving an iceberg is a unique experience

Breathing Gases

Some divers like closed-circuit rebreathers for their ability to provide breathing gas at a set partial pressure of oxygen throughout dives.

Two green monitors read breathing gas

Public Safety Diving

Public safety diving consists of team members who may be EMTs, firefighters, lifeguards, law enforcement officers and more. Public safety diving is notoriously dangerous and hard work.

Public safety diver holds onto orange boat

Hazards in Wreck Diving

Shipwrecks lure divers as much as they attract the sea life surrounding them. The spectacle of life on a wreck, an ecosystem unto itself, is often the main attraction for divers. Nearly every ocean, sea and lake holds a world of shipwreck exploration for advanced open-water divers. Each lost ship, submarine, airplane and even the odd locomotive is a time capsule waiting for an underwater explorer to visit and photograph. Never venture inside a shipwreck until you have advanced wreck-dive training from a certified, qualified dive training professional.

Swimming through a wreck with good trim, buoyancy and finning technique is essential.

Beyond the Acrylic

There is a moment in every dive — after the gear is checked, the team gives the final OK, and your body slips below the surface — that everything else fades.

A diver swims along Ocean Voyager’s tunnel at Georgia Aquarium

Saturation Diving

What is saturation diving? When the diver breathes in inert gas, it dissolves into the body’s tissues and reaches equilibrium with the ambient pressure at the diver’s depth.

A diving bell can be locked out from a saturation chamber and lowered to the seafloor. A moon pool on the underside allows divers to exit and enter the diving bell.

Military Diving

Military diving has ancient roots and today, is considered an elite classification. Military diving entails risks and responsibilities that go far beyond typical diving. Read more about the history of military diving and how it evolved.

Three divers in military combat fatigues and weapons stand on waterside