The total Eclipse weekend at White Star Quarry

After a really fun weekend in Alpena, Michigan diving the shipwrecks of the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, Rich spends some time talking about how new boat captains need to be broken in a bit when it comes to people who view diving as a goal rather than people (like us) who view diving as a lifestyle and a recreation.

Rich Talks about the month of diving in July 2024 and diving in Munising Michigan and Isle Royale National Park. He also talks about having a starlink Mini on the Isle Royale trip which was a game changer for him. #starlink Rich is also pretty adamant about doing discover scuba experiences as a resort course. This is something new for the quarry.

Rich talks about the month of June 2024 being a month of Rebreather training and a weird start to the summer. He chats about the business of doing things but the emptiness of many of the dive sites. He gets into details about how all levels of divers can now take Prism 2 Training and it can be done alongside others starting at a different level. Super exciting stuff for people who would wish their first scuba kit to be Rebreathers.

Rich talks about the incredible expedition that was Truk Lagoon. World War 2 casualty shipwrecks that are in warm, tropical water that is truly amazing. Rich talks about the Heinan Maru, The odyssey livaboard, the San Francisco Maru and more

Rich talks about the month of teaching the weekend instructor development course and the convenience of not having to schedule two weeks of vacation to finish it. The course was earlier in the year than normal to work around the last of the covid casculaties. The Truk Lagoon trip was set up in 2015 and took its first deposit in 2017.... originally scheduled for 2020 it was cancelled twice and now we are able to go.

In this episode Rich talks about his problems with time management and not saying "No" enough when projects come around. He also talks about the most epic of adventures, the total eclipse at White Star Quarry. He put together a weekend dive adventure that turned out to be one the most spectacular adventures ever.

Rich talks about the dive center and what has been happening over the last few months. He also talks about opening White Star Quarry early and a trip that he did in March to the Island of Utila. Rich also talks about upcoming podcast with a slight change in format and duration to see what you think.

We are chatting about scuba diving in the winter now that we are in a New Year with new diving opportunities. Rich talks about a dive in Salisbury Quarry off of private property, a winter, off season White Star Quarry Dive and more stuff going on. Rich also talks about a workshop for people to dive in the off season and work on their #12for12diver program.

In this episode Rich talks about his month in Bonaire teaching all levels of technical rebreather diving as well as spending time with his family. He also asks new divers and those people not sure they want to get into diving to comment on this program and talk about what is holding them back. Rich also talks about the "Facebook Brave" attitude some divers have on the internet when the lash out for no reasons and for malice. The pictures accompanying this podcast on youtube are from some dives with his family in Bonaire.

Rich is back from DEMA 2023 which returned to New Orleans for the first time in about two decades. He is excited to talk about some of the new products and things that he learned and is especially excited to talk about the Garmin Descent Mk3 dive computers that he has been product testing for nearly a year with his family.