The League of Extraordinary Divers Podcast

Retrieved from ScubaGuru - Expert Advice & Best Practices for Scuba Diving Professionals Jeff Bozanic – Scientific Diving Legend In this episode of The League of Extraordinary Divers I chat with legendary scientific diver and explorer Jeff Bozanic. Today’s guest is one of the premiere scientific divers and explorers on the planet. Bio Jeffrey Bozanic is the president of Next Generation Services, where he provides consulting and training services in the diving market. Clients include rebreather manufacturers, training agencies and legal agencies. Bozanic has participated in or led more than 70 diving expeditions in the past 30 years, to places like Palau, the Canary Islands and Antarctica. He was certified as a NAUI Instructor in 1978 and is active in teaching cave diving, rebreather, nitrox, decompression and trimix diving courses. He has published extensively on diving education topics, with a heavy emphasis on diving safety. Bozanic has edited and reviewed many diving textbooks and is the author of Mastering Rebreathers, as well as the senior Technical Editor of the NOAA Diving Manual. He has served on several boards of directors in the diving community, including as Chairman of the NSS-CDS, Vice Chairman of NAUI and Treasurer of the AAUS. He currently serves on the TDI Technical Advisory Committee and on multiple diving control boards.In 2007, he was honored as the DAN/Rolex Diver of the Year, and in 2015, he was the recipient of the AAUS Conrad Limbaugh Award for Scientific Diving Leadership. In 2018 Beneath the Sea selected him as the Diver of the Year Science. Items In This Podcast Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea InspirationHigh school scuba classScuba dredging for gold camping tripScouting helped with diving successUnderwater gold mining in the Bolivian jungleRebreathers in the industryMexican cave adventure with a speedo, machete and poison ivyAntartica naked ice dive photo shootFavorite diving locationsJeffery.Bozanic facebook“Mastering Rebreathers” Best PublishingExpeditions Sponsor Special thanks to our episode sponsor Aggressor Adventures Thanks For Listening! Thank you for joining me again. Do you want to give a shout out to our guest on this podcast? Leave a note in the comments section below! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Please leave an honest review for The League of Extraordinary Divers podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! And, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. The post LXD061 : Jeff Bozanic appeared first on ScubaGuru.

Retrieved from ScubaGuru - Expert Advice & Best Practices for Scuba Diving Professionals Bret Gilliam – Diving Industry Legend In this episode of The League of Extraordinary Divers I chat with legendary diving industry professional Bret Gilliam. Todays guest has done just about everything in diving. Bio Bret Gilliam has been professionally involved in the diving industry since 1971, a career now spanning over 50 years. Since beginning diving in 1959, he has logged over 19,000 dives around the world. His background includes scientific expeditions, military/commercial projects, operating hyperbaric diving treatment facilities, liveaboard dive vessels and luxury yachts, retail dive store & Caribbean resort operation and ownership, as well as filming projects for movies, television series, and documentaries. He was founder and President of six multi-national diving companies including V. I. Divers Ltd., AMF Yacht Charters, Ocean Quest Cruise Line, TDI/SDI, UWATEC, DiveSafe Insurance, and four diving magazines. He is President of the consulting corporation, OCEAN TECH, since founding that company in 1971. Items In This Podcast Meeting Ernest HemingwayWorked bring fish to aquariums at 11 years of ageNavy divingFilming The DeepOnboard The CalypsoCreating a diving cruise lineStarting IANTDStarting TDIDiving with Lauren HuttonDiving Pioneers and InnovatorsDeep Diving RevisedMixed Gas Diving Book Sponsor Special thanks to our episode sponsor Aggressor Adventures Thanks For Listening! Thank you for joining me again. Do you want to give a shout out to our guest on this podcast? Leave a note in the comments section below! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Please leave an honest review for The League of Extraordinary Divers podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! And, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. The post LXD059 : Bret Gilliam appeared first on ScubaGuru.

