3 Awesome benefits of being a scuba diver

Editors note: This is a guest post from our friends over at Diver World, which is a great resource for divers looking for info on various scuba gear.

During our travels around the world, any time we meet non scuba divers they seem to assume diving is an activity only for the wealthy or beach bums on their way to becoming a scuba instructor. The truth is somewhere in between. Diving can be an expensive hobby, but usually it is something you only do a couple times a year unless you are a professional scuba diver. If you are on the fence about becoming a certified diver, here are 3 awesome reasons why you should. Get Inspired and push your comfort zone!

Scuba diving gives you a whole new perspective of the planet.

The earth is 70% water, and if you are stuck on the surface for your small amount of time here that is a real shame. Diving will allow you to explore the depths and amazing sights that only a small part of the general population get to see and experience. Don’t be surprised if this newly expanded perspective leaves you feeling  a bit smaller in the universe.

scuba diving with bullsharks

We love to dive with sharks!

Diving is actually an amazing workout.

If you have ever seen footage of divers exploring a reef, it usually looks slow and relaxing. This is true to a point, you will definitely conserve more oxygen during a dive if you remain relaxed and move slowly. However, the combined effects of breathing compressed air and the resistance of the water can actually give you a decent workout over the course of an hour long scuba session. But when it comes to breathing compressed air for extended periods of time, be sure to keep an eye on your dive computers readout to avoid nitrogen buildup. No one wants the bends!

Becoming a scuba diver means joining an awesome global community!

The whole reason we are able to make this guest post is we met the motive8 team while on a scuba diving trip! We found out we both ran dive websites and quickly became fast friends. Even if you end up traveling the globe solo, if you are a diver, you will quickly make friends on any dive boat you join. I think there is an inherent sense of community that comes with this special pass time. Divers from all walks of life have something instantly in common and more often than not, at the end of the day we all end up at the local bar for a few beers. This is a great way to hear about hidden dive sites or swap some intense diving stories. Thanks to facebook and lots of ever growing online communities keeping in touch is easier than ever.

scuba diving with fish

We hope this list has prodded some of you who are thinking about becoming a scuba diver into action, or those who have not had the chance to dive in a while to refresh your skills and start exploring the ocean once more!

Why I love wreck diving!

Seeing the diverse amount of wildlife while scuba diving is only half the adventure. There is something extremely interesting about shipwrecks. Regardless if they are fully intact or skeletons on the ocean bottom, they captivate my imagination.

ship wreck to scuba dive soon
Before I became a certified scuba diver, I was an aspiring photographer.  I would spend my free time driving all over the rural countryside taking photos of abandoned buildings, homesteads, vehicles, and my favorite grave yards.  They all presented a mystery to me . what stories would they tell if I could only hear them whispering.  The history to be gathered from the architecture or in the case of cemeteries the dates of the dead. I have many albums filled with my shots of 1940’s vintage pickup trucks, some virtually intact, others in ramshackle pieces of their skeleton strewn about the ground on which they were forgotten. At this depth I was glad to have brought my personal dive computer.

When I started scuba diving, I was fortunate in that I was able to dive with a very seasoned group of divers and take part relatively early in my dive life on some very beautiful and challenging (for the beginner that I was) dives – including wreck dive sites.

wreck diving

The very first wreck I dove was the GB Church – a ship scuttled as part of the British Coloumbia artificial reef system.  This freighter is located just outside of Sydney B.C. and is covered with a vast array of marine life.  I recall when I first descended on this ship how amazing it was to see so much ‘stuff’ all in one place – schools of fish, crabs, starfish, anenomes and then there was the ship wreck itself – the history sitting on the ocean bottom.  I knew I was hooked! I have been lucky to dive many wrecks from Barbados to Hawaii since then and am always looking to share my passion and Motive8 others to face their fears and amaze themselves.

Snorkel adventures in key west

A paradise vacation location, the chill island of key west is located in the florida keys and 150 miles away from miami. It is surrounded on all sides by crystal clear water that makes it perfect for snorkel excursions and we got to spend some time there doing motivational speaking and some under water video production.

The reef there is 220 miles long running all the way down the Florida keys. The water is super warm and makes swimming in the beautiful ocean a dream, with or without scuba equipment.at depths averaging about 20 feet, one of the best ways to see this tropical reef system is simply by going snorkeling.

 

 

What will you need to bring?

  • Snorkel or scuba mask
  • dive Fins
  • Beach towel
  • Waterproof camera

Rent or purchase snorkel gear. You can buy snorkel gear, including masks and fins, from most local reputable dive shop.  if  you choose to purchase your own gear, you can pick up a cheap set of snorkel or discount SCUBA gear sale online or at a store such as amazon that cost anywhere from $20 to $50. Don’t forget to bring a large beach towel and waterproof camera as well to capture all your under water memories..

Where to go scuba diving or snorkeling?
Visit Key West Marine Park, an area of beach located between Duval Street and the White Street Pier. Get there early as parking space is limited, and be sure to stay between the swim buoys to not drift too far out to sea. Key West Marine Park is home to various  marine life such as rays, lobsters and seastars and sharks.snorkeling and scuba diving in key west

Drive to Fort Zachary Taylor State Park, found on Southard Street in Key West. The water around Fort Zachary Taylor can be extremely clear and is home to snappers, grouper and parrot fish. However, make sure to call ahead to the park to get weather conditions as weather can really affect water visibility.

enjoying the sun snorkeling

organized snorkeling tours can be fun as well with a great local guide. Most Key West dive shops also offer snorkel tours to numerous offshore snorkel spots. a popular snorkel tour is to the Dry Tortugas, which is located 80 miles west of Key West. The waters are shallow and filled with coral, large fish and sea shells and a ton of marine life, we had a blast there while we were filming some great underwater footage. If you snorkel or scuba dive you should have an amazing time in key west!

