Derek Abbey
I started diving while I was in flight school in Pensacola, Florida. One day I thought, “I’m right by the water. I’ll go try it out.” I got certified and found that flying and diving share a lot of similarities.
Alert Diver Issue: Q2 2024
Breastfeeding and Diving
I am about two and a half months postpartum with no complications and have received clearance from my physician and a dive specialist to resume diving.
Historic Dive Helmets
Traditional copper and brass deep-sea dive helmets often attract the modern dive community’s attention. International interest recently spiked when a helmet believed to be from the dawn of American professional diving sold for a record-setting $54,000 in Wichita, Kansas.
Understanding Dive Equipment Regulations
Most divers know their scuba cylinders need a visual inspection every year and a hydrostatic test every five years (referred to as a requalification or a hydro). The actual regulations for cylinders and other dive equipment, however, are less clear.
Curated Corals
This past summer the Florida Keys experienced the effects of a marine heatwave event that lasted longer and was more intense than anything in recent recorded history. By early June 2023 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coral Reef Watch (CRW) issued bleaching warnings for some areas in the Florida Keys and other locations in the Caribbean.
Clarify Hand Signals Before Diving
Divers spend much of their time underwater with a select group of buddies — the ones we trust to get us through the dive and surface with fresh experiences and stories to tell. Newly certified divers have had limited interactions underwater, having dived only with classmates, instructors, and assistant instructors during their classes.
Misool Foundation
The spectacular ecosystem of Indonesia’s Raja Ampat offers ample opportunities for fish portraits and macro shots with a 100mm lens, but the broad expanses of pristine hard corals punctuated with colorful soft corals and sea fans made it difficult for me to forego using my wide-angle lens during a recent liveaboard trip.
