Breaking Stereotypes in the Dive Scene: Stories of LGBTQIA+ Trailblazers
There have always been LGBTQIA+ scuba divers like Joe Mankowski and Christopher Duncan, pictured here in Bonaire in 2016 on their honeymoon. Wherever we go, however, there’s always the question of safety and representation. There are many dive destinations where…
Instructor Spotlight: Victoria Tubbs
This is the second of a series of instructor spotlights we will be running. We want you to get to know our instructor members and help you find the right person to continue your scuba journey. Victoria Tubbs has loved…
Riptides and Undertows: Angry Seas and Scuba Diving
With the forced cancellation of this past weekend’s shore dive on Staghorn Fields due to weather, it felt like a good time to talk about riptides and undertows. Made even worse by pounding surf, these two things account for a…
Queer fish names
Let’s just start out with the obvious question: who’s in charge of naming marine animals, and can we go have a drink with them? They sound fabulous! We all know that the ocean is a vast and mysterious world, teeming…
Instructor Spotlight: Skip VandeLinde
This is the first of a series of instructor spotlights we will be running. We want you to get to know our instructor members and help you find the right person to continue your scuba journey. Skip VandeLinde is passionate…
Cozumel in June?
We’ve had some members express interest in a June trip to Cozumel, and we may have found a solution that bridges our club’s current capacities and allows us to partner with Barnacle Busters, the oldest gay & lesbian scuba club…
Color morphing saltwater fish
Saltwater reef fish have some of the most interesting and confusing color morphs you can imagine. You aren’t the first novice scuba diver who thinks they’ve seen a new fish, but it’s actually just the juvenile version of a fish…
DryFob saves the day!
We’re so accustomed to bad news when it comes to customer service, it becomes imperative to spread the word when we have a great customer service experience. That’s been our experience with DryFob, and we want you to know it.…
Raw Sewage Reef… as gross as it sounds
The Raw Sewage Reef off the coast of Boca Raton, Florida, is an infamous and controversial environmental story that revolves around a reef being unintentionally created by the discharge of untreated or partially treated sewage into the ocean. The reef’s…
Gender roles underwater
A lot of time is spent talking about the LGBTQIA+ community and the different gender roles we play. Those of us of a certain age may have been asked “Are you the husband or the wife?” And so many pundits…
Volunteering won’t hurt, we promise
Andre and I have been so excited by the speed with which Out Scuba has grown. We’re approaching 20 card-carrying members and almost 30 people on our mailing list. The excitement seems to grow weekly as we get approval for…
Flotsam and Jetsam
Flotsam and jetsam are terms used to describe types of debris or wreckage found in the water, like ocean pollution or after a shipwreck. While both refer to discarded materials in the water, they differ in how they end up…