An intense day of paintball in Maui!

This summer, I made a suggestion to my boss that we should have a  paintball outing for our video production team. We’d had a story about a Halloween event at Maui Paintball and I was interested in trying it out ever since.

We have a pretty small staff at Motive8 team and, to get the best rate for private play, we needed some more people. So we posed a friendly challenge to some of our friends. Their other team had a lot of tactical personnel and people who came with their own paintball guns and gear. The mostly noobie Motive8 team was completely outmatched. It was a little intimidating but I was sure it was going to be fun. we were playing woodsball out in a big field and it was a gorgeous day.

For my marker I was rocking a Tippmann 98 Custom paintball gun, a bit basic but awesome. Some of the other teams weapons were really intense, some of them using high end X7 and A5 markers with full tactical gear.

my weapon for the day, a tippmann 98 custom!

In our first game our team went charging forward in a disorganized line. Not smart at all really. Our entire team of about 13 people was taken out in less than 2 minutes. it was a pure massacre, I kid you not. I was glad to be wearing a paintball mask.

We  better in the second round. After that, the Maui Paintball staff broke the teams up and put newbies with advanced players, making it a much more evenly matched game, and more fun! Even with the stinging welts on my body from the paintballs. Yes they really do hurt. But be tough it’s worth it!

our paintball team

But paintball really is fun, and a fairly inexpensive form of extreme entertainment. you get some good cardio exercise, and you’ll probably also have some gnarly battle wounds to show off the next day.I certainly don’t suggest throwing yourself in with professional sharpshooters and hard-core paintball fanatics like I did for a first outing.

Maui Paintball is located along Honoapiilani Highway on the Lahaina side of Olowalu. It offers a huge wide open course with a broken down bus and tons of bunkers to hide in along with a bunch of tree forts to climb in and get an elevated advantage. Staff members referee play and the field is fenced in and not too huge that you can get lost

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Rental packages are $35 per person and include semi-auto gun, mask, and all-day play. Discounts are offered for advance online bookings and for people with their own personal paintball guns and equipment. Gun upgrades, paintballs and camouflage coveralls are available for purchase. No outside paintballs allowed for saftey reasons.

so get out there and have some fun! It was a super nice change of pace from our usual scuba diving adventures making videos!

-Jan

Under water video production in Maui

Maui is fantastic!

Maui’s southwest coast is a great scuba diving location. I recently got a chance to go there to do some video production under the waves. The world famous Molokini marine sancturary, a sunkedn volcano crater is a hotbed for marine life. It descends 300 feet vertically and is filled with sloping rideges that run from shallow that offers great snorkeling, to scuba depths. There are other great dive sites we filmed at off Wailea, Kihei and Makena. There was also some very interesting wrecks to explore there. Many of the sites you can reach from shore if there are no boats available to use.

Lanai & Molokai scuba diving also originates from Maui!

No dive trip to Maui would be complete without visiting the amazing cathedrals off the south shore. Lanai offers over 30 dive sites and most of them feature large geographical structures like lava tubes. There are also some interesting lava bubbles to explore down in the depths if you have the chance, which I would really suggest.The elusive Bandit Angelfish and Reticulated Butterflyfish are often spotted in these scuba diving sites. It was a great chance to test out my new OC1 from Oceanic dive computers

If the weather gods smile upon you and you get the chance to dive Molokai, you’ll most likely get to a huge structure 1.5 miles off the east end called Moku’ho’oniki Rock. Here you will have a shot at seeing some of the larger sealife such as Hammerhead sharks, manta rays, and spinner dolphins. Also there is the rare Hawaiian Monk Seal, or Galapagos sharks which are always very cool to encounter. The reef system loaded with fish the way Maui reefs used to be 20-25 years ago.  Google “Lanai diving” or “Molokai diving” for the most current information on the dive boats going there, you will not be dissaponted with this dive location. Due to the advanced nature of the dive sites I would recommend you bring your own scuba gear to be familiar and comfortable during you dive.

we filmed some crazy under water footage for our latest video production and can’t wait to show it off!. It’s always nice to achive your scuba diving dreams!

Scuba diving in barbados! Simply Awesome!

I recently got the chance to go scuba diving in Barbados and it was an incredible experience. I was able to bring all my own scuba gear which I found online in an awesome Scuba gear sale along, including my dive computer. There was so much to see in the ocean it was hard to believe! We saw big schools of fish and even some sharks which is always cool for a scuba diver to see. I love spending time in the ocean and having friends who are scuba divers means I get a lot of chances to do it on most of my trips! here is a video someone in my dive group made to show us all under the water!

 

There were lots of shipwrecks around a and we even got to swim through some of them. I loved seeing a huge sea turtle and big eels. I am glad I brought my own scuba gear with me and was glad to have recently bought my wrist computer after . It certainly helped me feel more confident while diving.

scuba diving in barbados

The food in Barbados was amazing and when we were not swimming in the ocean, we were stuffing our faces Hahaha. I even got to try some swordfish and it was amazing. I love all the hot sauce there and the chefs didnt dissapoint. I am happy to have made some new friends on my scuba diving trip and I am going to try and keep in touch with them through facebook! This is another great tool for any traveler and I always have a place to stay thanks to meeting other divers on the road. Hopefully reading all about my adventures is motivating you, or should I say Motive8’ing you to get out there and explore for yourself. Just rememeber to bring your scuba mask and fins and you will be all  set to have a beautiful tropical vacation in all the exotic locations the world has to offer.

check back soon and I will have a blog post about my next trip to Costa Rica!