By Jean-Michel Cousteau and Holly Lohuis In the middle of the central Pacific lies a string of islands, atolls, and submerged reefs that provide a haven for a rich array of marine life. Here, in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, the oceans are full of healthy corals, huge schools of …

It’s not every day the release of a shiny new issue coincides with a dive trip attended by multiple DIVER contributors. A recent trip to dive the Bell Island wrecks of Newfoundland (which you can read about in a future issue) brought together cover feature writer Jill Heinerth , …

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 …

By Roger Lacasse   The Düsseldorf international boat show held its 50th edition in January 2019. Simply known as the “boot” (German for, and pronounced like boat), it is the world’s largest trade fair for all things related to recreational boating and watersports.  This was definitely a huge event, with …

Citizen scientists around the world are being urged to share their anchor ‘finds’ following the relaunch of an online resource that aims to be the world’s biggest public record of these iconic objects.  The Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS) has relaunched the popular Big Anchor Project following a generous public …

  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 …

  Text and Photography by Jill Heinerth The bright lights attached to the Betacam broadcast camera snapped to life and the news show’s producer exchanged a nod with the cameraman. A local translator deciphered the meteoric Spanish into broken English and awaited my response. I had just climbed 6,000 …

By Author Mike Seares LIGHTS! CAMERA! SUB ACTION! came about from a desire to tell the story of working in an industry where remarkable things can happen, all in a day’s work. ​The aim of the book is to give the reader a sense of what goes on in …

Text by Gregory Thomas   Searching for human remains, weapons and other crime scene evidence in zero visibility is a duty ‘deeply felt’ by the volunteer Alameda County Dive Team A middle-aged woman paused at the end of the pool, between laps, and studied the man in the next lane. …

By Jill Heinerth Sadly, the global community lost a stalwart pillar of strength when the B-15 iceberg, known to scientists as “Godzilla” passed away from natural causes. After 18 years adrift in the southern extremes of Antarctica, the final shards were reported as “no longer large enough to be …

Text by Hillary Hauser Fifty years ago December a 1,020-foot (311m) dive off Catalina Island, California, changed everything. Hannes Keller’s revolutionary accomplishment accelerated a new age of deep sea diving, but the daring exploration came at a price   On his sixtieth birthday Hannes Keller flew a Russian MIG …

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 …

Far beneath the waves, glistening under the new moon, the mood strikes right for two fish in love. Swimming side by side and holding tails, seahorses engage in a ritual of love that is both fascinating and magical. Seahorses, named for their “horse-like” head, are actually fish despite their …

Text by Ray Stevens As the deep-sea oil and gas industries continue to thrive, demand for a solid marine infrastructure is expected to continue as well. This means that specially trained underwater welders will be needed to complete the building of underwater structures. For some, a career in underwater welding …

Text by Jill Heinerth Ask a rebreather diver what drives their rebreather and they will undoubtedly tell you, the oxygen sensors. These annually disposable devices are critical to creating a safe breathing loop and yet when not functioning properly can reduce a $10,000 investment in life support to a …

DIVER magazine would like to announce an amendment to our current Gear Guide issue. Our pricing of the Shearwater NERD (page 24 of Volume 41, Issue 1) should be CAD$2,500, and not $950 as printed. This is an editorial mistake by us, we put it down to a mixture of pre-Christmas excitement, narcosis, …

The Diving Almanac is the ultimate authority on diving exploits and history, but what’s the story behind the stories? By Jeffrey Gallant I was dreaming of overnight success… Reality struck at my first DEMA Show where I met veteran publisher Rick Stratton who looked me straight in the eye and said: …

Text and Photography by Jill Heinerth Originally published in Volume 40, issue 7. Click here to subscribe. Pioneering Scuba diver Marjorie Bank never made it to my age. She died prematurely, the result of a massive heart attack. As a younger diver, I was inspired by her career and charisma. She …

Text and Photo by Tobias Friedrich Sometimes you just get lucky. We were diving on the Red Sea wreck, Chrisoula, when good fortune came my way in flash. I was waiting for a fellow photographer inside the wreck, filling up most of a small hatchway when this moray eel …

