Free Descent

It's a new year, and we are planning the best 12 months yet! We ring in 2024 with goalsetting for not only ourselves, but the pod of course! Our community plays a huge part in our podcast goals, so don't forget to participate in our merchandise competition! To win, you have to: 

- Follow us on Instagram

- Like and share the post about this show

- Comment your goals and tag a friend on the post

- Subscribe to the pod on Apple or Spotify 

- Listen to Dive 23 to find out if you've won!

~Reminder~ Free Descent is intended as entertainment, and not to replace formal dive instruction. Always dive within the limits of your training and experience, and listen to the instructions of your divemasters and instructors. Stay safe, and have fun out there!

Dive 21 is CHOCK FULL of the hottest (and coldest) dive discussions! Women in diving, women in management, social media, Canadian diving, military diving, dos and don'ts of ice diving, GEAR, travel, instructing, community building, AND MORE! Join us as we give Myles a proper send-off into her next adventure (0:00 - 12:45) and we chat with April Weickert, manager at Torpedo Rays Scuba in Halifax, Nova Scotia and star of Jump In; and Josh Hustins, Canadian Navy diver and PADI Instructor at Torpedo Rays Scuba (12:45 - 1:04:10). We wrap up with a couple of exciting announcements and looking ahead to 2024. 

We made it to Dive 20! To celebrate, we share our gift guide for divers and those who love us (00:36-11:30), then chat with our favorite recurring guests, Dani DiLorenzo and Alysha Acosta about their amazing experience in Malaysia competing to become Miss Scuba International (11:30-46:00), and then cap it all off with the First Annual Dive Flag Awards!

Jake's photo prints are available at: www.jakesdiveshack.darkroom.com

Scuba Queen USA 2024 applications are coming up soon, stay up to date by following them on Instagram at @scubaqueenusa!

Find Free Descent on Instagram @FreeDescentPodcast

~Reminder~ 

Free Descent is intended only as entertainment, and not to replace any formal dive instruction. Always follow the direction of your divemasters and instructors, and dive within the limits of your training and experience. Stay safe, and have fun out there!

Jake and Myles just got back from DEMA and are JAZZED (bad New Orleans joke) to tell you about it! Also hear about Myles' most recent GIRL DIVES (she jumped back in the water as soon as she got home). Finally, hear the tell-all about the DEMA show floor, the after parties, and DEMA 2025 HERE! Bonus: listen to short interviews from some of the amazing people and organizations we had the pleasure of meeting!

This week's episode is exclusively about the Modoc, the ship of the Earthrace conservation that ventured among the Chinese Overseas Fleet of squid fishing vessels to film documentary footage highlighting the global overfishing problem. 

We interview Jack Bundle and Josh Martin, two crewmembers of the Modoc, about how they got involved with Earthrace, their experiences working on the boat, and what life was like day-to-day. (0:30-36:30). We then talk to Captain Pete Bethune, the captain of the Modoc, about the genesis of the project, the operation of getting the film crew aboard one of the fishing vessels, and how the documentary footage was shot. (36:35-59:38)

Note - this episode does include descriptions which may be troubling to some listeners. Please listen with a note of understanding that fishing, especially commercial fishing, can be a dangerous business. 

~Reminder~

Free Descent is intended as entertainment, and not to replace formal dive instruction. Always follow the instructions of your dive instructors and divemasters. Stay safe, and have fun out there!

Jake is in Hawaii for a wedding and diving all over Oahu! Jake has also been made a Dive with Buddy ambassador. We also talk about Myles' most recent dives, and what we're looking forward to at DEMA! (0:35-13:40)

Then, Scuba Queen CA Alysha Acosta joins us to talk about her journey, the importance of bringing equity to diving, and what she's looking forward to as Miss Scuba International kicks off in a couple weeks!

~Reminder~

Just in time for Sharktober, we chat with David McGuire about the race to save sharks and what sharks mean to our oceans and our above-water world (0:36-24:40). We then sit down with shark attack survivor Maria Korcsmaros, who tells us her story of attack, survival, and advocacy (24:45-53:10). 

RESOURCES: 

Shark Stewards: www.sharkstewards.org

Run4Sharks: www.run4sharks.org

Maria's Story: https://voyagela.com/interview/meet-maria-korcsmaros-of-newport-beach-long-beach/

~Reminder~

Free Descent is intended as entertainment, and not to replace formal dive instruction. Always dive within the limits of your training and experience, and follow the direction of your divemasters and instructors. Stay safe, and have fun out there!

Jake is back! He shares his thoughts on his amazing liveaboard diving trip to Indonesia's Forgotten Islands, including how he got through some of his jetlag, changing money, the benefits of a liveaboard trip, and how adjusting to time zones is going. If you haven't listened already, this is a great complementary episode to Dives 14 and 15, so check those out as well!

~Reminder~

Free Descent is for entertainment, and not intended to replace formal dive instruction. Always listen to your divemasters and instructors, and remember to dive within the limits of your training and experience. Have fun out there and be safe!

Jake and Myles have a more casual discussion about how diving makes them feel during fun dives, classes, and solo dives. End of the story, diving probably isn't cheaper than therapy, but it's still our preferred way to process life! 

**Reminder** Free Descent is intended as entertainment, and not as a replacement for formal dive instruction. Always follow the instructions of your divemasters and instructors, and remember to dive within the limits of your training and experience. Be safe, and have fun out there!

We've crossed the six-month mark of Free Descent, and to celebrate, Myles and Jake talk about the trips they've been on and are planning for. Myles just got back from Hawaii, and Jake is headed for a liveaboard trip in Indonesia. We talk packing, prepping, gear to bring or leave at home, and Myles' tragic tale of woe at the Tijuana Airport. If you've got travel tips, tricks, or stories, share them at @freedescentpodcast on Instagram!

**Reminder** Free Descent is intended as entertainment, and not as a replacement for formal dive instruction. Always follow the instructions of your divemasters and instructors, and remember to dive within the limits of your training and experience. Be safe, and have fun out there!