Often the unexpected places turn out to be my absolute favorite. In July I headed to Newfoundland, Canada to dive WWII wrecks with Ocean Quest Adventures. There was also snorkeling with humpback whales, kayaking and a cod was kissed. You can read the whole story in X-Ray Magazine.
Mexico
I was a diver for 17 years before I made it to Cozumel. Isn’t that crazy? I heard about how lovely it was for years and finally this summer I started a bit of a Mexico expedition there. Diving with Salty Endeavors I found the reef to be lovely and I liked the constant drift diving which made me feel like I was just lazily taking it all in. I also unknowingly got a photo of baby toadfish and now I will search for them always. My article is in the new X-Ray Magazine issue which you can download for free. Also check out the Contributor’s “Favorite Portraits” I have images of a turtle from Yap being cleaned by scarlet shrimp.
Next up was a few days in Isla Mujeres snorkeling with the whale sharks. The largest fish in the sea congregates in this area from June to September each year. Read how to do it over at Scuba Diving.
Then it was off to cave country where I fell in love with cavern diving and can’t wait to go back and get cave certified. Diver let me go on and on about mystical and mythical these underwater enchanted forests are. I can’t wait to go back.
I also recently did a little piece Truk Lagoon for Asian Pacific Boating Magazine. I still cannot wait to get back there to the M/V Odyssey.
Tech Diving in the Florida Keys
I’m so excited for a new article tech diving some of the Key Largo, Florida wrecks. You can read the whole article over at Scuba Diving Magazine.
I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing Bill and Nadine Beard about starting the dive industry in Costa Rica 50 years ago for the latest issue of DIVER. I think about some of the chaos I've experienced working in places like Chuuk or PNG currently and cannot even imagine the struggles (and amazing rewards) of showing up to a country where you have to bring your own dive tanks 50 years ago. Not to mention I've added more dives to my bucket list - diving during an eclipse and in a volcano crater lake. This was so much fun (and also challenging as I haven't really done many interviews in the past).
Download the whole issue (still available for free):
Galapagos
So excited my Galapagos article is in the June issue of DIVER and my encounter with Godzilla made the cover (okay, it’s really a marine lizard….but you must be able to see the resemblance!) You can download the issue for free here.
Meg Teeth
So this one time…diving for megalodon teeth…in South Carolina….
I managed to sneak in a little diving (if you can call 30ft with zero viz in a river diving)….
Read about it in the August UK Diver Magazine. Click for a free download here.
Dive Log Australasia is also letting readers download the latest issues for free, I have a piece on Truk Lagoon in the August issue.
I have spent the past five years making a yearly pilgrimage to Roatan, Honduras for the Roatan Underwater Photo Fest and there’s something special about returning to a place over and over again. I wrote about it in this month’s UK Diver. You can download this issue for free and find lots of other great stories in it as well.
Roatan
Returning to Roatan in UK Diver, underwater photo techniques at Moziak Underwater Housings, Truk Lagoon on Youtube, Raja Ampat in Australian Dive Log.
Read MoreBooks to Pass Time
Hello out there! How is everyone? I’ve found myself with more time than normal during the pandemic and revisiting some of my favorite books. I thought I’d share.
Diving Books
100 Dives of a Lifetime - Carrie Miller
This book is perfect for right now! Need a virtual dive vacation? Want to plan your next dive trip? Get lost in some of the world’s best dives as told by Carrie Miller and incredible photos (you might find a few photos of mine in this book too!)
In my opinion this is sort of the underwater photography bible. When I first read it years ago I felt like my photography improved through osmosis through the pages. Highly recommend this to anyone looking to imporve their underwater photo skills.
For anyone looking to learn more about decompression theory, this book is great. It is easy to understand and discusses a lot of the topics recreational training prefers not to talk about. Even for those who don’t consider themselves “tech” divers, it’s an easy to read and understand text for things all divers should know, but often aren’t taught. Knowledge is so important even if you don’t plan to do deco dives.
The Soul of the Octopus - Sy Montgomery
We all love octopus. It’s a book about octopus - just read it.
Sex in the Sea - Marah J. Hardt
The ocean is so interesting! This book talks about some of the undrerwater world’s crazy reproductive behaviors you couldn’t make up if you tried! It also has a conservation theme and discusses how things like pollution and climate change are altering the behavior of some of these amazing creatures.
One of those books that is tough to put down, a true story about the discovery of a World War II German U-boat 60 miles off the coast of New Jersey. A must read for any diver.
