Author Archives: Drew

About Drew

My passion for the underwater world started when I was very young. I have been swimming since I could walk but I never learned to scuba dive until my late 20’s. I have had an interest in exploration for as long as I can remember and I’ve spent a great deal of time outdoors. I am an avid rock climber, hiker, backpacker and outdoorsman. My passion for scuba diving grew from a week long trip in Puerto Rico where Tina and I camped on a beach called “Playa Flamenco” on the north side of Isle Culebra. There was a beautiful coral reef just a short walk from our camp and we spent hours and hours exploring the reef and the amazing creatures that live there. Once I got home from the trip, I promptly signed up for open water scuba with PADI. From there I have had many adventures learning to be a better diver while exploring the amazing underwater world in lakes, oceans and rivers. My current Certifications are: Tech 1, Cave DPV, GUE Cave 2, Gue Cave 1, GUE DPV 1, GUE-Fundamentals Tech, Padi Open Water, Padi Advanced Open Water

GUE Tech 2-Chapter 12: The Wreck Of The Robert Kerr and Heading Home

December 4th 2021 I woke up feeling really good. I had gotten a good nights sleep, quite possibly the best I’d had in several weeks and on top of that, the BnB prepared a super delicious breakfast of yogurt with avocado toast. It was truly fantastic. On top of that, it had lightly snowed sometime during the night, which to… Read more »

GUE Tech 2-Chapter 11: The Final Dive

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December 3, 2021 Suffice to say I woke up feeling like hammered shit from very little sleep. I had been up for over 24 hours by the time I finally fell asleep the night before. Really this was just an extension of the day before with a few hours of what might be considered sleep smattered in. But I got… Read more »

GUE Tech 2-Chapter 10: Back To Reality

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November/December 2021 The days following my return from Canada, I had been contacting Kirill, Guy, and anyone else that I knew that could help me complete Tech 2. I only had 1 dive to go but there didn’t seem to be any real opportunity until maybe the following spring; and even that was up in the air. I was feeling… Read more »

GUE Tech 2-Chapter 9: A Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly-Day 6/7

October 30th, 2021 I woke up feeling great, I was well rested and ready to crush the last day. I think we were all ready to be done but the excitement of the last day superseded that feeling. And in truth I was feeling somewhat anxious about leading the last dive but I was looking forward to plunging one last… Read more »

GUE Tech 2-Chapter 8: The Thermocline-Day 5

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Friday, October 29th 2021 I woke up excited for the day but also very anxious. The weather was looking beautiful. The rain we had all week was long gone and the sun was already burning off the morning dew. Today would be our first experience dive and the first “real” Tech 2 dive, with real obligated deco. All the previous… Read more »

GUE Tech 2-Chapter 7: He is for Trimix-Day 4

If you think about it, the idea of adding helium to a compressed breathing gas mix seems pretty ingenious. It has a super low atomic mass so it’s far less dense than oxygen and nitrogen, it’s an inert gas, it’s easily soluble in the body which makes it good for perfusion, and it makes you talk funny under water. Seriously… Read more »

GUE Tech 2-Chapter 6: A Little Bit Deeper-Day 3

October 27, 2021 Day 3 already? I remember thinking as I ate my oatmeal and had some coffee. I was feeling good, rested, and healthy. I believe a big part of this was making sure I had energy dense yet “clean” foods to eat during the week. Salads for dinner with some kind of protein, snacks like nuts and fruits,… Read more »

GUE Tech 2-Chapter 5: Maple Bay-Day 2

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October 26, 2021 I woke up feeling rested which actually surprised me considering I have have struggled in previous classes to get good sleep and not have tons of anxiousness. I remarked to myself “Day 2 here we go”. I got out of bed and gathered my things in what now had become a routine. I made some Tim Hortons… Read more »

