The Florida Keys are communities focused entirely on the ocean. Angling, snorkeling, and diving are everywhere you look!  Billing itself as the ‘Diving Capital of the World’  Key Largo has at least 18 different dive operators on a single 33-mile long island! Thanks to the generosity of Captain Slate’s Atlantis Dive Center I’m here organizing […]

One of the most challenging and exciting parts of the year is living without a long-term plan and being on your toes at any moment to seize a dive adventure as it flies by!  Last Tuesday night around 11:30pm I learned a NOAA research cruise was short several divers for ten day monitoring cruise in […]

This week I’m hunkering down at Captain Slate’s Atlantis Dive Center among a mountain of scuba books and manuals.  I’m taking the big professional plunge and becoming an Open Water Scuba Instructor!   Long time OW-USS supporter, Captain Spencer Slate owns the Florida Key’s longest running scuba, snorkel and glass bottom boat tour company, in […]

The OWUSS family gets bigger and bigger each year with new scholars, interns, hosts and friends. This network and these connections are what make the experience so incredible. While in Key Largo, Florida I had the opportunity to meet former REEF Intern Stephanie Roach and work with her on her new project. Since finishing her […]

Former Scholar, OWUSS Board Member and photographer-extraordinaire Sara Shoemaker Lind invited me to San Francisco to kick off the year getting to know my camera system. Photography has interested me for years, but my greatest shots have been more chance than calculation. With an opportunity like this one to see so many amazing parts of […]