DEPTH Blog

Photo Caption: Author Dan Orr participates in the Grand Teton National Park Winter EMS Refresher giving lectures on diving safety. As part of the refresher, Dan presented a copy of his book, Scuba Diving Safety, to the GTNP EMS Group for their library.

"Every time I submerge, a feeling of excitement and exploration fills me."

While it is approaching summer here in the northern hemisphere, down in Antarctica it is close to winter, where temperatures plummet to -50 degrees and darkness prevails for months. Scientists rarely dive under these conditions, but it has occurred in the past.

Does Scuba Diving Have a Retirement Age?

One of the reasons why author Paul Mila chose a sea turtle as the main character in Harry Hawksbill Helps His Friends was to bring sea turtles to the forefront of peoples' minds when thinking about ocean conservation.

NSF Polar Programs Diving Safety Officer prepares for a dive on the Poseidon Se7en rebreather under the ice in Antarctica. Wearing a dry suit with heated undergarments and dry gloves keeps the divers warm (enough) to do their work in the -1.8C water.

Curious to explore the undersea world, Alexander the Great used a glass diving bell to submerge himself below the surface. The fish, it is said, “crowded around him in homage.” In 332 BCE, he ordered soldiers to submerge inside diving bells and destroy the enemy’s underwater defenses.

Raja Ampat is a special place. Author Jennifer Idol is traveling this week to share her experiences exploring the cradle of our oceans.

"Current philosophy dictates that all dives, even those well within the no-stop limits of tables and computers, should include a controlled ascent (dictated by the diver's computer, tables, or personal or training philosophy) and a safety stop. Newly published research recommends slower ascent rates (slower than 60 feet, or 18.2 meters, per minute according to most tables) possibly coupled with multiple safety stops. Reading available data published by the training associations and DAN is a good way to become familiar with the latest information on ascent protocols. 

Author Paul Mila, wrote Harry Hawksbill Helps His Friends to impart both a social message for young children and also to teach them about sea life.

Scientific divers often work in remote areas, and sometimes far offshore.

Author Jennifer Idol has taken the dive industry by storm since last year (2016) when she published her first book, An American Immersion. Today, Jennifer shares a few insights on how to get your first book published (and a few photos from her dive near the Best Publishing Company HQ). . .

Content is being consumed in more dynamic ways than ever before and new methods must be used to engage readers.

"The ability to manage a diving emergency and provide care to an injured diver does not come from experience alone. The best thing you can do to prepare for the dive-related injuries is to learn everything you can about such injuries and the situations that lead to them.

John Heine, author of Cold Water Diving: A Guide to Ice Diving, travels to places such as Antarctica (pictured below) to oversee scientific diving through the U.S. Antarctic Program of the National Science Foundation. In the photo belog he is researching the use of rebreathers under the ice, as well as various new strategies to stay warm with the use of active (electric) heated undergarments.

More than 100 years ago, Sorbonne Professor Paul Bert, the father of pressure physiology, explained, “All symptoms, from the slightest to those that bring on sudden death, are the consequences of the liberation of bubbles of nitrogen in the blood [on-gassing], and even in the tissues, when compression has lasted long enough. The great protection is slowness of decompression [off-gassing].”

When author Paul Mila was writing Harry Hawksbill Helps His Friends, he and the Best Publishing Company editorial staff wrestled with one main question: should we use his underwater photographs to tell the story, or retain the services of an illustrator?

Jennifer Idol shares two questions that she is most frequently asked about her 50 state journey:

In the below image a scientific diver works in a deep kelp bed in central California.  She is measuring the percent cover of various marine algae as a part of her Master’s thesis.

In 1982, when David Scalia was evacuated to San Diego after suffering an air embolism to his brain, there was no hyperbaric chamber in the city.