My family and I love going on holiday. Who doesn’t? My wife went with some girlfriends to the Costa Brava. They had a great time. They sunbathed, they ate some fine meals, they drank probably too much, and they had a lot of laughs. I went to the Maldives. I... More »

This is an actual sequence of events.  About a year and a half ago one of our long-time clients (let's call him John Smith) contacted us about an upcoming trip. He asked several questions about the destination (how about "Mysterious Reef?")  and said that he wanted to go some place... More »

Steve Gerrard stirred his coffee slowly as a lazy Sunday morning in 1991 began at Spring Systems Dive Center in Luraville, Florida: "cave country" for those in the know. He still had some time to kill before his cave diving class would begin and he turned the pages of the... More »

British dry wit Comedian Jimmy Carr claims to have put a classified-ad in a newspaper that read along the lines of, "Good looking, young, millionaire seeks gullible stunner." We can all be gullible at times, especially when undergoing training with a trusted instructor, but how well can you trust your... More »

(Q) Hello DocVikingo, I tend to swallow air while diving and get gas with cramping and belching upon ascent. This is very unpleasant. Anything I can do?  Thanks. t-d-g. (A) Hi t-d-g, Swallowing air during a dive, called aerophagia, is not uncommon in newer divers.  Also, divers who are overweight seem to have... More »

As everyone in the dive world knows by now, the Caribbean has been invaded by lionfish - reef fishes indigenous to the Indo-Pacific region.  Sightings have been reported from the mid-Atlantic U.S. coast all the way to S. America and through much of the Caribbean. That much is scientific fact.  But... More »

May 18, 2010 "Dear Dr. Vikingo. I'm an already certified 600+ dive diver who after tours in Iraq and Afghanistan with the Military developed PTSD. For the last 2 years I have been in therapy and have done inpatient treatment. I'm now stable and have no side effects.... More »

I was on assignment nearly two decades ago when scheduling screw-ups got me into the airport late for a trip on Peter Hughes' liveaboard SEA DANCER, I discovered that I had literally "missed the boat". Stranded in Miami with dive model Mary Riley and a load of camera equipment and... More »

The boss at Wraysbury Lake, a UK inland dive site near London, reports that, on hearing that he knows me, many visitors to ask him if I'm gay. It's something to do with the way I look in pictures in Britain's Diver Magazine but the numerous women... More »

The new quarterly Alert Diver, published by Stephen Frink and company, unarguably is a handsome magazine that makes its prior incarnation appear a bit of an ugly stepsister. Then again, it now appears to have a lot more money to play with. But, is it straying from DAN’s stated raison... More »

Years ago a New Zealand dive instructor working as an electronics technician in Port Moresby asked me to teach his wife how to dive. A wise man, I thought, destined for marital bliss. She joined one of the courses I was running at the time, did very well and became... More »

I heard from a few people who thought that my blog about illegal fishing Komodo National Park was depressing.  I agree.  If we can't protect marine life in one of the world's most iconic parks, is there any hope? Burt and I have been thinking about this problem for a long time,... More »