Boat Diving Unchartered: Planning a Dive from a Private Boat
They both sensed that something wasn’t right. “From that depth we should have been able to see the boat,” says my friend Lance, a…
Gold of the Tropics: The Banana
In a dripping green jungle somewhere in the tropics, a banana plant shoots up from the moist ground. Laden with fruit, the tall shady…
Follow the Food Chain: Making Sense of the Chaos on a Coral Reef
I’ve never tired of watching student divers return from their first open-water experience. Their enthusiasm is always contagious, and you couldn’t shut them up…
How to Shine at Night Diving: Tips for Using a Dive Light
Dive lights are necessary for you to see at night underwater; they’re also your principle means of communication at night. In the daytime they…
Reefs in the Deepfreeze: Understanding Cold Water Corals
In the fall of 1974 I made my first dive on a Pacific coral reef. But unlike what you might imagine, it didn’t take…
In Over Your Head: Exploring Overhead Environments Safely
Seeing a sunken hulk materialize out of the blue is a thrill I never tire of. It doesn’t matter if it’s a ship, plane,…
Tree of Life: The Coconut Palm
Teal waves curl onto a cream-colored beach. Towering coconut palm trees line the shore, like giant feather dusters rooted in the sand. The green…
Take a Left at Aruba: How Do Animals Navigate the Underwater World?
You’re a baby loggerhead sea turtle. A few days ago, you were tied up in knots in a dark, warm, although somewhat cramped, shell…
Drift Diving: How to Use Current to Your Advantage
If there is a force of nature that disrupts dives and disorients divers as much as any other, it is current. On the flip…
How Did the Hammerhead Get Its Hammer? The Question That Puzzles Shark Scientists
The little scalloped hammerhead shark is out cold, impervious to the rubber tube that’s being passed into its tiny nasal cavity and wiggled into…