History

The rich history of DIVER magazine

DIVER magazine was founded October 1974 and since the first issue rolled off the press in March 1975, the magazine has been published – continuously – by Seagraphic Publications, a limited company incorporated in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Thirty-six years later, DIVER magazine is the longest-established sport scuba periodical in North America, having outlived a considerable number of professionally produced dive journals, not least among them Skin Diver Magazine, long considered the bible of sport diving on this continent, if not the world. SDM ceased publication in 2002 after 51 years of publication.

DIVER founder Peter Vassilopoulos sold the business three decades later – in 2004 – to Phil Nuytten, an internationally recognized underwater inventor and entrepreneur who has devoted 50 years to the study of the oceans and underwater technology. The sale of DIVER saw Seagraphic Publications become a sister company of his larger enterprise, Nuytco Research, which designs and fabricates such deep-sea technology as the Newtsuit, the Exosuit and submersibles for many ocean applications.

DIVER is an independent general interest sport diving magazine. Editorial content is wide ranging and while its main focus is on all things ‘sport diving’, its scope is broader, often examining related man-in-the-sea activities in commercial, military, academic, archaeological, police/search and rescue, fisheries, and other spheres of aquatic enterprise. Each issue offers a digest appealing to a broad range of diver interests. Coverage is focused on training, equipment, dive sites, personal experiences, dive travel options and the best destinations. Underwater photography, diving medicine and the ocean environment are staples presented in the form of regular columns. Book reviews, dive history, marine life, and other topics also enjoy regular profile in the magazine’s pages.

This editorial approach widens our readership to include men and women from many sectors of the underwater-related world, including many industry professionals, luminaries, and recreational divers from veteran to neophyte. Our objective is to inform and entertain and reader feedback suggests we are achieving this goal.

Pioneering Role

As the 1980s progressed DIVER magazine gained a broader North American profile presenting ever-wider editorial coverage of scuba activity across the continent and by securing advertising contracts with U.S. clients attracted to the magazine’s quality and Canadian market penetration. DIVER magazine has continued to expand well beyond its coast-to-coast coverage of the Canadian dive market. For no less than two decades the magazine’s reputation as a thoughtful, entertaining publication presenting accurate and reliable information, continues to grow in the United States and abroad. The magazine has subscribers in every U.S. state and every Canadian province and territory. Overseas, the magazine is recognized by a global group of avid subscribers in the temperate and tropical climates of more than 40 countries in both hemispheres. Typically, these readers are concentrated in the many nations bordering on the world’s oceans and where English is widely spoken. In recent years DIVER‘s market penetration also expanded with acquisition of Toronto-based Scuba Press and US-based Immersed Magazine.

From time to time people will reference DIVER as ‘the Canadian’ dive magazine, and this is accurate, but only to the extent that the magazine was born in Canada and is based in Vancouver, British Columbia. In every other respect the magazine is truly global in scope. Check out any issue published in the past decade and you’ll find stories that explore diving and the undersea environment the world over.

DIVER magazine today boasts an ‘A’ list of global contributors such as David Doubilet, Michael AW, Jean-Michel Cousteau, Michael Menduno, Dr. Joe MacInnis, and many other veteran writers and underwater photographers from around the world. Our advisory board comprises leaders in a number of fields, all of whom have distinguished themselves in the aquatic world. The magazine continues to be a strong advocate of ocean conservation and a cheerleader for growing a strong industry and consumer base of well-trained and well-travelled scuba enthusiasts. Indeed, DIVER was a pioneer in the promotion of dive travel, recognizing in its early years of publication that travel would be central to the sport’s continued success.

Over the years, advertisers have included and continue to include leading equipment manufacturers, dive destination resorts and live-aboard dive boats, training agencies, underwater photographic equipment suppliers, and more. Year after year advertisers with seasonal campaigns return to DIVER because they receive value for their money. The magazine is respected in the industry and appreciated for its objective approach. In a word, DIVER has earned a reputation as being trustworthy and if longevity is a deserving achievement then DIVER now can claim the top prize.

New Direction

With the change of ownership the potential of DIVER magazine has been reconsidered and a new course set for future growth over the medium and long term. DIVER is now a quality publication, but with more pages than ever before, more industry leading columnists than ever before, and more original features than ever before. High quality coated paper stock combines with a cutting edge printing process to ensure a periodical of unsurpassed quality. DIVER‘s presentation serves an industry demanding of professional standards, helps grow, enthuse and retain a global diving population and, after more than four decades, continues to be a leading ambassador for the sport in a world increasingly crowded with leisure activities vying for discretionary income of the consumer.

DIVER continues to further its reach into the North American marketplace, increasing its readership among divers, divers-in-training and even among non-divers with an interest in the aquatic world, in a bid to be by popular choice the voice of scuba enthusiasts and marine world advocates.