Retrieved from ScubaGuru - Expert Advice & Best Practices for Scuba Diving Professionals Tom Leaird – Legendary Underwater Educator In this episode of The League of Extraordinary Divers I chat with legendary diving educator Tom Leaird. Well, today’s guest has been in my professional and personal life for 25 years. And today I’m delighted to introduce him to you. Why do I say introduce him to you? Well, because he’s one of the most humble and unassuming dive professionals in our industry, one who has done amazing things, and I’m proud to call him a mentor of mine. Well, this is Tom Leaird. Bio Tom Leaird had an occupation in photography with Prestige Portraits and Lifetouch from 1957 to 1988, 31 years in professional photography. Then in the US Army 1961 through 1964, he was a photo lab specialist. And then came diving. He has been a certified diver with the YMCA Scuba program since 1961. He also became a YMCA Scuba instructor in June of 1969. He is charter president of Delaware. Dive scuba club did that in 1968 and continues to sponsor it today. He is the owner of Leaird’s Underwater Service in Muncie, Indiana. And that has been around since 1971. He was also the YMCA Scuba regional commissioner, which is also known as field coordinator from 1974 to 1986. He was a member of the YMCA Scuba advisory committee from 1980. And he was chair of the advisory committee from 1999 to 2003. Tom is also director of education and standards for Scuba Educators International. That was started after the YMCA of the USA retired its program. Tom continued that through SEI, Tom is also the CEO of PDIC international, which was purchased in 2010. Tom is also on the board of directors of the WRSTC. That’s the World Recreational Scuba Training Council from 1996 to present and he’s been president. And he’s also member of the board of directors of DEMA, the Diving Equipment Market Association. And that’s from 2011 to present, he’s a member of the board of directors of the Muncie family YMCA, treasurer of the Muncie family YMCA, and has served as interim president C E O of Muncie Family YMCA Associations – six branches with over 125 employees. Tom has authored several books and manuals, including many of them for the YMCA the YMCA slam manual that scuba life saving and management also Institute director, manual leadership, preparation, manual crossover preparation, manual standards and procedures manual the YMCA Scuba sport diving tables, search and recovery manual. Let’s go ice diving Divemaster assistant instructor, manual diving fundamentals for leadership, and this thing called scuba diving comfort, advanced diver instructor guide learn scuba diving and learn advanced scuba diving. He has also won the Bernard E. Empleton award for service to the YMCA of the USA. Tom has held YMCA Scuba leadership institutes at Ball State University, Oregon, Hawaii, Texas, Florida, Connecticut, Missouri, Germany, and Greece. As of December, 2021, Tom has completed over 3,750 dives that include 2000 hours underwater. And as of 2016, Tom’s local instructor group is working on class 1100. This has included over 5,000 certified student divers at the basic and advanced levels. Tom is CEO and president of Phillips Outdoor Center purchased April 1st, 2010 as a nonprofit environmental education center. That includes scuba diving scouting, public safety, and other water training. His son, Dan Leaird is a PhD in research scientist at Eglan Air Force base, and also has four grandchildren. His daughter Tamara is the store manager at Underwater Service and his wife, Bobbi, he’s been married to since 1963. Items In This Podcast Early YMCA – no swimsuits allowed!Inspired by Sea Hunt – Zale ParryFirst YMCA Scuba Instructor courseVolunteering for YMCA Scuba ProgramWriting training and standards manualsYMCA Scuba becomes Scuba Educators InternationalAcquiring PDICFavorite diving destinationsThe dark side of public safety divingDiving a Mark V diving helmetTips for diversLeaird’s Underwater Service Sponsor Special thanks to our episode sponsor Aggressor Adventures Thanks For Listening! Thank you for joining me again. Do you want to give a shout out to our guest on this podcast? Leave a note in the comments section below! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Please leave an honest review for The League of Extraordinary Divers podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! And, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. The post LXD057 : Tom Leaird appeared first on ScubaGuru.

Retrieved from ScubaGuru - Expert Advice & Best Practices for Scuba Diving Professionals Cathryn Castle Garcia & Capt. Gui Garcia – Legendary Underwater Creatives In this episode of The League of Extraordinary Divers I chat with legendary underwater creatives Cathryn Castle Garcia and Capt. Gui Garcia. Hey everybody welcome to another episode of the League of Extraordinary Divers. It’s so great to have you here with me today. There is a duo in our industry who has impacted the arts, and the creative side of our underwater world, through photo, video, art and writing. Bio Cathryn Castle Garcia and Gui Garcia are veteran scuba instructors and owners of C2G2 Productions, a multimedia company specializing in underwater and wildlife 8k film production, photography, editing and publishing. Cathryn has served as a magazine editor for more than 20 years and edits/publishes books for indie authors. She recently launched DeeplyDesigns.com, an apparel and accessory company that creates designs for ocean lovers, scuba divers and mermaids. Gui is an award-winning filmmaker and photographer and is also a US Coast Guard-licensed master mariner with decades of experience as a superyacht captain. He and Cathryn serve as crew on expedition yachts. The couple also leads adventure tours and photo expeditions to remote dive destinations worldwide. Their first book, Ocean Metaphor: Unexpected Life Lessons from the Sea is available in select retail outlets and on Amazon.com. Items In This Podcast Published marine science author at 16Archeology diving on a pepper wreckLooking into the eye of a baby whaleYou have a baby octopus stuck where?Diving lava tubesFavorite diving destinationsDeeplyDesigns.comC2G2Productions.com *As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualified purchases Sponsor Special thanks to our episode sponsor Aggressor Adventures Thanks For Listening! Thank you for joining me again. Do you want to give a shout out to our guest on this podcast? Leave a note in the comments section below! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Please leave an honest review for The League of Extraordinary Divers podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! And, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. The post LXD055 : Cathryn Castle Garcia & Capt. Gui Garcia appeared first on ScubaGuru.

