First published in 2007, the Diving Almanac celebrates the achievements of a unique group of people that share a passion for underwater adventure and discovery. Ten years later, the Diving Almanac has become the world’s only central body of information for diving records, personalities and history, and it is 100% FREE.
First underwater colony
By Jeffrey Gallant
1963 — Conshelf II (France). Seven divers lived underwater off Sha’ab Rumi (Sudan) in the Red Sea for one month under the supervision of Jacques-Yves Cousteau. The colony [...]
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First aquanaut (Men)
By Jeffrey Gallant
1962 — Robert Sténuit | Man-in-the-Sea I project by Edwin A. Link. Sténuit spent 24 hours and 15 minutes in a submersible decompression chamber (SDC) at a depth of 61 m (200 ft) [...]
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LINK, Edwin Albert
By Jeffrey Gallant
Engineer; oceanologist; pilot; industrialist; led archaeological expeditions in the Mediterranean; designed submersible decompression chambers; designed the submersible [...]
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First documented case of hydrogen psychosis
By Jeffrey Gallant
Capt Steve Zissou suffered from the debilitating effects of Crazy Eye after witnessing the demise of his diving companion and partner, Esteban du Plantier [...]
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Commeinhes develops open-circuit scuba
By Jeffrey Gallant
[ 1937 ] The first model of a two-cylinder open-circuit breathing apparatus with demand regulator is developed by Georges Commeinhes for [...]
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FALCO, Albert
By Jeffrey Gallant
Longtime captain of Cousteau’s flagship Calypso; expedition leader; made his first open-circuit dives at Sormiou with the Commeinhes apparatus in 1942; world’s first multi-day [...]
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First manned underwater habitat (Multi-day)
By Jeffrey Gallant
1962 | Conshelf I (France) — Albert Falco and Claude Wesly became the world’s first multi-day aquanauts by spending seven days in the Diogenes [...]
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HAWKES, Graham
By Jeffrey Gallant
President of Hawkes Ocean Technologies (HOT), inventor; engineer; designed the Deep Rover research submersibles, and the Deep Flight series of winged submersibles [...]
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COUSTEAU, Jacques-Yves
By Jeffrey Gallant
Diving pioneer, visionary, and inventor; world-famous underwater explorer and advocate for the environment; prolific author and film [...]
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EARLE, Sylvia, Ph.D.
By Jeffrey Gallant
Scientist; aquanaut; author; public speaker; multiple record holder including the Deepest dive in one-atmosphere suit and the Deepest solo submersible dive; led the first all-female [...]
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Clearest water
By Jeffrey Gallant
80 m (262 ft) or the approximate visibility of distilled water. A few locations are claimed to equal the visibility of distilled water, including the Weddell Sea (Antarctica), New Zealand’s [...]
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Deepest dive on scuba (Ocean | Men)
By Jeffrey Gallant
332.35 m (1,090 ft) — Ahmed Gabr (Egypt), Dahab, Egypt, September 18, 2014. Time to descend to 335 m (1,100 ft) was 14 minutes but the actual [...]
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ZISSOU, Steve, Capt.
By Jeffrey Gallant
Fictional oceanographer and diver from Wes Anderson's cult film The Life Aquatic; disgruntled leader of Team Zissou; Captain of the research vessel Belafonte; suffered from Crazy Eye [...]
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Slowest fish
By Jeffrey Gallant
Dwarf seahorse (Hippocampus zosterae) — 152 cm per hour (0.001 km/h) or 60 in. per hour (0.0009 mph). Size: 4.2 cm (1.7 in). The dwarf seahorse swims in an upright position using its [...]
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Deepest shipwreck ever found
By Jeffrey Gallant
6,220 m (20,406 ft) — USS Johnston (DD-557), Philippine Sea. On October 30, 2019, Paul Allen's Vulcan Inc. announced the discovery of the deepest [...]
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BARTH, Robert A.
By Jeffrey Gallant
Retired United States Navy Chief Warrant Officer; saturation diver; helped establish U.S. Navy dive tables; joined the Naval Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU) Genesis habitat program [...]
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Most dangerous seal
By Jeffrey Gallant
The leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) — Leopard seals live around the pack ice in Antarctica where they hunt penguins and other seals. They are the only seal species that feeds on [...]
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First underwater self-portrait (selfie?)
By Jeffrey Gallant
1893 — Louis Boutan took an underwater self-portrait at a depth of 3 m (10 ft) using a camera known as the Detective which he inserted [...]
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Deepest saturation dive (Experimental)
By Jeffrey Gallant
701 msw (2,300 fsw) — COMEX Hydra 10, Hyperbaric Experimental Centre, Marseille, France, 1992. The dive protocol required a four-week [...]
