Scuba Diving on Midway Island.

Sound Scene Tour of cave diving the Rivera Maya: In this milestone 25th episode of Pod Diver Radio, Joe and Rescue Diver Rachel kick things off with a debrief from Joe's first big cave expedition to Mexico's Riviera Maya. Strap on your doubles and follow an immersive sound-scene tour through legendary cenote systems like Car Wash, Tortuga, Maya Blue, and Nohoch as Joe navigates jungle tracks, gate keys, machetes, and crocodile rumors to reach some of the most decorated cave passages on the planet. You'll hear in-water impressions of buoyancy challenges, line work, stage drops, and what makes Mexican cave diving so different logistically (and financially) from Florida systems—plus why every serious cave diver needs to experience the Riviera Maya at least once. Back topside, Joe and Rachel dig into listener email on HID primary lights, raising smart questions about battery chemistry, cost, longevity, and safe disposal—setting up a future tech follow-up with manufacturers. The episode also features a shark photography workshop invite with Donald Tipton and Shark Research Institute at Stuart Cove's, tying blue-water big animal encounters into the tech diver mindset. If you love overhead environments, gear talk, and being "in the water" with the storyteller, this deep-cut archive episode is a perfect hit of classic Pod Diver Radio.

In this extended Pod Diver Radio episode, host Joe Cocozza sits down in what feels like a private shipwreck museum—wreck diving legend Richie Kohler's own home. Surrounded by engine order telegraphs, compasses, wheels and a six-foot model of U-869, Richie traces a lifetime of hardcore wreck diving, artifact hunting, and the stories behind the gear pulled up from the bottom. Richie shares the inside story of his History Channel "Deep Sea Detectives" days and the ambitious expedition to RMS Titanic aboard the Russian research vessel Keldysh. He takes us into the cramped MIR sub, two and a half miles down, to "have lunch on Titanic" and search for never-before-seen wreckage that challenged old assumptions about how the ship broke apart and sank. We also geek out on tech: deep HID lighting in zero ambient light, the evolution from lantern-style halogen cans to compact HID systems, and what it's like to work with Woods Hole cameras and $80,000 deep-sea lights. Richie then pivots to Loch Ness, the Great Lakes, cave diving in Florida, CCR cave training, and his upcoming Dive Portal video magazine projects—from Blue Hole 400 ft dives to exotic and local destinations alike. If you're into wrecks, tech, history, and hard-earned experience from one of the most respected names in diving, this long-form conversation is pure gold.

In this special crossover episode of Pod Diver Radio, host Joe Cocozza sits down with world champion freediver Martin Stepanek to explore how elite breath-hold techniques can benefit CCR and technical divers. Martin shares his journey from Czech pool sprints with a monofin to setting seven world records, including 80 m (267 ft) constant weight without fins, 102 m (≈341 ft) free immersion, 136 m (≈460 ft) variable ballast, and an 8-minute-06-second static apnea. Martin explains how he and his partner Mandy-Rae built Performance Freediving into an international education system, blending pranayama-style breathing, mental training, and hard data from researchers at Simon Fraser and Harvard Medical. He breaks down practical tools CCR and tech divers can apply right away: CO₂ tolerance, breath control, reading early hypoxia signs (loss of color, tunnel vision), buddy protocols, and why you should never push limits alone in a pool or hot tub. Whether you dive closed-circuit rebreathers, open-circuit trimix, or you're just CCR-curious, this episode shows how structured freediving training can sharpen your awareness, improve gas management, and make you a safer, more relaxed technical diver. Stay to the end for a preview of our upcoming episodes with Karl Shreeves (PADI DSAT) on fitness for technical divers, Dr. Bruce Wienke on the RGBM decompression model, and a breakdown of the KISS rebreather.

PD19: Underwater filmmaker Don Tipton, discusses the techniques on how to photograph sharks. Don also talks about Shark Research Int and Stuarts Cove.