Retrieved from ScubaGuru - Expert Advice & Best Practices for Scuba Diving Professionals Paul Toomer – Legendary Technical Diving Instructor In this episode of The League of Extraordinary Divers I chat with technical diving legend Paul Toomer. Hey everybody welcome to another episode of the League of Extraordinary Divers. It’s so great to have you here with me today. Today’s guest is one of the most stand out, iconic figures in our industry. Paul Toomer looks more like a rockstar than an accomplished technical diving instructor trainer. His wit and his fun-loving nature are balanced by his dedication to his craft. Bio Paul is the President of training agency RAID, he is a working instructor trainer and expedition diver. After living in South Africa for 23 years it’s odd that Paul discovered diving in the cold waters of Southern England. It is this kind of behavior that defines Paul and his passion for doing things differently. Within months of learning to dive he had his own center in London and rapidly progressed to Course Director before finding his passion for technical diving in 2002. Paul is an avid wreck, cave, sidemount and rebreather diver. In 2002 Paul began pursuing his technical diving interests and rebreather diving became his main focus. In 2007, he decided to concentrate purely on technical diver training and expeditions, and Diving Matrix Tec Lab was born. Tec Lab was innovative in its design and philosophy and set the benchmark for advanced diver training. In 2011 Paul was offered the position as Director of Technical Training for SSI (Scuba Schools International) and was responsible for writing diver and instructor manuals and training standards as well as training future technical instructors and trainers. In 2014 Paul became a co-owner of RAID International. Initially he held the position of Training Director but in 2019 he accepted the position as President for the company. Paul has dived wrecks and caves all over the world and also safely planned and executed many deep ocean wreck dives. He has participated in multiple expeditions including the HMS Hampshire, Vanguard and Royal Oak in Scapa Flow. In Malta and Italy, he has worked on ancient Italian and Phoenician amphora wrecks and has participated in exploratory dives on the Polish destroyer L-72, the British submarine HMS Olympus, an American WWII B-24 bomber, and many others. Paul regularly contributes to various dive magazines including Submerged, Diver, Sport Diver and Tanked Up. He has worked with Film and TV Companies as a diver, supplier and advisor. He has given many diving related presentations at training agency member events, OZTek, DEMA, TekDive USA, BalticTech, ADEX, EuroTek, TekCamp, the British Scuba Industry Trade Association, the London International Dive Show and global dealer Seminars. A little boy called Sebastian, motorcycles, tattoos and playing drums are the other major influences in Paul’s life. Items In This Podcast BSAC dive trainingFrom terrified of marine animals to dive proOpened a dive shop the week he became a scuba instructorWorst PADI Course Director application in historyWorking for SSIWorking for RAIDGetting through COVIDThe DEMA hotel barSardine run excitementFlooded rebreather loop at 110 metersPanic diver at 100 metersPee valve practical joke Sponsor Special thanks to our episode sponsor Aggressor Adventures Thanks For Listening! Thank you for joining me again. Do you want to give a shout out to our guest on this podcast? Leave a note in the comments section below! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Please leave an honest review for The League of Extraordinary Divers podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! And, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. The post LXD053 : Paul Toomer appeared first on ScubaGuru.

