Text by Lilla Clare It started like most dive days, with clear skies, calm seas and vigorous activity hauling equipment onto the dive boat. It was a typical two-dive day charter catering to a transient group unfamiliar with the local dive site topography. What followed was a common enough …

An explorer begets the Explorer, the new Hollis Gear semi-closed unit that just may change and reinvigorate sport diving  Text by Michael Menduno   Kevin Gurr has been passionate about computing and rebreathers since his first rebreather dive in 1987. The prolific 54-year old British explorer, tech instructor and …

The dive live-aboard Nautilus Swell travels back in time to an archipelago and culture thousands of years old Text and Photography by Dale Sanders   Haida Gwaii is a remote and windswept archipelago more than 60 miles (100km) off the north coast of British Columbia, inhabited by the Haida since, …

DIVER magazine continues to evolve and and offer more to our readers than ever before.  If you subscribe to our print edition you will now pay just one low price and get FREE access to our digital editions! At home, at work, on vacation, at the dive site. Multiple …

Wall diving in the Cayman Islands is extraordinary, even before you hit the water Text by Peter Golding   There’s a wall dive you won’t want to miss next time you’re in the Caymans. Any vacationer to these islands can enjoy this particular reefscape ascending a double helix staircase …

More than a decade ago a group of technical divers made a series of ‘unofficial’ deep dives on the heritage wrecks of Hamilton and Scourge in Lake Ontario. This is their story Text by Scott Stitt   It feels like we’ve been dropping forever. Descending through 150 feet (46m), …

For the diver who’s done it all, this place is one for the logbook Text by Michel Braunstein Photography by Michel Braunstein & Jacki Soikis    I’ve had the good fortune to dive in many parts of the world. It’s the variety of experiences I’ve enjoyed that keeps my eye …

SCUBA’s very own transformer, the innovative Aeris Jetpack, will change the game for dive travelers navigating airports, airlines, beaches, boats and even the water and the dive itself! Last year’s DEMA show had its share of new products and services. But in that Las Vegas convention centre the size …

‘Way down below the ocean’, as Donovan sang in his song Atlantis, is the setting for these independent short films now on YouTube   Okay boys and girls, it’s movie time. Put that left brain logic and reason on pause and dive into this provocative possibility: the ancient civilization …

Just 500 divers each year get to see the Caribbean as it was 60 years ago. Text by Joseph Frey Photos: Courtesy Avalon Diving Centres  Rolling off the skiff for the last dive of the week I barely miss three Caribbean reef sharks in the shallows. Startled, they quickly …

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 …

Getting SeaOrbiter off the drawing board and into the aquatic realm she was conceived to explore would move humankind a step closer to colonizing the oceans By DIVER Staff SeaOrbiter on YouTube The future of inner space exploration is on a course set by outer space science fiction. SeaOrbiter …

DIVER’s Editor, Russell Clark, loves movies. So he’s compiled what we believe to be a pretty definitive list of non-documentary scuba diving movies. Whether the plot revolves around diving, or there’s just a memorable diving scene, here’s our list (in no particular order) of the best diving movies ever …

  Text and Photography by Michael AW Dining out with the big fish makes for a well-mannered meal I was at the surface composing a shot of three whale sharks as they peered at fishermen in the parallel universe above. Like a pet anticipating a treat, the big fish …

  Text and Photography by Dan Holden Bailey By land and sea the BVI remain a tantalizing archipelago of warmth, white sand and reefs for discerning divers and assorted adventurers. Reputedly, Dead Chest Island is the barren little Caribbean speck nestled among more than 60 British Virgin Islands where …

Text by Susan R. Eaton The Allies had a plan to crush Nazi aggression using gigantic iceberg aircraft carriers built in Canada’s north. Code named Habbakuk, the scheme was eventually torpedoed and the prototype vessel sank in a remote Rocky Mountain lake. Most shipwrecks are frozen in time, but …

  By Jill Heinerth Once a technique exclusive to elite cave explorers, sidemount diving today is trending in the ranks of recreational divers. Versatile and comfortable, the rig merges a specially designed wing with a harness and thanks to companies such as Hollis, Dive Rite and Golem Gear, they’re …

  Some divers handle it better than others, but underwater we all deal with it for better or worse Text by Bret Gilliam The following continues a discussion on diving and stress that appears in the current issue of DIVER Magazine, Volume 37 Number 8, now available on newsstands. …

Photo: Kids Sea Camp   Text by Garth Eichel 1. Provide regular reminders Kids are hesitant to ask questions in front of their peers, especially if they’re already certified and feel like they’re supposed to know it all. In dive briefings, go over basic skills like hand signals, gear …

Photo by David Benz / Kids Sea Camp   The following are a range of dive programs available for children of all ages and abilities. Skin Diver/Junior Skin Diver (NAUI) — this certification class is for kids eight years old and older, teaching the process of snorkelling and breath-hold …

Text by Jeremy Heywood Correction: When this story appeared in DIVER Volume 37 Number 4, Dr. Mica Endsley was inadvertently referred to as he, not she. We apologize for this error. Experts agree: situation awareness is critically important to diver safety. But because it’s regarded as an advanced skill …

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 …

Poseidon Poseidon Tech Retail TBA The world’s first rebreather with a fully automatic bailout system (redundant back-up rebreather), switches from primary to secondary without missing a breath. A built-in secondary dive computer ensures nothing is lost in the switch. Available beginning November 2012. www.poseidon.com  TAT7 iPhone Scuba Case $84.95 …

The longest running event of its kind, the UnderwaterPhotography.com annual photo competition is a rousing celebration of sub-sea shooting   The UnderwaterPhotography.com annual photo contest needs little introduction. It’s the longest running online event of its kind and if you’re looking to build a ‘rep’ in the cadre of …

Kim Mikusch Smith from Canadian KISS Rebreathers talks about safety, accessibility and why you should be interested in rebreather diving. For full article on Rebreathers and the Future of Diving, see DIVER Vol37 Issue 3 or click here. For more information on KISS Rebreathers click here.      

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. …

  If you’re on a mission to get into underwater photography and video, then the versatile SeaLife Pro Duo is a great way for you to get started. The ProDuo is compromised of one compact camera in an underwater housing, one variable power flash unit and one video light, …

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 …

You’ll notice something a little different with the current DIVER magazine; a new design, new columns and new features. But fear not, the same great content is still as present as ever, the same great writers and the same honest opinions you have come to expect from North America’s …

Test your Titanic knowledge in this interactive quiz… [mtouchquiz 1]        

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 …

Diving Medicine By Dr. David Sawatzky A seizure is a sudden surge in electrical activity of the brain that alters how an individual feels or acts for a short period of time.  In a classic ‘grand mal’ seizure a person looses consciousness, all of their muscles contract for up …

Seduced by the call of the deep, technical divers Heleen and Laura face-off with that most fundamental challenge of extended duration diving: the call of nature. With their solution in hand – well, not so much – word is now spreading and the sisterhood, to no one’s surprise, is …

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 …

Jarrod Jablonski talks with Michael Menduno   Credit Where Credit Is Due In my interview with explorer Jarrod Jablonski in DIVER Vol. 37 Number 1, I incorrectly stated that Jablonski and his team from Global Underwater Explorers were the first to video the USS Atlanta in 430 feet (130m) …

First on deck since the arctic claimed her 150 years ago, Parks Canada underwater archaeologists find HMS Investigator laden with artifacts in the shallows of Mercy Bay, beneath a diminishing polar ice pack. Text by Peter Golding Sam McGee from Tennessee ‘was always cold, but the land of gold …