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Coldest seawater
By Jeffrey Gallant
Seawater with an average salinity of 35 ppt (parts per thousand) freezes at -1.94°C (28.5°F). The coldest seawater ever recorded at −2.6 °C (27.3 °F) was found in a stream under [...]
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First saturation dive under polar ice
By Jeffrey Gallant
Jim English (Memorial University, Canada) and Bob Wicklund (Manager Hydrolab, USA) — Arctic IV Expedition led by Dr. Joe MacInnis in Resolute Bay [...]
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Deepest saturation dive (Openwater)
By Jeffrey Gallant
534 m (1,752 ft) — COMEX Hydra 8, Hyperbaric Experimental Centre, Marseille, France, 1988. Breathing a gas mixture of hydro-heliox, it [...]
More
PARRY, Zale
By Jeffrey Gallant
Underwater actress and stuntwoman (Sea Hunt, Kingdom of the Sea, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea); photographer; writer; first woman to descend below 200 ft (209 ft / 64 m – 1954) [...]
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Under ice (Constant weight)
By Jeffrey Gallant
75.2 m (246.72 ft) — Ant Williams (New Zealand), Storskog Lake, Sør-Varanger, Norway, March 29, 2019. Total dive time: 2 min 40 sec. [...]
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The records chapter showcases over 650 underwater feats and firsts by humans, machines and animals. If you are looking for the world’s deepest scuba diver, freediver, fish or submersible, they’re all here. The 16 categories include scuba diving, freediving, submersibles, oceanography, biology, and underwater art.
First underwater colony
By Jeffrey Gallant
1963 — Conshelf II (France). Seven divers lived underwater off Sha’ab Rumi (Sudan) in the Red Sea for one month under the supervision of Jacques-Yves Cousteau. The colony [...]
Read More
First aquanaut (Men)
By Jeffrey Gallant
1962 — Robert Sténuit | Man-in-the-Sea I project by Edwin A. Link. Sténuit spent 24 hours and 15 minutes in a submersible decompression chamber (SDC) at a depth of 61 m (200 ft) [...]
Read More
First maneuverable research submersible
By Jeffrey Gallant
The Diving Saucer DS-1 (Soucoupe plongeante SP-300) — Jacques-Yves Cousteau and engineer Jacques Mollard began designing small submersibles [...]
Read More
First documented case of hydrogen psychosis
By Jeffrey Gallant
Capt Steve Zissou suffered from the debilitating effects of Crazy Eye after witnessing the demise of his diving companion and partner, Esteban du Plantier [...]
Read More
First manned underwater habitat (Multi-day)
By Jeffrey Gallant
1962 | Conshelf I (France) — Albert Falco and Claude Wesly became the world’s first multi-day aquanauts by spending seven days in the Diogenes [...]
Read More
Deepest submersible dive (Solo | Women)
By Jeffrey Gallant
1,000 m (3,280 ft) — Dr. Sylvia Earle (United States). Achieved aboard the Deep Rover submersible off the coast of California in 1985 [...]
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Deepest dive in one-atmosphere suit (Women)
By Jeffrey Gallant
381 m (1,250 ft) — Dr. Sylvia Earle walked untethered on the sea floor in a JIM Suit at the depth of 381 m (1,250 ft) for [...]
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Clearest water
By Jeffrey Gallant
80 m (262 ft) or the approximate visibility of distilled water. A few locations are claimed to equal the visibility of distilled water, including the Weddell Sea (Antarctica), New Zealand’s [...]
Read More
Deepest dive on scuba (Ocean | Men)
By Jeffrey Gallant
332.35 m (1,090 ft) — Ahmed Gabr (Egypt), Dahab, Egypt, September 18, 2014. Time to descend to 335 m (1,100 ft) was 14 minutes but the actual [...]
Read More
Slowest fish
By Jeffrey Gallant
Dwarf seahorse (Hippocampus zosterae) — 152 cm per hour (0.001 km/h) or 60 in. per hour (0.0009 mph). Size: 4.2 cm (1.7 in). The dwarf seahorse swims in an upright position using its [...]
Read More
Deepest shipwreck ever found
By Jeffrey Gallant
6,220 m (20,406 ft) — USS Johnston (DD-557), Philippine Sea. On October 30, 2019, Paul Allen's Vulcan Inc. announced the discovery of the deepest [...]
Read More
Most dangerous seal
By Jeffrey Gallant
The leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) — Leopard seals live around the pack ice in Antarctica where they hunt penguins and other seals. They are the only seal species that feeds on [...]
Read More
First underwater self-portrait (selfie?)