Retrieved from ScubaGuru - Expert Advice & Best Practices for Scuba Diving Professionals James Blackman – Founder & Host of Divers Ready! In this episode of The League of Extraordinary Divers I chat with founder and host of Divers Ready! YouTube channel. Hey everybody welcome to another episode of the League of Extraordinary Divers. It’s so great to have you here with me today. Okay, when we want to learn something quick – like a tip or some good advice, how many of you YouTube it? I certainly do. And when it comes to diving, one of the hottest, and in my opinion, best of the YouTubers in diving is today’s guest James Blackman. Check this out James’ YouTube channel is called Diver’s Ready and it at the time of this recording has over 47,000 subscribers! And one of his episodes on the future of diving has over 900,000 views! That’s huge! James and I live just a short drive from each other so he had me on his My Dive Buddies Episode #2 where we drank beer and had a great conversation about diving. And so here in this episode I returned the favor, and again we are drinking beer at the Funky Buddha Brewery in Fort Lauderdale and having fun with him telling dive stories. Hmmm. There might be a pattern here, beer and diving stories. Here’s a bit about James Blackman: Bio With a career in diving spanning twenty years, James has seen a thing or two in the dive industry. James grew up on the Southwest coast of Britain and learned to dive in the frigid waters of the English Channel. If your first dives were like being placed in a cocktail shaker full of cabbage soup and you come away with a love for the sport, then you know it’s going to be a life-long pursuit. James spent his twenties in the British merchant marine which afforded him the opportunity to travel to and dive in far flung locales… 177 countries and counting. Between stints onboard a variety of vessels, James used his shore leaves to level up his scuba training… Rescue diver in Tanzania, DM in Indonesia, Instructor in Honduras, Tec Instructor in the French West Indies. His last ship before moving to a shore-based life style was an expedition ship where he notched up some of his most impressive dives, including briefly holding the world record for most northerly scuba dive… 82 degrees north in the Russian arctic; diving the Amazon river; the Antarctic; and virgin reef systems in Papua New Guinea and Melanesia. Moving ashore in his early thirties, James took on the role of General Manager for a luxury dive operator in St Martin and never had a dull moment! Hollywood visited the island and called upon James’ underwater skills for on-set safety. When Cat-3 hurricane Gonzalo devastated the area, James switched hats to salvage and public safety diver to help with the recovery. Scuba Diving has given so much to James in his life… and first on that list is his brilliant wife Karina whom he met while teaching her AOW class! Yes, that old cliché! James and Karina are also business partners and co-owners of two power-house scuba brands. Miami Technical Diving has become the premiere scuba training facility in South Florida. Tired of seeing other dive shops compete in a ‘race to the bottom,’ James decided his model for teaching scuba would focus on keeping the quality as high as possible; using the best gear possible; teaching beyond the minimum standards on a 1-to-1 student-to-instructor ratio. The fullness of the MTD training calendar shows that people – student divers – will pay more for quality tuition. James is the personality and knowledge broker behind ‘Divers Ready!’ a super influential Scuba Diving YouTube channel, website and brand. In its first year, Divers Ready! was the fastest growing You Tube channel in the Scuba Diving niche, and now has over 47 000 subscribers. Their weekly videos range from Mouthpiece Mondays – where James shares his insider knowledge and opinions about controversial topics in the dive industry – to practical ‘hints & tutorial’ style videos, all with one simple goal in mind – to make you a better diver! James and Karina started small group luxury dive trips for the Divers Ready! audience. The 2021 line up includes Truk Lagoon, Palau, the Sardine Run in South Africa, Roatan and Curacao. James and Karina live in Miami, FL with their rambunctious Husky; Ziggy and their two Maine Coon cats; Thumper and Foxy who remain unimpressed. Items In This Podcast Learning to dive in the BSAC club modelTruk LagoonCaught in a down currentThe mystery of whale sharks Tec Clark in the Divers Ready Studio!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YCSmSHI6Lc Divers Ready Travel Offerings: https://www.diversready.com/travel.html Epic Sardine Run Adventure!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmPcSGpuzl0 YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/diversready?sub_confirmation=1 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/diversready Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diversready/ Divers Ready Swag Shop: https://teespring.com/stores/divers-ready-3 Miami Technical Diving: www.miamitechnicaldiving.com <http://www.miamitechnicaldiving.com>  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MiamiTechnicalDiving Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miamitechnicaldiving/ Sponsor Special thanks to our episode sponsor Aggressor Adventures Thanks For Listening! Thank you for joining me again. Do you want to give a shout out to our guest on this podcast? Leave a note in the comments section below! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Please leave an honest review for The League of Extraordinary Divers podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! And, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. The post LXD051 : James Blackman appeared first on ScubaGuru.

