Advertise on podcast: The Great Dive Podcast

Thankfully the Great Dive Podcast has gone back to their roots and abandoned "ye olde pirate b******t"! This week the boys begin a discussion on the genesis and evolution of the DIR approach to diving. Sparked by UTD's Podcast where Ben Bos Gyldenvang interviews two diving legends in the DIR world, BIll Mee and Dan Volker, about the beginnings of DIR diving and the early days of the WKPP, the boys cover the early days of Tech and Cave diving and how DIR was birthed out of the necessity of a systematic approach to diving that can begin on day one of Scuba 101 and grow with the diver as the diver continues to explore more complex and challenging environments. This is part one of what will be a multi part series on this topic. Have a listen!!

In honor of "Talk Like A Pirate Day", the boys retell the story of Roaring Dan Seavey. But what does this have to do with diving and diving instruction you aks? Well, you are going to have to listen to find out if there is anything to do with diving in this week's episode of The Great Dive Podcast!

This week the boys go deep, 50m deep, in Lake Michigan and discuss another deep air fatality. How long will it take for the scuba world to learn this lesson? There is a common thread amongst these deaths, they are not isolated occurrences.

A dropped fin upon exiting the water via ladder. What can something so simple and common teach us about ourselves as diving and how we dive? How we learn diving? How diving is taught? Join the boys as they discuss a short story and what can be learned through the lens of Human Factors In Diving. Have a listen!!

This week Jamesy and Brando go back in time to Jan 2026 to the Thunder Bay International Film Festival. Join us as we sit down with Cal Straub and Kathy Johnson and discuss some not so usual parts of diving the Great Lakes.

The Great Dive Podcast - Episode 473 - The Great Dive Podcast Is Not For Everyone by Brando & James

WARNING!! This podcast contains NAUGHTY language!! If your ears are too sensitive, if you are easily offended, if you need a safe space, if you are confused and require ridiculous pronouns to be used by people to address you, if you are thin skinned or just want to talk about pretty butterflies and rainbows then please find something else to listen to because this episode may hurt your feelings. The boys review some listener mails and revisit their most popular episode, "Cayman Cowboys" (Episode 71).

This week the boys get back to complaining. Not complaining themselves but have a conversation about it and what it's all worth. And Brando tells his favorite joke, but it has a moral to the story.

The boys sit down at the Thunder Bay International Film Festival with a few buys from the film showcasing Warfighter Scuba.

This week the boys read some listener feedback.... and continue whining. What are they whining about you ask? Have a listen and find out!!

Last week, Jamesy and Brando coined a new word in the TGDP Lexicon, Sculture. This week the boys dive deeper into that idea of scuba culture. Sculture, if you will. What are we doing? What do we believe in? Is the idea to certify as many humans as possible just to make money? Or should we be building something better?

Does (at least) part of the issue with Scuba education and practice lie in the culture of Scuba diving? Some aspects of our Scuba culture (Sculture) seem to promote quantity over quality. Whether it is certifications or depth, the emphasis seems to be on high numbers vs. high quality of the diver doing the dive. Agencies incentivize high numbers of certifications by awarding "Elite Instructor" status (LMAO!) to instructors based on speed and numbers of students certified. This is an achievement that can only be accomplished by prioritizing speed of training (to get more numbers) over quality of training. The two are mutually exclusive. Quality takes time. It takes time because it takes work. Anything of value takes work and therefore time. An instructor with 100 dives under their belt is only going to make divers with that level (or worse) of competency. Couple this with the glorification of the depth achievement over the glorification of the quality and proper execution of the dive is also contributing towards the degradation of our Scuba culture with the constant attention to depth rather than the overall quality of the diver and the proper approach and execution of the dive. Too many people want the T-shirt without doing the hard work. Have a listen!!

James and Brando start talking about a recent weekend teaching the UTD Essentials class to a couple of scuba professionals. This class is hard, but not because of the difficult skills or impossible expectations. It’s hard because it requires humility and intention, rather than learning and doing random skills underwater. Check it out.

The boys wrap up International Cave Diving Month with some final words. What can the recreational diving community learn from the Cave Diving community? Have a listen!

What possibly could be the downside of focusing education on quantity vs focusing on the quality of the education? This week the boys explore the idea of a quantity vs. quality approach to educating the scuba world. Have a listen!