The Great Dive Podcast

If schooners, islands and maroons, and Jasmine incense are your thing… then this episode is for you, me boy! Join the bootie-seeking, scallywags of TGDP on this look at the love affair of pirates and divers.

After a weekend of weather changes and allergies, the boys ran into a few divers with ear clearing troubles. Equalizing the ears is an overlooked art that many divers force into working. Learn from these stories before you find yourself with MEBT!

This time on Sealab, things don’t go so well. 100 Fathoms below the surface, when you are at 600fsw and you have problems it’s never a good day. Join Jamesy and Brando as they finish this little series about Sealab.

Leaving the warmer waters of Bermuda, Jamesy and Brando join Scott Carpenter and the other aquanauts 205 feet underwater off Scripps Canyon near La Jolla, California. Sealab 2 was bigger, better and lasted longer than the previous mission/experiment/war….

After George Bond’s famous Blow and Go from Episode 125, he started working on a new project that would have Americans living and working on the bottom of the ocean. This project would be come Sealab. Jamesy and Brando take a dip to join them on this incredible experiment.

Join your buddies from TGDP as they take a twilight zone trip with Papa Topside to make an Emergency Swimming Ascent from 300FSW. If you don’t laugh… Bad Things Happen!

Be honest, have you ever made any of these photography mistakes? James and Brando even admit to a few. Plus the boys discuss other photography crimes and classic mistakes.

Join James and Brando as they continue to celebrate "Shark Week" with a "Lesson For Life" that comes from a chance encounter with (as you would expect) a shark. This week also includes the much awaited return of "Shark Johnson". So sit back and have a listen to this episode of The Great Dive Podcast!

Shark Week starts tomorrow and TGDP kicks it off with a big bite! We take a trip to the land down under to jam with the Thunderbirds and take a swim with seals and sharks. Like they say down there, “You better pack your darkies if you’re going to swim with the sharkies.”

What is the #1 way divers die? Is it a skill issue? A mental issue? Ego? What is the difference in the mindset of a diver who dies while attempting to break the deep diver record, compared to a diver pushing their own personal limits with ego and ignorance?

Hey divers!! We have a fun one this week! Join Jamesy & Brando as we get in touch with our inner hippies and talk about astrology and scuba diving! We'll have special guest star Alayna from KOXY Radio's "AstroHo's" show guide us through the zodiac for diving! This is a fun one you're sure to enjoy... as long as you're not an over-sensitive Cancer or a Pisces with a Scorpio in Uranus.... ahahaha!

Breathe Deep… Even the most skilled divers can fall victim to panic. Jamesy and Brando recall a couple of their own moments of panic underwater and try to keep cool in the presence of clowns.

Coming from the land of the ice and snow, Jamesy and Brando plunge into a dark dive that leads to a sad fatality for a father and son dive team. What happens when the reality of your experience mixes with your good intentions of instructing someone when you’re not an instructor?

Summer is finally here, and we have your Scuba Catastrophe Survival Guide ready for your listening pleasure. Panicked Buddy! Getting Lost! Trapped! Your Computer Conks Out!! Alexa, what do I do about this shark bite? We have the answers for you.

This one is pure gold.... sit back and let this week's stream bathe your ears like a warm waterfall of relief. We tackle the always important yet rarely discussed topic of peeing in your wetsuit. Is it disgusting or is it a dire necessity? You decide as we discuss this topic as well as give a heartfelt apology to one of our dear listeners who we may have offended by confusing their name. There is...

After sharing their congratulations from PADI for 20 years of service, the TGDP boys get into a discussion about the dive tables. Are they obsolete? In todays age of dive computers and custom profiles, are the old tables wrong??

Keeping up to date on current affairs, the boys have a talk about the recent deaths at the top of Mt. Everest. There are many similarities to diving and goal-oriented diving in particular. Why do we dive? Is it for the log book or is it a spiritual achievement? Is there a bigger Mt. Everest inside of us?

The boys jump into a long-awaited topic and discuss an article by Gareth Lock, author of the new book Under Pressure. This episode takes a deeper look at decision making and the value of situational awareness, biases and heuristics, and other ways that Gareth helps us think about improving our diving.

If the boys at TGDP had $1 for every time they heard this story, TGDP would be living the sweet life down in the islands and broadcasting from the beach. It's another Lesson For Life as the local diving season kicks off.

This week we wrap up our three part series on how the scuba community nearly became yet another bureaucratic tax driven revenue system controlled by our "lords and masters" at city hall in Los Angeles during the mid 1970's. Thankfully divers united and fought against the tyranny and achieved a small victory for our freedom. We need to continue our vigilance through education and awareness and list...

To quote George Santayana, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." So listen and learn and keep your freedom! The boys continue their dive into Scuba history as they venture further into the true story of how Scuba was almost a government controlled police state dictatorship... Fill your head with some good stuff!

As divers, we've all been taught that here in the US, Scuba is a "self regulated" sport and the government does not really oversee how we train and dive in the recreational side of our beloved activity. But it wasn't always this way... in fact, it was a close call in 1975 when big government wanted to get their greedy hands in the pockets of divers and save us all from ourselves. Thankfully, a few...

As Earth Day approaches, the boys try something different on TGDP. This week they look at the ecological side of diving; cleaning up the litter and saving our planet. Do they do it with government intervention, while wearing speedos, with the help of Narwhals? You’ll have to tune in to find out. So, take your Xanax and listen to this “Prescription for the Planet.”

The boys respond to a negative comment about TGDP and then they discuss the problems with the buddy system. Join them as they take a look back at nearly 50 years of the dive buddy.

The boys take a look at BSAC's very comprehensive "Safe Diver's Guide" on their website. Have a listen!!