Retrieved from ScubaGuru - Expert Advice & Best Practices for Scuba Diving Professionals Amos Nachoum – Underwater Big Animal Photographer In this episode of The League of Extraordinary Divers I chat with legendary underwater big animal photographer Amos Nachoum. Bio You have seen the images of today’s legend in one way or another, because his images of big and or dangerous underwater animals have graced printed works from diving magazines to advertising agencies. Amos Nachoum is a master of photographing with purpose the BEHAVIOR of Big Animals worldwide, the threatened and endangered. He freedives with blue whales off the Eastern Pacific, scuba dives in the Okavango delta with crocodiles and goes face to face with the great white shark. One of only five people ever to swim and photograph Polar bear underwater… More people were on the moon …12. Since 1980, he has explored every significant body of water from the North Pole to Antarctica. Amos’s photographic vision is to raise awareness of ocean giants in their habitats. His images reflect respect and compassion for animals and wilderness. His photographs strive to dispel the myth of “dangerous” wildlife and show harmonious interactions between man and animal. Also, Amos is an explorer. He leads wildlife photography expeditions with his company BigAnimals.com. Amos’s photos and essays have appeared in publications including National Geographic, Time, Life, The New York Times, Condé Nast Traveler, Le Figaro, Terra Sauvage, Airone, Der Spiegel, Unterwasser, Fifty Fathoms and the cover of the Explorers Club Journal, in February 2020. Amos’s photography won the prestigious Nikon contest. Awards He is a two-time winner in the animal behavioral category of the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award. In 2012 he placed first in the American Photography Artist competition. In 2014 he shared his vision “There is no demons in the sea” at the prestigious Ted Talk to a standing ovation. Amos won in 2018, First place at the SIPA award, animals behavior category. In 2019 he was nominated to be the SeaKeepers man of the year, alongside James Cameron, David Attenborough, Walter Cronkite, Jacques Cousteau and Mikael Gorbachev. The movie “Picture of his Life”, about Amos’s career and ultimate adventure diving with the Polar bear, has been released after ten years in the making, to great review in both Europe and in the USA. Amos lives in Pacific Grove CA, USA. He photographs with Nikon camera, Seacam housing and strobes. His cinema camera is the RED, Monstro and Nauticam housing. Items In This Podcast War photographer1978 Red Sea Trip with cameraStarts liveaboard companyStarts big animal expeditionsPhotography and Fine Art – amosphotography.comBig Animal Expeditions – biganimals.com“Picture of His Life” Film Trailer Sponsor Special thanks to our episode sponsor Aggressor Adventures Thanks For Listening! Thank you for joining me again. Do you want to give a shout out to our guest on this podcast? Leave a note in the comments section below! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Please leave an honest review for The League of Extraordinary Divers podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! And, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. The post LXD049 : Amos Nachoum appeared first on ScubaGuru.

Retrieved from ScubaGuru - Expert Advice & Best Practices for Scuba Diving Professionals Willie Cline – Diving Industry Veteran & Marketing Pro In this episode of The League of Extraordinary Divers I chat with diving industry legend William Cline. Bio William Cline, who goes by Willie, is president and owner of Cline Group Advertising, Marketing & Research. The company was founded in 1990 as an international consultancy, specializing in the recreational scuba diving industry. Willie has been fortunate to represent and consult on a variety of matters from technical consulting, management operations, tourism development and economic impact projects with some of the world’s leading companies, governments and destinations within the scuba diving industry. Past and current clients include The Governments and Tourism boards of:Bonaire, The Bahamas Diving Association, Barbados, Hawaiian Islands Dive Association, Broward County, FL/Greater Ft. Lauderdale Visitors and Convention Bureau, Grenada Other private-sector clients include Divers Alert Network (DAN), Rodale Press, Bob Soto’s in Cayman, Dive Provo in Turks & Caicos, Stuart Cove’s Dive Bahamas, Peter Hughes Dive Liveaboards, Sand Dollar Dive Resort in Bonaire, the Cayman Islands Watersports, Hotel and Restaurant Associations, DeepBlu.com, Fort Young Hotel Dominica, Explorer Ventures Dive Liveaboards, and DEMA, the diving industry trade association, among others. Willie has also recently served as the past Vice-Chairman of the DEMA Board of Directors and currently serving as the Chair of DEMA’s Research Committee as well as committee member of DEMA’s Consumer Marketing committee. Cline Group is highly respected in the specialized field of scuba diving consulting, operations, and marketing, within the USA, Europe, South America and Asia. Willie Cline and his company are the only diving industry marketing entity to be recognized as a dive business experts by The Wall Street Journal, Fortune and Entrepreneur magazines, and numerous newspapers including the Orange County Register (CA). Diving press includes interviews/articles in Dive Training, Scuba Diving, Sport Diver, PADI’s Undersea Journal, Dive Center Business Magazine, and Skin Diver magazines to name a few. Willie Cline, founder and president, is a diving veteran, with over 5,000 dives, holds an active PADI Course Director certification, and currently working on his MBA. William is also passionate about flying and holds a private pilot’s license and lives on a small airport in a suburb of Dallas, Texas. Items In This Podcast Learning to dive at an early ageCalifornia to FloridaPro Dive’s Early DaysFort Lauderdale Reef Named After Him – Willie’s WayLosing a WreckHis Dive Buddy Stuffed His BCD Pockets with Food to Attract SharksCline GroupOh Captain, My Captain by Jean Michel Cousteau Sponsor Special thanks to our episode sponsor Aggressor Adventures Thanks For Listening! Thank you for joining me again. Do you want to give a shout out to our guest on this podcast? Leave a note in the comments section below! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Please leave an honest review for The League of Extraordinary Divers podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! And, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. The post LXD047 : William Cline appeared first on ScubaGuru.

