The Recreational Diver’s Journey

I did not set out to be an author. I set out to make sense of scuba diving when I was new, and I kept running into the same problem: the honest, practical answers I wanted were scattered, buried in forums, or softened into marketing copy. Training courses gave me the basics. Other divers gave me tips. But no one gave me a clear, connected picture of what the journey from first breath to confident diver actually looked like.

When I finally got certified, I discovered how much I did not know. I made gear mistakes, rushed into classes I did not need, and learned important lessons the hard way. I also met instructors, mentors, and buddies who showed me what good diving looks like and how it feels to dive with people you trust. Those experiences changed how I dive and how I think about the sport.

These books grew out of that gap between what beginners are told and what they actually need to hear.

The Core Series

The Recreational Diver’s Journey traces the real path of a diver’s growth, from first breath to lifelong mastery. Each volume meets you at a specific stage and helps you move to the next with clarity and calm.

• The First Breath – An Honest Introduction to Recreational Scuba
• The Next Descent – A Practical Guide to Better Diving
• The Deeper Current – Expanding Skill and Confidence in New Waters
• The Safe Return – Judgment, Leadership, and the Philosophy of a Capable Diver
• The Quiet Depth – Health, Longevity, and the Habit of Lifelong Diving

Companion Guides

The companion books turn experience into application. They translate complex topics into usable insight and give divers clear, grounded tools they can act on immediately.

• Choosing Your Kit – A Hands-On Guide to Reliable Gear and Smart Setup
• Gas, Depth, and Time – The Practical Physics of Recreational Diving

Extensions & Reflections

The extension volumes look beyond skill toward perspective. They connect technical discipline and personal reflection, showing how diving can shape the way we think, lead, and live.

• Bridging the Depths – What Recreational Divers Can Learn from Technical Thinking
• Beneath the Surface – Starting Over, Slowing Down, and Seeing the World Differently

Coming Spring 2026

The First Breath

Subtitle: An Honest Introduction to Recreational Scuba

This is the book I wish I had before I signed up for my first class. It explains what scuba really involves and why the experience is both simpler and deeper than people expect. You will learn how training works, how to choose a good instructor, what gear actually matters, and how to think about risk without fear or hype. It is not written to convince you to dive. It is written to help you make an informed choice and start your journey with clarity instead of confusion.

Coming Spring 2027

The Next Descent

Subtitle: A Practical Guide to Better Diving

For divers who already have their certification but still feel like beginners. This book covers the first fifty dives when everything is new, from mastering buoyancy and breathing to building awareness and confidence underwater. It offers drills, checklists, and habits that turn scattered experience into real skill. You will learn how to become the kind of buddy others trust, how to pick early gear wisely, and how to dive with purpose instead of pressure. These are the dives where you stop surviving the water and start belonging in it.

Coming Spring 2028

The Deeper Current

Subtitle: Expanding Skill and Confidence in New Waters

Once comfort arrives, challenge follows. This volume is for divers who have mastered buoyancy and breathing and have become comfortable underwater and want to explore new environments without losing control or calm. It teaches how to handle current, cold, and night conditions, how to refine navigation, and how to plan safe travel dives. You will learn how to adjust to new gear setups, adapt to different boats and operators, and make decisions that balance curiosity with caution. The goal is steady competence anywhere you choose to dive.

Coming Spring 2029

The Safe Return

Subtitle: Judgment, Leadership, and the Philosophy of a Capable Diver

Eventually, skill alone is not enough. This book focuses on judgment, leadership, and resilience. It explains how divers make good or bad decisions, how to recognize pressure and ego before they cause problems, and how to mentor newer divers without overstepping. You will learn the principles of risk awareness, human factors, and effective rescue thinking that every experienced diver should understand. The Safe Return is about building wisdom and calm authority in the water, not collecting more cards.

Coming Spring 2030

The Quiet Depth

Subtitle: Health, Longevity, and the Habit of Lifelong Diving

Diving for life means taking care of yourself, your gear, and the places you dive. This closing volume looks at the habits that keep divers active for decades: physical fitness, medical awareness, equipment care, and a mindset of respect for every body of water. It also explores how to pass on experience through mentoring, photography, and quiet leadership in your community. The Quiet Depth is about staying curious, healthy, and connected so diving remains a source of purpose and balance for years to come.

Companion Guides

Coming Fall 2027

Choosing Your Kit

Subtitle: A Hands-On Guide to Reliable Gear and Smart Setup

Most divers buy gear before they truly understand it. Choosing Your Kit is a calm, experience-based guide to building a setup you can trust. It explains how each major piece of equipment really works, what matters in fit and performance, and how to avoid expensive mistakes. From regulators to fins, travel bags to tools, this book shows how to choose, use, and maintain the gear that makes diving simpler, safer, and more enjoyable for years to come.

Coming Fall 2028

Gas, Depth, and Time

Subtitle: The Practical Physics of Recreational Diving

You already feel physics on every dive, and this book helps you understand it. Gas, Depth, and Time translates pressure, buoyancy, and gas behavior into plain language and practical judgment. It connects what divers sense underwater, such as breathing effort, buoyancy shifts, and changing light, to the simple laws that cause them. Clear explanations and real-world examples replace math and jargon, giving recreational divers the confidence to plan dives, manage gas, and make decisions with calm precision.

Extensions & Reflections

Coming Fall 2029

Bridging The Depths

Subtitle: What Recreational Divers Can Learn from Technical Thinking

Most divers never see the line between recreational and technical diving, but they often feel its consequences. Bridging the Depths explains how the precision, discipline, and redundancy of technical diving can make any diver safer and more capable. It shows how planning, gas management, communication, and calm under pressure translate to everyday recreational dives. This is not a call to go deeper or stay longer. It is a guide to thinking clearly, preparing deliberately, and acting with the discipline of a professional, no matter your depth.

Coming Fall 2029

Coming Fall 2030

Beneath The Surface

Subtitle: Starting Over, Slowing Down, and Seeing the World Differently

Many divers come to the water later in life, when work, marriage, and experience have already shaped how they see the world. Beneath the Surface is part memoir and part field notebook, a look at what happens when someone used to pressure and speed learns to breathe slowly and accept the water on its terms. Through stories drawn from diving, a career spent managing cybersecurity and risk, and three decades of marriage to someone who sees life from the opposite angle, the book explores how clarity comes from understanding risk and acting within it. It is not about adventure or records; it is about calm, awareness, and starting over when most people think they are finished learning.

Why It Matters

Diving rewards patience, humility, and curiosity. The path is easier when you can see it clearly. These books are not about agency checklists or glossy resort stories. They describe the real progression of a diver learning to think, act, and decide underwater. If one of them helps you find a better instructor, make a smarter gear choice, or slow down when something feels wrong, it has done its job.