Our World – Underwater Scholarship Society in North America

It’s funny – it seems like all of the sponsors of the scholarship are on the cutting edge of their area of the industry.  Lucky for me, when I visit them I get to see what’s coming next year and what new products will change the way we explore and experience the oceans.  Lucky for [...]

The breathing-gas economy has a lot to do with it (think about spending 8 hours underwater with only two 3 liter tanks), and the idea of doing surface intervals underwater is definitely exciting, but it was the lack of bubbles – the complete and utter silence – that really sold me on rebreathers.  On our [...]

I’m in between San Diego and LA and I haven’t left the house in three days.  I’m staying with Jeff Bozanic, one of the most knowledgeable and experienced rebreather instructors on the planet, learning rebreather dive theory and spending hours in the pool getting comfortable on the units.  Closed-circuit rebreathers are complicated units, far more [...]

Diving is a very complicated sport.  It’s not the skill set required for basic recreational dives that makes it complicated.  You could even argue that some of the most advanced technical diving is not so much complex as it is dive-table-intensive, or training-heavy.  What makes diving so complicated is the equipment that we rely on [...]

First, an apology for slacking on the blog posts.  While I was in Mbotyi for the Sardine Run I was completely out of internet contact.  I got back to NYC and had two days to dry out, repack my gear, do laundry, and fill out expense reports before hopping on a plane to the Dominican [...]

While Cape Town was an unforgettable experience, nothing could come close to the excitement of the Sardine Run.  Every year, cold currents push their way up the eastern coast of South Africa, bringing with them millions of sardines that typically reside in the southern waters of the country.  It’s unclear where the sardines end up, [...]

The first episode in the Underwater Updates series has arrived!  Please give me feedback!  Is it too slow, too boring, is my hair too long?  Tips and comments welcome!  Constructive criticism is preferred, of course..!  Click on the title to watch a higher resolution version.
Enjoy!

Special Thanks:
Steve Benjamin
animalocean.co.za/
The Great White House/Marine Dynamics
thegreatwhitehouse.co.za/
Dyer Island Conservation Trust
dict.org.za/
Marine Dynamics
www.sharkwatchsa.com

What an entirely unbelievable experience!  On Friday I had the privilege of diving with the most famous fish in the sea – the great white shark!  Gansbaai, three hours south of Cape Town, is arguably the great white shark diving capital of the world.  And it wouldn’t take much arguing.  Discovery Channel, Nat Geo, BBC’s [...]

The weather in Cape Town has not been conducive to diving!  There have been some absolutely massive storms in the mornings which have made the seas so rough that it would just be silly to try to go out in them.  Believe it or not, Cape Town actually got snow. Okay, the snow was only [...]

It’s been an awesome couple of days, and I’m going to let the photos do most of the talking for this post!  We went out for a dive near Hout Bay with the Cape Fur Seals.  It was absolutely mental!  There were hundreds of seals sunning themselves on the rocks, and there must have been [...]