Retrieved from ScubaGuru - Expert Advice & Best Practices for Scuba Diving Professionals Lamar Hires – Cave Diving Pioneer, Explorer and Manufacturer In this episode of The League of Extraordinary Divers I chat with legendary cave diving explorer and manufacturer Lamar Hires. Early Days Lamar Hires started diving in 1979 after moving to Jacksonville, FL. The springs of North Florida were the closest dive sites to Jacksonville that didn’t require getting on a boat. After diving all of the springs countless times, he was naturally drawn to the caves. He earned his NAUI open water instructor rating in August 1984. And in November 1984, after cave diving for five years and logging over 1000 dives, he earned his cave instructor rating with the NSS-CDS. He has gone on to explore and map many cave systems in North Florida and around the world with a small group of dive buddies. The motivation to explore and challenge himself led to the design of many new Dive Rite products and diving styles. Lamar was one of the first to use sidemount techniques to push caves beyond the range of back mounted cylinders. In 1985 he used this knowledge and experience to write the first sidemount specialty program for cave divers for the NSS-CDS. Over the years Lamar has tested and experimented with various cylinder configurations to evolve sidemount diving into the specialty that it has become. Exploration He has tested gear and explored caves and wrecks around the world, including caves/mines in Finland, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Australia, Japan, Italy, Russia, and numerous sites in the USA. He was part of the team that connected Telford Springs and Luraville Springs, two cave systems in North Florida. This dive set a short-lived world record for sidemount traverse in 1989, with a distance of 7600 ft. He has been in the icebergs of Antarctica and under the ice in sub-freezing water temperatures. He also dives plenty of wrecks, having been on wrecks in the Dry Tortugas, Egypt, Israel, UAE, Norway, Antarctica, and the Great Lakes. Lamar is passionate about cave rescue and recovery. He has traveled around the world for the International Cave Rescue/Recovery team, training divers for this specialty, including Australian and Italian teams. Lamar is still a very active instructor. He has trained more than 650 people to cave dive since 1984, and continues to train rebreather, sidemount, cave, and other technical divers. Dive Rite After joining Dive Rite in 1984, he developed the first back mounted wing specifically for diving heavy double cylinders that would later become known as the Classic Wing. An updated version of the Classic Wing continues to be a popular wing today. He brought the backplate that is widely used by technical divers into mass production in 1984. He also worked with SEIKO EPSON to develop the first user programmable nitrox computer, the “Bridge”, in 1992. After being with the company from the start, in 1997 Lamar bought Dive Rite from his friend and co-founder Mark Leonard. Lamar continues to actively dive in caves and wrecks around the world. This provides the inspiration for developing and improving the Dive Rite product line by testing it in any environment imaginable. Items In This Podcast Inspired by Sea HuntUsed Ned Deloach’s Underwater FloridaWes SkilesWoody JasperLloyd BaileyRescue 911 Show – Cave RescueCave Rescues and RecoveriesThe invention of the Classic WingThe invention of Sidemount diving for US cave systemsMapping 14 cave systemsDive Rite ManufacturingNSS-CDS Sponsor Special thanks to our episode sponsor Aggressor Adventures Thanks For Listening! Thank you for joining me again. Do you want to give a shout out to our guest on this podcast? Leave a note in the comments section below! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Please leave an honest review for The League of Extraordinary Divers podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! And, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. The post LXD045 : Lamar Hires – Cave Diving Pioneer appeared first on ScubaGuru.