By Jill Heinerth Gliding along with the precise synchronicity of a flight demonstration team, scuba divers piloting radical-looking scooters maneuver into the frame. As viewers we are transformed, drawn into the dimly lit cave of indescribable beauty. If the Director of Photography has done his job, we are engrossed …

A chance meeting on a Florida beach became a lifetime friendship between contributor Ellsworth Boyd and 1950s pinup favourite Bettie Page Text and Photography by Ellsworth Boyd The year was 1957. I was lifeguarding in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, one of a dozen Ocean City, Maryland, beach patrol nomads who …

Text by Jean-Michel Cousteau Three flights from Santa Barbara, California, to Barbados, followed by a 45 minute single propeller plane ride to Union Island, a brisk 20-minute boat ride across the southern Caribbean’s turquoise water to a lush green mountain rising steadily from a seemingly endless ocean, I finally …

One of the most spectacular but little known events along the Florida reefs—as well as around the world—is the annual synchronized spawning of corals. Yes, corals do have sex to reproduce and to observers it looks like a brilliant underwater fireworks display.  In the middle of the night several …

First annual event scheduled for July 18 to attract more women to scuba diving To build awareness and increase interest in diving among women, PADI has launched a “Women in Diving” initiative, including the inaugural PADI Women’s Dive Day scheduled for 18 July 2015. The international event is geared …

The Dive Industry Association of British Columbia (DIABC) announced the online release of a new video promoting scuba diving in Beautiful British Columbia. Funded in partnership by the DIABC and Destination BC, and produced by BC’s own SeaproofTV, the video is an exciting 3 minute look at the Canadian …

The Niagara Divers’ Association will present its 21st Annual Shipwrecks Symposium on Saturday, May 2, 2015. This one-day symposium on shipwrecks will feature multimedia presentations with internationally renowned speakers from both the United States and Canada. $44 CDN / US up to January 26, 2015; $49 CDN / US …

Parks Canada have just uploaded a high-definition video on the first-ever tour of the shipwreck of HMS Erebus provided by our archaeologists. Read about the next part of their expedition here.  

Divers are set to revisit the sunken Franklin ship HMS Erebus in the arctic over the next week or so in an ambitious joint operation that will pair up Parks Canada Underwater Archaeology Service and Royal Canadian Navy Fleet Diving Unit (Atlantic and Pacific) divers in the first under …

Text by Albert Podell The days and the dreams of my childhood were dominated by the events of World War II. The Nazis and the Japanese were an existential threat to our way of life, and we celebrated our every victory and adored our military heroes. My favorites were …

Without any doubt, the Underwater Archaeological Society of British Columbia’s most popular and exciting, non-diving event is our annual SHIPWRECKS conference. While you will need to leave your regulators and scuba tanks at home for this event,  there will be no shortage of diving stories, and divers to meet, …

Shearwater Research, responsible for the rather excellent technical computers Petrel and Petrel 2, have released a new and improved desktop application cunningly called Shearwater Desktop. Available for both Mac and Windows users, the new software offers an improved user experience, making it easier to implement firmware updates. Firmware is a vital part …

Excitement is building and anticipation is in the air as PADI launches this year’s edition of the “I Heart My PADI Pro” contest. This program gives PADI Divers the opportunity to tell the world why their PADI Professional is the best on the planet. They can win great prizes …

Text by Jean-Michel Cousteau Twenty fourteen is a special year for Ocean Futures Society – this year we are celebrating our 15th anniversary: 15 years of ocean advocacy through our award-winning films and educational programs that teach and inspire us all to protect our ocean planet.  These past 15 …

The Diving Almanac is the book every diver should own. First published in 2007 the Diving Almanac & Book of Records is the only compilation of scuba diving industry information of it’s kind. Previous editions of the Almanac were printed, but the new 2015 Diving Almanac is now a …

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 …

  Underwater videographers Becky Kagan Schott and husband David Schott, won a total of 4 Emmy’s at the recent award celebrations in Florida. You should recognise Becky Kagan Schott from the cover of DIVER magazine just over a year ago (Volume 38 issue 2). The young professional’s career in underwater videography filled a very …