Travel Books - My travel obsession has been fed by books. Paul Theroux taught me about long travel, spending week and months wondering without definite destinations and time restraints. Bill Bryson about the humor you must find while on the road. Kira Salak proved to me that even though I was a woman, I could go wherever I want. I love travels that seek out something - to travel to learn. Here’s some of my favorites.
I love love love this book. A shipping container of bath toys spilled during a hurricane and the author travels to find where they all went. It’s a study in ocean currents, ocean pollution, environmentalism and more.
In 1899 two women set out to race against the fictional Jules Verne character, Phileas Fogg, to travel around the world in 80 days. Since reading this Nellie Bly has become a bit of a hero to me, a female investigative journalist over 120 years ago who at one point entered an insane asylum appearing to be a patient to document the mistreatment of patients without knowing how she would be able to get out. (You should read that too - Ten Days in a Mad House.)
Last Chance to See - Douglas Adams
If you haven’t read Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, go read that first. But once you’re finished check out this book where Douglas Adams travels to see some of the world’s most endangered animals. Komodo dragons, rhinos, kakapos and more.
The Old Patagonian Express: By Train Through the Americas - Paul Theroux
He got on a train in Boston and ended up in Patagonia. My hero. My six month trip to South America after college can be directly linked to this book (and an Outside Magazine article on hiking Torres del Paine.)
The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific - Paul Theroux
In this one he gets in an kayak and paddles through 51 islands in the Pacific Ocean.
The Malay Archipelago - Alfred Wallace
Better than Darwin’s books. Alfred Wallace also came across the idea of evolution while traveling through SE Asia. This book is his journey, his observations, and the difficulties one would encounter traveling from Singapore to New Guinea over eight years starting in 1854. Plus this book is suuuuper long, great for passing time.
A woman’s solo journey through Papua New Guinea.
Pacific: Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers - Simon Winchester
This one starts on the United Island Hopper. You only think of the Pacific as paradise islands, but there is so much more.
In 1883 a volcano went off in Indonesia and changed the world.
A journey through the Australian Outback to learn about Aborginals' ancient "Dreaming-tracks.” Chatwin’s In Patagonia is an excellent read as well.
Don’t Stop the Carnival - Herman Wouk
This maybe isn’t travel, or it’s the type of travel where you decide to stay…forever….and take over a hotel in the Caribbean. We all have that dream, this guy did it.
Books about Viruses - I used to study virus evolution, here’s some of the books that might help explain more about what’s going on, but easy to read and understand.
The Coming Plague - Laurie Garrett
Don’t say we weren’t warned. Actually this book talks about past disease outbreaks and how our social and environmental practices led up to them. From Amazon - “Changing social and environmental conditions around the world have fostered the spread of new and potentially devastating viruses and diseases.”
David Quammen is another of my favorite authors and this book specifically looks at human infections that came from animals. Basically how diseases from wild animals are passing to humans. He also talks about bats (back in 2012). Sound familiar? He also has a great book on Ebola and the Song of the Dodo is a classic.
National Geographic Emerging Explorer Virologist who hunts diseases. He also warned us of this.
If you want to read some really interesting case studies of how it is human behaviors that spread diseases, Robert S. Desowitz is the master. The Malaria Capers, Who Gave Pinta to the Santa Maria?, and New Guinea Tapeworms and Jewish Grandmothers: Tales of Parasites and People.
Okay - Last One
Okay so currently there aren’t many copies available of my book, but last time I looked there are a few on Amazon and I still have a few copies I could mail out (send me a message if you want one.) Printing has been disrupted due to the pandemic, but hopefully there will be more soon. This is a great book for anyone interested in WWII, airplanes, or diving.
Latest Articles
What a crazy start to the year it as been. I spent the first six week captaining the MV Odyssey in Truk Lagoon (there’s a new video on YouTube). Right before I was about to leave the Federated States of Micronesia enforced a travel ban to keep COVID-19 out, bring our boat to a standstill as no divers can arrive in the country. Ikelite recently published a piece on my Top 5 Wrecks of Truk Lagoon (to photograph).
Dive Photo Guide published a piece I wrote called Take Photos, Save the World about the responsibilities underwater photographers have to be ethical in how they take photos and the importance of sharing what we see underwater.
An article I wrote for UK Diver Magazine is online at Diver Net - Service Ethics about my trip to Belize with Aggressor Fleet which turned out to be great even with an excessive amount of travel challenges. I have also been writing some blogs for All Star Liveaboards - check out their website for some fun content.
