How long have you been diving? I did my open water on Vancouver Island with my dad during a freezing cold week in January. That was 19 years ago. I was 12 years old and remember being electrical taped into my wrist and neck seals because they didn’t have …

Freediver, Marine Educator, Imperfect Conservationist How long have you been diving? 34 years now for freediving…and I for scuba almost exactly 26 years!  What made you want to become a diver? I moved from Minnesota to the Florida Keys when I was 11 years old. The ocean was a …

Writer, Explorer, Inspirational Speaker How long have you been diving? Since April 2012 – close to 10 years! What made you want to become a diver? I was an unhappy lawyer in L.A. I lived for the weekends when new activities made me feel more alive. I signed up …

Aleš Procháska – Rebreather Designer / CTO & Co-Founder of Divesoft How long have you been diving? It’s been over 20 years. I took my first diving course in 1998. What moment made you become a diver? When I was a child, I read The Silent World by Jacques …

Joanna Mikutowicz – Dive Instructor/ Dive Shop Owner How long have you been diving? 23 years now. I was certified in 1997. What made you want to become a diver? I have always loved being on and in the water but it was originally my dad who convinced me to …

Technical & Cave Diver, Speaker, Entrepreneur How long have you been diving?  My first scuba experience was as a teenager. Although I have always been on the water, it wasn’t until my early twenties that I started my journey in the underwater world.  You were an Olympic diver, right?  …

Deputy Chief / Audiovisual Production Specialist with the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center How long have you been diving? I completed my NAUI Open Water 1 in 1993. What made you want to become a diver? Like so many before me, I grew up watching Cousteau – (the old …

Words by Michael Menduno DIVER sits down with an industry pioneer to talk the origins of modern freediving, nine-foot tall blue aliens, Tom Cruise, and the evolution of mixed gas freediving https://vimeo.com/201936642 Kirk Krack is one of the most prolific and innovative trailblazers in sport diving, yet ironically, most …

Technical, CCR, Cave Instructor / Store Owner What made you want to become a diver? I was on vacation in the Maldives and I did a Discover Scuba. When I got out of the water I said I want to be a scuba instructor! I knew that moment that I …

Nature Cinematographer & Photographer How long have you been diving? I started freediving in 1996 and got certified as a scuba diver in 2004. At 18, in 2005, I was certified as a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor. What made you want to become a diver? I was very …

General Manager at Dive Rite How long have you been diving? My first diving experiences were around age 5. I started out breathing from my dad’s long hose while he was debriefing cave students between dives. Soon after that I had my own custom-built harness and my first set …

Scientific and Archaeological Diver/ General Dive Bum How long have you been diving? I learnt to dive when I was 17, and I’m now 28. 11 years of being a scuba diver! What made you want to become a diver? I was home-educated from when I was 13, and …

The rescue of the century took place June 23, 2018 in Thailand. The lives of twelve Thai boys and their coach were saved by a group of scuba divers, throwing diving into the global limelight, and captivating the world. One of the rescue divers sat down and told us …

The rescue of the century took place June 23, 2018 in Thailand. The lives of twelve Thai boys and their coach were saved by a group of scuba divers, throwing diving into the global limelight, and captivating the world. One of the rescue divers sat down and told us …

Unless you’ve been hiding in a cave (which would be appropriate), you would know that Jill Heinerth’s memoir, Into The Planet, has been released. We sat down with everyone’s favourite cave diver to get an idea of what went in to the writing of diving’s biggest book release… Interview …

  The following is an abridged version of an extensive ten page feature interview in the Fall 2019 issue of DIVER magazine, written by Michael Menduno. Kirk Krack is one of the most prolific and innovative trailblazers in sport diving, yet ironically, most divers (DIVER readers excluded) have never heard of …

Explorer, Conservationist, Shark Professional, Writer How would you describe yourself? A passionate and dedicated individual with a desire for exploration, education, and conservation.  How long have you been diving? I have been diving for 24 years, and as a professional for the last 23. What made you want to …

The DIVER interview: With Michael Menduno – Journalist, Reporter, and Producer   How long have you been diving?  I was first certified in 1976 in Monterey, California. What made you want to become a diver? I grew up watching Jacques Cousteau and Lloyd Bridge’s Sea Hunt so it was always …

  How long have you been diving? I was certified in my last year of high school in 1976 in Oakville, Ontario. From there I spent three months in the Caribbean and came home (to no ocean) and moved out to Vancouver where I worked in various dive shops …

By Michael Menduno   RAID’s co-owner is on a mission to make diving sexy again. He’s passionate, experienced, and brings a fresh point of view. Don’t underestimate Paul Toomer… By creating a new market for diving, PADI co-founder & former CEO John Cronin—reportedly the first person to rack up …

At 30, Becky Kagan Schott’s already an Emmy winner but the over achieving cinematographer believes the best is yet to come Interview By Michael Menduno – First published Volume 38 Issue 2   Talent plus personality. That’s how clients and colleagues explain 30-year old Becky Kagan Schott’s rapid ascent in the …

Behind the Scenes we talk to the diving duo behind TV’s Descending TO WIN A DVD OR BLU-RAY DESCENDING BOX SET – CLICK HERE!!! DIVER: For those unfamiliar with Descending, tell us a little about the show. DESCENDING: At its simplest, Descending is an underwater travel documentary. The destinations and specific locations …

It’s been said that if you want to know why dolphins are always smiling you should join them. Welcome to the world of breath-hold diving! Text by Richard Fleury  One of the world’s top wrecks, the SS Thistlegorm attracts exotic marine life. And today a creature seldom seen on …

  Profile: Angela Richards Donà – University of Hawaii, Manoa Angela was a fashion designer from New York, living and working in Italy in 2000. That year she got her open water certification and took a diving vacation in Egypt, at Sharm El Sheikh on the tip of the …

DUI President Susan Long offers a perspective on the challenges of dive garment fit from the perspective of a woman and a manufacturer.  Make it smaller and make it pink. Not so long ago that was the fallback position for most manufacturers when designing dive equipment for women.  It …

  By Stan Waterman I grow old… I grow old… I shall wear the bottom of my trousers rolled. Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing …

Project Pink Tank is on a mission to get to the bottom of it. Text by Lisa Sonne More than 400 scuba enthusiasts, including open water, advanced, technical, and instructor level divers, are participating in “Project Pink Tank,” a multi-phase investigation into the relationships between scuba diving and the …

The world’s largest dive training agency thinks they are, and they’ve developed courses for the rec and tec diver alike. Here, the agency’s Vice President of Rebreather Technologies, Mark Caney, weighs in on PADI’s new direction, the rise of a new ‘Type-R’ recreational rebreather, and the voice of opposition. …

The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI), the world’s largest scuba training agency, has expanded its course offerings in recent months to include recreational rebreather instruction. What follows is the continuation of an interview with Mark Caney, PADI’s Vice President of Rebreather Technologies, published in the current issue of …

The underwater world and the diving community have suffered a loss with the deaths of Mike deGruy and Andrew Wight, killed in a helicopter crash February 3 near Sydney, Australia. Both men were divers of long experience and professionals in the media world, bringing the beauty and excitement of …

Dave Williams was just a kid when he made a farsighted commitment that eventually saw him blast off for the international space station. And his boyhood dive training and years of experience in the sport backstop his record setting spacewalks. Text by Dave Williams   My helmet lights reflect …