Dean Hollis: A Passion for Water and Impacting Lives

DEAN HOLLIS, FOUNDER OF SWIM AND DIVE RETAILER DIVENTURES, grew up in Lakeland, Florida, as a third-generation Floridian. “I spent the first 22 years of my life in Florida, where I pretty much lived in the water,” …

Decompression, Stage, and Bailout Cylinders

DIFFERENT TERMS CAN SOMETIMES DESCRIBE the same piece of equipment in the dive industry. What some divers call a dive light, for example, others call a dive torch. They are physically identical, so the names are interchangeable …

dive industry equipment terminology confusion; dive industry equipment terminology confusion

DAN Dispatch: New Annual Diving Report Available

THE NEWEST EDITION OF DAN’S ANNUAL DIVING REPORT IS NOW AVAILABLE. While the release of the 2020 report was delayed, it offers fascinating insights, statistics, and case summaries of recreational dive incidents and fatalities that occurred in 2018.

DAN Annual Dive Report

Autism and Diving

My son is on the autism spectrum and wants to learn how to scuba dive. Will his autism be a problem? Every autistic person is unique and must be evaluated […]

disabilities and scuba

Program Spotlight: DAN’s Oxygen Grant Program

OXYGEN HAS LONG BEEN RECOGNIZED AS THE PRIMARY FIRST AID for scuba diving injuries, specifically decompression sickness (DCS) and arterial gas embolism (AGE). Part of DAN’s mission is to ensure that oxygen first aid equipment …

DAN Oxygen kits

Expanding My Dive Portfolio

MY FACE IS STARTING TO FEEL NUMB, but at least my body and toes are still warm. The way the sunlight dances through the towering kelp is enchanting, and I’m […]

Travel Smarter: Dive Resort Safety

PLANNING A DIVE VACATION and all the associated details can be a frustrating endeavor. The logistics of obtaining gear, arranging transportation to and from dive sites, and booking a place to stay that can accommodate your needs requires …

Travel Smarter: Dive Resort Safety

Empowering Adaptive Divers

WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS, you make lemonade, as the saying goes. Such was the case for Jen Overturf. She suffered a spinal injury at her sixth thoracic vertebra from a dirt-biking accident in 2003 that left her paralyzed from the waist down. After the accident …

Mike Bartick: Blackwater Beckons

WHEN MIKE BARTICK GOES TO HIS 40-YEAR HIGH SCHOOL REUNION in a couple of years, he’ll have to explain how a Southern California kid ended up living mainly in the Philippines and becoming one of the world’s most innovative marine life photographers. His trajectory will be …

Snapping Turtles

THE ANCESTORS OF MODERN SEA TURTLES shared the oceans with ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs during the late Jurassic period 150 million years ago. Their descendants now inhabit reefs and oceans around the world.