Retrieved from ScubaGuru - Expert Advice & Best Practices for Scuba Diving Professionals Bob Talbot – Iconic Nature Photographer & Underwater Filmmaker As always, today we have another legend in the diving industry – actually he’s a legend in photography and film industries as well. I’m talking about the one and only Bob Talbot. It’s always a treat to interview these legends, but Bob is really special for me because I had his prints in my room before I ever became a dive professional. I have always loved his work and that’s why I still have three of his prints to this day! Bob was drawn to the sea as a child. He got his first glimpse beneath the surface when he was eight years old and began diving when he was 13. A year later he was given a Nikono‘s camera as a gift and his creative fuse was lit. His iconic photographs were first published as fine Art lithographs when he was in his early 20s and soon became the best selling line of marine artwork in the world. His images have also appeared in a wide range of publications from Time magazine to National Geographic. At the age of 19 Bob began shooting motion picture film with a wind up Bowlex 16 mm camera. Since then his motion picture work has been featured in television productions that have taken him from Antarctica with his childhood hero Jacques Cousteau, to the arctic seal hunting grounds with Paul Watson, from the caverns of Grand Cayman with David Blaine to his beloved Monterey Bay for the BBC/PBS production of Big Blue Live. Bobs feature film credits include Free Willy, Flipper, Into the Blue and Dolphin Tale Two. He directed and photographed the award-winning IMAX film Ocean Men Extreme Dive and acted as a director and cinematographer for sequences in the Academy award nominated IMAX film Dolphins. He recently completed work on his production Being Dolphin 4D and is currently working on his featured documentary film Fin. Bob specializes in creating unique, highly immersive special venue media that speaks to his mission of connecting people to the sea. His clients include IMAX, Simex Iwerks, California Academy of Sciences, Smithsonian Institution, California Science Center, the National Aquarium and National Marine Sanctuaries. For his advocacy work Bob has been presented with the environmental hero award by vice president Al Gore, the prestigious Sea Keeper award by HSH Prince Albert of Monaco, and the Ark Trust Genesis award. He has served on the boards of the American Ocean Campaign, Earth Communications Office and on the board of governors for Oceana. He served nearly a decade on the board of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and was chairman of the board of trustees of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation from 2008 through 2016 When asked why he is so passionate about ocean conservation Bob’s answer is simple, “the sea has given us life, it’s time we returned the favor.” Items In This Podcast Nikonos camera at age 14Early photographs and filmsEncounter with Gray WhaleOceanmen filming goes wrongBeing connectedLanding on a sharkHow to be an ocean ambassadortalbotoceangallery.comtalbotfilms.com Sponsor Special thanks to our episode sponsor Aggressor Adventures Thanks For Listening! Thank you for joining me again. Do you want to give a shout out to our guest on this podcast? Leave a note in the comments section below! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Please leave an honest review for The League of Extraordinary Divers podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! And, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. The post LXD 043 : Bob Talbot – Nature Cinematographer appeared first on ScubaGuru.

Retrieved from ScubaGuru - Expert Advice & Best Practices for Scuba Diving Professionals Ian Koblick – Legendary Aquanaut & Ocean Educator Hey everyone welcome to another episode of the League of Extraordinary Divers. It’s great to have you here today. Have you ever fantasized about living underwater. Of course you have! I do too. You see these images have been set in our mind mostly through television and movies – James Bond movies like Moonraker, SeaLab 2020 cartoon, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, Jacques Cousteau. Well today’s guest was one of the first aquanauts – those who not only worked underwater, but they lived underwater. Ian Koblick has pioneered ocean exploration since the 1960’s, and for the past five decades has developed built and operated ocean and environmental education and research facilities in the Caribbean, Mediterranean and Florida. He operated and managed for 3 years a 150foot research vessels which was donated to his research and education Foundation. La Chalupa He was one of the nation’s first aquanauts, after serving as manager and aquanaut in the Tektite undersea programs. In 1972 he designed and operated, “La Chalupa”, the most advanced undersea lab in the world. He and a partner converted it to Jules’ Undersea Lodge, the world’s only undersea hotel, operating since 1986 at the Marine Resources Development Foundation environmental education center in Key Largo, Florida. The Foundation houses and educates more than 4,000 students a year for the past 35 years. Ian created the foundation and has served as president for 50 years. Ian is a recognized authority on marine resource planning and has consulted on an international level in Japan, Panama, Vietnam, Brazil, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Malta, Italy, Sicily, Croatia, Spain and served the Governor of the Virgin Islands for two years as Special Assistant for Undersea Programs. He co-authored, Living and Working in the Sea, a book on the history of saturation diving and underwater habitats. He was a Consulting Editor of the 2nd edition of the NOAA Diving Manual. Ian is a founding Director of Aurora Trust Foundation, which was formed to advance the world’s understanding of the ocean environment, and its marine cultural heritage He managed and operated its 85 foot research vessel in the Mediterranean, and co-founded Deep Blue Surveys, a commercial marine company that operated a full suite of remote survey instruments, integrated navigation, and data collection software from its survey vessel based in Malta. Items In This Podcast First scuba dives in CaliforniaSpecimens were collected on scuba, but frowned by scientistsTraining at the Naval Experimental Diving UnitTektite missionsLa Chalupa underwater habitatA rebreather goes wrongMarine LabJules’ Undersea LodgePrinul50Marine Resources Development FoundationAurora Trust Sponsor Special thanks to our episode sponsor Aggressor Adventures Thanks For Listening! Thank you for joining me again. Do you want to give a shout out to our guest on this podcast? Leave a note in the comments section below! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Please leave an honest review for The League of Extraordinary Divers podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! And, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. The post LXD 041 : Ian Koblick – Legendary Aquanaut appeared first on ScubaGuru.

