Divers share a collective passion for the underwater world and a mutual fascination with the wondrous creatures of the sea. Perhaps it’s swimming with dolphins off the sunny coast of California they dream of, or diving side by side with whale sharks in the warm waters of Western Australia. …

By Alex Lemaire Underwater exploration is one of the most amazing activities on the planet. You can discover a whole new world that only a few people get to see and experience. Some of the explorers took their passion to the next level. They spent their life looking for …

Did you know that there’s a natural carbon sink—even bigger than the Amazon rainforest—that helps regulate Earth’s climate by sucking up to six billion tons of carbon from the air each year? A new report from researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) reveals for the first time the …

How an ROV helped make this filmmaker’s dream a reality Words and Photos by Evan Kovacs For years I have wanted to do a film based on a true story and set during an event that brought most of the world to crippling standstill. Almost overnight, average citizens see …

Words by Nath Lasselin Going with the flow raises awareness of drinking water health It was Friday morning, around 7:00 am. I was all geared up, with my drysuit, my latex hood, my modified Kirby Morgan full face mask, communication system, rebreather, tanks, computer, scooter and all kinds of …

  Jill Heinerth has spent a lifetime travelling the globe on expeditions and filming projects. In the Summer issue of DIVER she offers us her top 101 expedition tips to make your adventure more relaxed and earth-friendly. Here are a few of our favourites… Checklists: I’m a fan of …

Readers of DIVER magazine will be very familiar with the name Jill Heinerth. Not only is she one of our regular columnists, cover feature writer, and Contributing Editors, but she’s a much revered diving celebrity. Unlike most celebs in our world, Jill has earned her status through decades of pioneering hard work, incredible expeditions, and an attitude …

  By Dr. David Sawatzky Rebreathers are becoming ever more common in the diving community, and in diving fatality records.  I wanted to write a column on rebreather fatalities but immediately realized that it would make no sense to most divers unless they had a good, basic understanding of …

  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 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 …

Text and Illustrations By Jill Heinerth I have never figured out why so few North American technical divers wear helmets. Perhaps helmets never reached the Pantheon of hip here? Divers in other parts of the world would never consider exposing their scalps to the ceiling of a cave or wreck …

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: …

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 …

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, …

New Zealand’s Mikhail Lermontov reveals a tragic tale of duels, death and poetic injustice, but it’s a helluva sunken ship to explore Text by Kevin Davidson and H.E. Sawyer Photography by Kevin Davidson This tale comes from Soviet Russia, so naturally it’s a tragedy. And a tragedy born out …

Underwater archaeological preserves reveal history of this sunny, seafaring state Text by Franklin H. Price For a landmass almost completely surrounded by the sea, it’s no big surprise that maritime history figures prominently in its story. It’s certainly true of Florida, southernmost of the continental United States and with …

The Franklin ship discovered in early September by the 2014 search team in the Canadian arctic has been identified as HMS Erebus, the flagship of Sir John Franklin’s 1845 two-ship expedition and the vessel directly under his command.  HMS Terror, remains to be found. The confirmation was made by …

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 …

A city of grand scale attractions, Dubai is now planning an Atlantis-like sunken city theme park for SCUBA divers and snorkelers in the shallows off its World Islands development. Los Angeles-based Reef Worlds is behind the design for two sites now on the drawing board under the working title …

First Published in DIVER Volume 38 Issue 5 By Phil Nuytten The problem: A swillion, or so, years ago, we humans were designed (or evolved, or left here by aliens – please substitute your desired flavour) to function best under a fairly rigid set of specifications. These specs include …

Advances in gear design & technology over 60 years may not make diving more fun, but it is much easier. And, a picture’s worth a lot of words, we think! Text by Phil Nuytten  Bouyancy Compensators Bouée Fenzy / Aqua Lung Axiom i3 The French Navy’s Bouée Fenzy, left, was …

In Orda of priority it’s No.1 Text by Bogdana Vashchenko / Photography by Victor Lyagushkin  – The Orda cave revolutionized cave diving in Russia. In every respect it’s a ‘dream’ compared to other sumps in the Russian Federation, and it also claims some bragging rights on the world stage. Extending more …

Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen has just begun his seven day, sub aquatic  adventure at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The 38 year old from London, Ontario will be leading a crew to explore the ocean floor as part of a simulation to help prepare for future space missions. NEEMO (NASA’s Extreme Environment Mission Operations) …

A team of 10 women divers from around the world recently completed a successful ‘proof of concept’ exercise in arctic waters in preparation for the 2016 Sedna Epic Expedition ‘main event’ snorkeling 3,000 kilometres through the Northwest Passage in the summer of 2016 Text by Susan R. Eaton ** …

In a mission through time Nuytco’s robotic Exosuit is set to dive on an ancient shipwreck in the Greek isles for an uncommon artifact called the ‘Antikythera mechanism’. Used for predicting astronomical events, the advanced mechanical calculator was developed in antiquity and is often characterized as the world’s oldest …

A third generation of diving’s famous family follows in the footsteps of pioneering grandfather, Jacques-Yves Cousteau  ByJean-Michel Cousteau As a proud father, I always look forward to watching the accomplishments of my children and these past two months of May and June proved to be an amazing milestone for …

Streaming video provider Netflix has millions of North American viewers, so we’ve ‘logged the dives’ to bring you the best, and sometimes the worst, of its undersea offerings Titanic – Movie 1997’s blockbuster is well worth revisiting. The opening scenes featuring real dives on the Titanic wreck are superb and …

Recalls pioneering Conshelf experiments At press time the saturation diving component of Fabien Cousteau’s Mission 31 had just  completed. The son of DIVER columnist Jean-Michel Cousteau, and grandson of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Fabien spearheaded the initiative, underscoring the human-ocean connection through the lens of exploration and discovery. Along with two …

Clearance divers of the Royal Canadian Navy’s Fleet Diving Unit (Atlantic), with a little help from their nimble little ROVs, revisit the remains of HMS Breadalbane during the military’s annual arctic readiness exercise – Operation Nunalivut 2014 A dive into the past serves the future. That’s how clearance divers from …

Text by Sierra Cardenas History was made in July of 1964, when four U.S. Navy divers successfully lived and worked for 11 days in an underwater habitat called SeaLab I that was submerged in 192 feet (58.5m) of seawater off Bermuda. This man-in-the-sea experiment helped prove the viability of …

Only whales and whale sharks need apply Text and Photography by Michael Wood SCUBA diving or snorkeling with any kind of whale or a whale shark remains high on my adventure bucket list, though I had what you might consider a close ‘second’ on the excitement scale with something …

Announced a week ago at the TekDive USA show in Miami, the new Edge / Hog Gear sidemount system created a wee bit of interest to say the least. Little is officially known at this point, but that hasn’t stopped people getting excited at the prospect of a new, …

Most people have at least one phobia and some can can be dangerous for you and your buddy. Know what triggers your fearand how to stay in control in spite of it  Text by Madeline Ricchiuto When you first hit the water, either taking the Great Leap off the …

The Caribbean reef squid is a shooter’s delight and challenge Text and Photograph by David Fleetham In many areas of the world squid can be very difficult to locate during the day; not around the island of Bonaire. The Caribbean reef squid population at this diver-friendly island can be …

Women Divers Deck the Halls Six new members were inducted into the prestigious Women Divers Hall of Fame on March 29 at the Beneath the Sea Awards Banquet. Barbara Allen: Pioneer, Instructor, Ocean Advocate. Kristine Barsky: Marine Biologist, Environmentalist, Author, Videographer. Emma L. Hickerson: Marine Researcher, Science Interpreter, Photographer. …