When my parents took me to the beach for the first time at the age of one, I immediately took off towards the ocean. I’ve had a connection with the ocean for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I fell asleep to a sound machine of waves every night. I feel like a fish out of water when I am not near it for a long time. The idea of being able to breathe underwater seemed too good to be true, but once I was introduced to scuba, I was hooked. I could stay underwater with a tank...

To know me, you have to understand one thing- I LOVE Coral. Having the ability to spend more time staring at the polyps underwater is why I received my scuba certificate. But I also became a diver to have a short escape from the rest of the world. The majority of my diving consists of coral restoration and scientific fieldwork. We’re talking about either being upside down in 2/3 meters of water with a clipboard in hand or spending hours underwater out-planting coral fragments back onto the reef. Doing this type of work is honestly amazing, though, I wouldn’t trade...

Becoming a diver for me wasn’t something that was initially on my radar. While on a conservation trip to Indonesia, I started diving to pass some time and fell in love. After one dive, I immediately wanted to pursue a professional career. After diving now for over 17 years, my focus is on teaching professional and technical dive programs. What’s appealing is the love for the mentoring relationship with professional dive students. Watching them grow and build a career in scuba diving is a great thing. One of my favorite local places to dive is called Snapper rock. It features...

As humans, most of the things we do are taught to us by others. We want to do things because we trust the apparent proof that with a generous application of time and training, we too can aspire to new heights. I started my journey into deep technical scuba diving by surviving some very careless and not very well thought out dives. I have come to realize since, that I am prone to trust gurus, and that there aren’t any. Technical diving touches the frontier of our understanding of physics, physiology, and psychology, and today’s truths are almost certainly tomorrow’s...

My inspiration to explore the ocean came at a young age. When I was six years old, my dad brought home a National Geographic magazine with a free record of whale songs. I remember listening to it for the first time, and it blew my mind, I think the ocean has been a place of wonder for me ever since. Now, years down the road, I specialize in Marine Science and coral restoration. I love this because I enjoy discovering how creatures interact with each other, how everything in an environment fits together, and exploring that balance. I love sharing...

As we grow older, our adversaries become bigger. But that’s okay because we also grow braver. My love for the ocean started when I was a child. I cannot remember how young I was, but I can picture myself sitting on the fine white sand while playing with tiny creeping creatures that seemed to be carrying their small shell houses, which I can now identify as hermit crabs. My first snorkeling experience was alright as my father held me close, and I had floaters. Eventually, at 12, I could snorkel on my own with no adults holding me anymore, but...