GUE Tech 2-Chapter 4: Maple Bay-Day 1

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October 25, 2021. I woke up before my alarm feeling rested and content. I was in a really good headspace despite feeling anxious and nervous about the week ahead. The stress of just getting to Vancouver to even start Tech 2 was long gone, and now I could focus on what needed to be done. Guy had mentioned the day… Read more »

GUE Tech 2-Chapter 3: Vancouver Island

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It was the morning of October 24th 2021, the day before Tech 2 was scheduled to begin. I slept great and I was well rested. It was really nice that I had a free day to relax with no real agenda but I did want to dive. During dinner the previous day, a few people had talked about going for… Read more »

GUE Tech 2-Chapter 2: Nanaimo

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I desperately needed to sleep.  I tried my best to turn my brain off but it just wasn’t happening.  I tossed and turned and got more annoyed as realized I had to be up in only a few hours.  At one point might have gotten an hour of actual sleep, but the rest was just dozing.  I was too hopped… Read more »

GUE Tech 2-Chapter 1: Canada Bound

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The Canadian boarder opened up just a few short weeks prior to my scheduled departure. Tech 2 was a go, however it wasn’t just a matter of hopping on a plane and showing up. During the days leading up to my flight, I had a checklist of things to accomplish, including to schedule a PCR test (required to fly internationally/enter… Read more »

GUE Tech 2-Grief and The Allure of The Pacific Northwest

The summer months following my decision to register for Tech 2 were mainly focused on preparation for the class and finalizing the dates with Guy, Jon, and Kelvin. We settled on October 25 to 30 2021, because the boarder was likely to be open by then. However even that seemed too soon and risky. Just when you thought things were… Read more »

GUE Tech 2-The Events Leading Up To…

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Since I started my journey in diving and my discovery of GUE in 2013, I’ve always viewed Tech 2 as the pinnacle of GUE dive training. Sure, one could argue that PSCR (RB80) and CCR2 are widely considered capstone courses in the GUE curriculum, but as far as open circuit diving goes, Tech 2 is probably it. And to be… Read more »

Dive Training, Mentors and New Challenges

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I have been diving a lot, but also it’s been a whirlwind of training the past 4 years.  Much of my desire to get more training has to do with being confident to take on bigger dives,  utilizing more gear,  and wanting to see new things.  Also the way that most GUE classes are structured,   is that most of… Read more »

What’s up with the gloves dude?

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You may have seen some cave divers wearing fingerless gloves and wondered what the purpose of them is.  Do they protect our hands from the sharp rocks or  do we do it just to look cool?   Someone actually asked me why I wear gloves while I was at peacock not too long ago,  and I had to stop and… Read more »

NSS-CDS Cave DPV Class: Part 3-Scootering Manatee Springs

I woke up much more refreshed after getting to bed early and  having a reasonably good night’s sleep.  It was Sunday September 30th 2018, the last day of DPV Cave with Dan Patterson.  We were to meet him at 7:30 in front of Manatee Springs State park, which is located about 40 minutes Southwest of High Springs,  near the town… Read more »

NSS-CDS Cave DPV Class: Part 2- Scootering In Ginnie

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NSS-CDS Cave DPV class with Dan Patterson was scheduled on Friday September 28th through Sunday the 30th. The week  prior to class went by  fast, because both of Tina and I were  very busy at work. One thing that I hadn’t really taken into consideration when buying scooters, was how to get them,  and all the other gear into the… Read more »

Purchasing Scooters and NSS-CDS Cave DPV Class: Part 1

I took GUE DPV 1 May 2018,  which certified me to use a scooter in open water but not in an overhead environment. That being said, I have less interest in scootering in open water than I have in caves for now. So  the real goal  even back in May, was to get cave DPV certified in the near future…. Read more »

A Dive in Peacock III

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We’ve been wanting to dive Peacock III or P3 as it’s called for quite some time.  This cave system is adjacent to Peacock I  or P1, in Peacock springs state park in North Florida.  It’s considered a more advanced cave dive because of a number of factors. First, the system often siphons, which means it gently sucks you into the… Read more »