I hope everyone is safe and healthy during these crazy times. While dive travel isn’t an option right now, it will be again soon and we will need to support our favorite dive shops and resorts so they can continue to be there for the future. I have a few upcoming trips that are still planed to go as scheduled if things are back to normal by then.
In September the Ladies Dive and Art trip will be September 12-19th, 2020 and the next week, September 19-26th, everyone is invited for a mini underwater photography workshop. The Red Sea Underwater Photography Workshop will be November 12-19 on the Omneia liveaboard. Feel free to send me a message if you’d like more info. Would love to spend some time underwater with you all!
Summer Update: Timor-Leste, Tiger Beach, Saba, Travel and More
In December I visited the unique country of Timor-Leste and was really impressed by the shore diving accessible just out of Dili. With muck diving and reefs comparable to Bali, but without hardly any other divers, I really enjoyed my week diving with Dive Timor. The article was published in X-Ray Magazine Issue #91. Download the whole issue for free here. Or view my article online here.
I’ve been writing several blog posts for Moziak UW Cameras and you can read those here.
If you want some tips on shooting wrecks I did a piece for Ikelite - How to get the Best Shots when Shooting Wrecks.
Diver Magazine published an article on diving Tiger Beach which is now online here.
The Saba Ladies Dive and Art trip in April was such a success we are going to go back and do it again next year. Join us September 12-19th for a week diving the amazing reefs of Saba while also getting creative and learning from some of the island’s amazing artistic ladies. We will be staying at Queen’s Gardens Resort and diving with Sea Saba. Two dives each morning followed by afternoon art classes. This beautiful island has amazing food, my favorite gin bar, yoga, hiking, and more. Send me a message if you have any questions and see the previous blog post for how this year’s trip went.
If you’re looking to go diving I have a few different trips coming up. The fifth installation of the Roatan Underwater Photo Fest will be happening November 2-9th and there are still spots available. I’m leading a trip to Raja Ampat on the Siren December 6-16th. Next year I’ll be offering a tech trip on the Truk Odyssey July 4-11th, 2020 (this is a rare chance to dive the deeper wrecks to Truk from the comfort of the Odyssey liveaboard. Tech certified divers only, 2 dives per day, depths from 165-220ft, CCR supported.) And I will be returning to Saba for the Ladies Only trip Sept 15-22nd…and possibly another week in Saba directly following that open to everyone.
Saba Ladies Dive and Art
I’m just back from the beautiful island of Saba, one of my favorite places in the Caribbean. I was sent there last year on assignment for X-Ray Magazine (article here) and I fell in love. The volcanic island is stunning with epic ocean views everywhere you go and the few people who live there just “get it” - they take care of their island. Saba has been protecting it’s marine and terrestrial ecosystems since the 80s and you can see the difference. When I’m diving in Saba I can’t help but notice the diversity of a healthy reef, not to mention, the diving is super cool - it is black sand (hot sand in some places due to geothermal activity below), mini canyons and lava-formed pinnacles. Above water there are numerous well-maintain hiking trails. The people are lovely, the food is amazing…and the island is filled with artists.
I have been wanting to do an all-girls diving trip for years and I knew Saba would be the perfect place - and luckily a bunch of my friends trusted my recommendation. The plan was to dive and get creative, but also have a stress-free, relaxing trip. We stayed at the lovely Queen’s Gardens Resort which is peaceful and beautiful and several of the artists came to us for classes, so we didn’t even have to leave the zen-like atmosphere of Queen’s (plus the greatest gin bar in the Caribbean is at Queen’s, so no reason to leave, imo.) I wanted to make this dive trip (SeaSaba) for all levels of divers with no judgement, no pressure, and just support and I really think the amazing women who joined me helped to make that happen. They helped one another, shared tips for improvement, brought snacks on the boat and shared, and there was so much laughing. I was remind that each and everyone one of us has our own insecurities, but when we are surrounded by positivity, we can share them and get useful feedback (which mostly consisted of - you’re crazy, your painting is beautiful.” I hope everyone left feeling lifted up, at least a little
Diving was only part of the experience - after spending the mornings on the boat we did daily afternoon art classes: painting, glass bead making, jewelry, and making leather handbags. We did yoga, we hiked, we also did a wine tasting and more than a little gin tasting and lots of eating. I swear, the tiny island of Saba collectivly has the best resturants in the Caribbean. I had such a great time and it was so nice to spend a week surrounded by friends. I really want to do this trip again…maybe September 2020…so watch this space! ;)