Retrieved from ScubaGuru - Expert Advice & Best Practices for Scuba Diving Professionals Richie Kohler – Iconic Wreck Explorer, Filmmaker and Author Hey everyone welcome to another episode of the League of Extraordinary Divers. It’s great to have you here today. So when you say the name Richie Kohler one may immediately think of wreck diving in the Northeast, or German U boats or his long time buddy John Chatterton, or for many of you the New York Times bestselling book he’s featured in Shadow Divers. Well, that’s because Richie is a key iconic figure in all of those circles. Richie Kohler is a filmmaker, author and explorer whose diving experiences began in the waters surrounding Brooklyn NY, but whose passion for diving and exploring shipwrecks has taken him to all corners of the globe. And, as a founding member of the NY based group the “Atlantic Wreck Divers” Kohler has spent the last 40 years exploring and identifying lost shipwrecks. Those exploits have been documented in newspapers, magazines, documentary films and numerous books. Kohler holds nearly every diving qualification and has certified scores of technical divers in advanced diving techniques and has led shipwreck and technical diving expeditions internationally. In 1992 his work (with diving partner John Chatterton) to identify a previously unknown German U-boat was the focus of an award-winning NOVA documentary, “Hitler’s Lost Sub.” And, that six-year effort was the subject of several television documentaries and a best-selling book, Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson, a New York Times bestseller. The success of that program launched his career in underwater filmmaking. Kohler co-hosted and produced fifty-six episodes of the popular History Channel program “Deep Sea Detectives” that attracted millions of viewers worldwide. The educational program focused on underwater mysteries in nearly every aquatic environment and inspired many to discover diving and explore the undersea world. Kohler has produced numerous other television programs detailing his explorations on some of the most famous shipwrecks in the world, including the Andrea Doria, RMS Titanic, and the HMHS Britannic. Kohler has worked on film projects for Paramount Pictures, CBS, PBS/NOVA, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, Universal Studios and most recently Kohler joined legendary underwater explorer Dr. Bob Ballard aboard his research ship, EV Nautilus, documenting deep water shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico. Kohler’s work is often focused on the human aspect of shipwreck tragedies and he has prioritized reaching out to the survivors and families answering questions and providing closure on wrecks such as the U-215, U-869, USS Murphy, USS Lagarto and the PC 566. Most recently his work in correcting historical wrongs culminated in an award ceremony at the Pentagon in which the Secretary of the Navy posthumously awarded the Legion of Merit with Valor to a World War II Captain. A Fellow in the Explorer’s Club, Kohler continues to lead expeditions in search of lost ships and the mysteries they hold. Also, he has written dozens of articles about shipwrecks, deep diving and diver safety and in 2016 published his first book, Mystery of the Last Olympian, that details his decade of work on Titanic’s sister ship HMHS Britannic. Recently Kohler hosted on a new series of diving-centered programing, Dark Waters with Richie Kohler. This programing will promote the fragile underwater environment, showcasing the treasures it holds to a new generation of underwater explorers. Richie Kohler represents a unique sector of diving professionals with significant contributions to exploration and historical preservation of the ocean’s wreck resources. Items In This Podcast Growing up in New York with a father who fishedRetrieving a clock from a shipwreck started his passionThe great New York Mudhole divingThe accounts of Shadow DiversDiving the Andrea DoriaDiscovering the German U-Boat U-869Meeting families in Germany of sailors from U-869Stuck in BritannicTips for diversWho will play Richie in the Shadow Divers movie?Richie’s website Sponsor Special thanks to our episode sponsor Aggressor Adventures Thanks For Listening! Thank you for joining me again. Do you want to give a shout out to our guest on this podcast? Leave a note in the comments section below! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Please leave an honest review for The League of Extraordinary Divers podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! And, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. The post LXD 039 : Richie Kohler – Shipwreck Explorer, Filmmaker and Author appeared first on ScubaGuru.