The Water Habitat (Scuba Diving and Kayaks)

05/20/2026

Simply put, if you're open water certified, DO NOT go into a cave, not even just a "peek", without proper training for the environment. Even cavern diving (where you can still see daylight from the opening) is dangerous without proper training. The techniques, procedures and even equipment required are much different than your OW certification. The same applies to going inside wrecks.

Remember, just because you're certified, it doesn't mean you're qualified. Stay safe so you can continue enjoying the excitement and beauty of the underwater world.

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Most members of the Cave Diving community have seen this sign at the entrance of a cave. Then come the “jumps” — intentionally set up so recreational divers don’t continue deeper into the system. Only trained cave divers know where those jumps are located in each particular cave.

From there, we attach our guideline until we find the next main line and continue the dive, always leaving an arrow pointing in the direction we traveled, so if something goes wrong, there is a reference to the way out or for rescuers searching for us.

Cave diving is one of the most mentally demanding environments a diver can enter. Panic can kill within seconds, so staying calm is everything. The mindset of a cave diver is completely different from recreational diving. Many describe it as being inside a casket underwater, surrounded by darkness and rock, where training, discipline, and mental control are the only things guiding us back to the exit.
God bless all divers.

06/14/2025

Started in Alexandria in 1988, we want to thank you to all who've supported us through the years. Hopefully one day soon we'll be able to fully get back to continuing Jimmy's passion for sharing the wonders of the underwater world with others.

05/24/2025

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The dive locker inside the USS Saratoga. The Mark V Divers Helmets were originally found in a box by my friend Jon Salas who was exploring the wreck in 2003. He also found the Morse Shallow water dive helmet (the one on the right) in the dive locker under 2 navy suits and hoses. They were moved to a slightly larger area. The MKV on the left has a twin that is located in a different part of the wreck now. It's not often we see hard hats inside shipwrecks! It's a tight and silty passageway through a locker room and over a bomb to get here. Just another day on the USS Saratoga. These to me are the classic shot in Bikini Atoll and pretty surreal to see in person.

03/15/2025

Sometimes I can't believe this is real. I floated there in the "balmy" 28f / -2C Antarctic waters that were actively freezing around us. Pushing ice out of the way to compose my shots and capture images of these emperor penguins in the clear, blue water. I was in the water for 2 hours that morning and another 2 hours in the afternoon. Towards the end I was getting pretty cold and I floated in happiness listening to the penguins calling out to each other on different ice floes. I wiggled my bright yellow fins and the penguins took up an interest in them and came waddling over in curiosity. I was frozen but couldn't bring myself to get out of the water yet. I laid my underwater housing on my chest trying to warm my hands out of the water and snapped this little moment. --Becky

03/08/2025

Around May of 1990, we had a guy who must've thought he was a MENSA candidate by coming in a couple of times to case the store with a story about being a diver for UNESCO. A few nights later he broke into the dive store by smashing through the front door (safety glass) with a large chunk of concrete and squeezing his way through the connected shards of the bottom half of the door. The large windows facing both Jackson Street and 16th were older pane glass and would've been much, MUCH easier to break and just step right through. The alarm went off and cops showed up to find him hiding in the nearby dumpster.......with the cash box. When a detective told him there had been $3,000 in box and he'd have to pay restitution, the guy quickly said, "no, no, there was only $38 in there." 🤣 I don't know if we ever found out what, if anything he was sentenced to but the guy in this clip might have been his buddy. 😆

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