Episode Description Attention deck divers, wreck divers, cave divers, freedivers and other creatures of deep water—this one's for you. In this episode of Pod Diver Radio, host Joe Cocozza takes you on a sound-scene tour of a classic North Florida cave diving trip, recorded on the road and underground in the springs country. Joe kicks things off back in the Jagermeer Studios in New Jersey with Rescue Diver Rachel, explaining the "hardcore diver" mindset and what Pod Diver Radio is all about: technical diving, mixed gas, wrecks, caves, cold-water die-hards, and passionate scuba geeks. They talk show format, back episodes, Pod Diver TV, and why New Jersey New Year's Day dives with ice on your mask definitely qualify as "hardcore." Then we head south to Lauraville, Florida, and drop into a week of cave diving: Setting up at Cave Excursions and warming up at Telford Multiple dives at Peacock Springs / Orange Grove / Olson Sink Gear, gas fills, reels, cookies, jumps and real-world cave planning A drift and cave day at Ginnie Springs through the Devil's Eye / Devil's Ear system Along the way Joe and his buddies talk through dive plans, gas thirds, navigation, and the feel of Florida karst—Swiss-cheese limestone walls, duckweed-covered sinks, and crystal-clear water—plus the critters you meet underground and in the river: albino cave crayfish, turtles, perch and pike. On site at Peacock Springs, Joe grabs an impromptu interview with Ralph De Panfilo of the NSS-CDS (National Speleological Society – Cave Diving Section). Ralph shares how he went from California kelp to Florida caves, what drew him into more than 800 cave dives, the mission of NSS-CDS, and why organized training, conservation, and access are critical if we want to keep cave sites open for future divers. Finally, Joe and Rachel pull the long-awaited winner of the Donald Tipton coffee-table book "Upon the Face of the Waters"—a celebration of large marine mammals and underwater photography—and wrap up with reminders to email in, check out Pod Diver TV, and download those back episodes. If you're into cave diving, tech training, Florida springs or just the culture of hardcore divers, this episode puts you right in the truck, at the fill station, and under the limestone with the team. Dive long, dive hard, dive deep—be a Pod Diver. *]:pointer-events-auto scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]" dir="auto" tabindex="-1" data-turn-id= "36be5f2f-53c5-4e89-913a-ac40bc9fdba3" data-testid= "conversation-turn-8" data-scroll-anchor="true" data-turn= "assistant">

Tim O'Leary Director of Technical Diving for NAUI. Peter Ready of STEAM MACHINES, maker of the Prizm Topaz rebreather.

n this two-segment episode of Pod Diver Radio, we blend cutting-edge decompression theory with real-world tech diving gear and introduce a new voice to the show. First, we go full decompression geek with physicist Dr. Bruce Wienke of Los Alamos National Laboratory, the mind behind the Reduced Gradient Bubble Model (RGBM). Bruce explains how bubble mechanics changed the way tech divers plan deco, why deep stops became standard in technical training, and how modern dive computers and tables are built from massive datasets instead of "bend 'em and mend 'em" sheep experiments. We wrap with a look inside the KISS Classic and KISS Sport rebreathers from Jetsam Technologies. Electronics guru Dave Dillabough breaks down the KISS philosophy—mechanical constant-flow O₂, diver-driven PO₂ control, triple independent cell displays, integrated bailout, and trimix-capable diluent setups in a travel-friendly package. If you care about RGBM, deep stops, and robust closed-circuit design, this episode is pure tech diver candy.

In this episode of Pod Diver Radio, Joe sits down with PADI Vice President of Technical Development Karl Shreeves to talk about the one piece of "equipment" tech divers too often ignore: their own bodies and brains. Karl draws on decades of experience—from deep wrecks like the Monitor to exploratory cave projects in Mexico and cold, dark Missouri systems—to break down what it really takes to be a safe, effective technical diver as you get older and busier with life. They dig into: Why fitness is a decompression variable and how strength + cardio training improve your margin for error How aging divers can rebuild capacity with resistance training, smart cardio, and sane nutrition The role of diet, body fat, and smoking in decompression stress and long-term dive health The crucial mental skill in tech diving: discipline—knowing when to say no to a dive, even after big travel and time investments Real-world stories of calling a 300 ft cave dive and shutting down a sketchy live-boat plan despite peer pressure Why every serious cave and tech team should live by "any diver can call any dive, any time, for any reason" Whether you're a cave diver pushing scooters and stages, or a wreck diver thinking about your first trimix course, this episode is a blueprint for keeping your head, heart, and muscles in the game for the long haul.