Greetings

My absolute favourite quote is from Carl Sagan’s “Pale Blue Dot.”

“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”

It is both a chilling indictment and an unparalleled call to action for all Humans Being.

Upon that pale blue dot, in the remains of an ancient meteor impact crater, a lake has formed at the edge of the Canadian Shield at the Manitoba-Ontario border.  Divers congregate at this ancient site for it’s proximity to civilization and relatively clear depths.

In August of 1988, at West Hawk Lake, I was certified as an Open Water Diver.  I had always been fascinated with the aquatic realm, but it took the encouragement of a fellow University student to get me started on the basic course.

The very next weekend following certification we were back out at the lake and I never looked back.  As winter closed in, I took my advanced course in the driving snow.  It was fitting as I was doing the Advanced just so I could take the Ice Diver Specialty once the lake had frozen-over.

SCUBA gave me a purpose and set me on a path I still tread 28+ years later.  Some people plan their journey, but I have been the slowly rolling stone in the vagaries of life’s current.

As a Dive Industry professional, I have had the profound honour of introducing new divers to a brave new world.  I’ve had the chance to work in a dive store and to see the equipment design and manufacturing processes.

During this time, Tech diving has emerged from the shadowy depths into the bright sunny-glare of everyday participation.  Much is yet to be done, seen and experienced.  Join me on this journey for as long as our paths converge.