By Jeffrey Gallant
1893 — Louis Boutan took an underwater self-portrait at a depth of 3 m (10 ft) using a camera known as the Detective which he inserted [...]
Read More
Deepest saturation dive (Experimental)
By Jeffrey Gallant
701 msw (2,300 fsw) — COMEX Hydra 10, Hyperbaric Experimental Centre, Marseille, France, 1992. The dive protocol required a four-week [...]
Read More
Coldest seawater
By Jeffrey Gallant
Seawater with an average salinity of 35 ppt (parts per thousand) freezes at -1.94°C (28.5°F). The coldest seawater ever recorded at −2.6 °C (27.3 °F) was found in a stream under [...]
Read More
First saturation dive under polar ice
By Jeffrey Gallant
Jim English (Memorial University, Canada) and Bob Wicklund (Manager Hydrolab, USA) — Arctic IV Expedition led by Dr. Joe MacInnis in Resolute Bay [...]
Read More
Deepest saturation dive (Openwater)
By Jeffrey Gallant
534 m (1,752 ft) — COMEX Hydra 8, Hyperbaric Experimental Centre, Marseille, France, 1988. Breathing a gas mixture of hydro-heliox, it [...]
Read More
Under ice (Constant weight)
By Jeffrey Gallant
75.2 m (246.72 ft) — Ant Williams (New Zealand), Storskog Lake, Sør-Varanger, Norway, March 29, 2019. Total dive time: 2 min 40 sec. [...]
Read More
First underwater movie
By Jeffrey Gallant
1914 — John Ernest Williamson and his brother George use the Williamson Photosphere to produce the first underwater movie in which he kills a shark with a knife in the [...]
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First underwater photo
By Jeffrey Gallant
1856 — William Thompson (UK) took the world’s first underwater photo in the Bay of Weymouth. The camera inside a housing made of wood and iron was mounted on a tripod that was [...]
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The Diving Almanac features more than 650 celebrities or locally-known champions from all parts of the world. Discover long-forgotten pioneers and current day explorers and inventors in our industry-exclusive Who’s Who.
LINK, Edwin Albert
By Jeffrey Gallant
Engineer; oceanologist; pilot; industrialist; led archaeological expeditions in the Mediterranean; designed submersible decompression chambers; designed the submersible [...]
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WESLY, Claude
By Jeffrey Gallant
Longtime crewmember and diver of the Cousteau Society; chief diver aboard the Calypso; world’s first multi-day aquanaut with Albert Falco aboard the undersea habitat Diogènes in 1962 [...]
Read More
FALCO, Albert
By Jeffrey Gallant
Longtime captain of Cousteau’s flagship Calypso; expedition leader; made his first open-circuit dives at Sormiou with the Commeinhes apparatus in 1942; world’s first multi-day [...]
Read More
HAWKES, Graham
By Jeffrey Gallant
President of Hawkes Ocean Technologies (HOT), inventor; engineer; designed the Deep Rover research submersibles, and the Deep Flight series of winged submersibles [...]
Read More
COUSTEAU, Jacques-Yves
By Jeffrey Gallant
Diving pioneer, visionary, and inventor; world-famous underwater explorer and advocate for the environment; prolific author and film [...]
Read More
EARLE, Sylvia, Ph.D.
By Jeffrey Gallant
Scientist; aquanaut; author; public speaker; multiple record holder including the Deepest dive in one-atmosphere suit and the Deepest solo submersible dive; led the first all-female [...]
Read More
ZISSOU, Steve, Capt.
By Jeffrey Gallant
Fictional oceanographer and diver from Wes Anderson's cult film The Life Aquatic; disgruntled leader of Team Zissou; Captain of the research vessel Belafonte; suffered from Crazy Eye [...]
Read More
BARTH, Robert A.
By Jeffrey Gallant
Retired United States Navy Chief Warrant Officer; saturation diver; helped establish U.S. Navy dive tables; joined the Naval Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU) Genesis habitat program [...]
Read More
DARKIN, Valeri
By Jeffrey Gallant
Former Chief Diving Officer and marine biologist at the Russian Academy of Sciences; founded the first liveaboard diving company in Russia; first professional member of [...]
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MOLLE, Philippe
By Jeffrey Gallant
Diving instructor; author of several diving instruction manuals; architect; taught at Club Med from 1961 to 1965; managed dive clubs in France, Yugoslavia, Malta and [...]
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PARTRIDGE, Bruce
By Jeffrey Gallant
Technical diver; computer systems designer and programmer; Chairman of Shearwater Research, a manufacturer of dive computers and rebreather electronics [...]
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PARRY, Zale
By Jeffrey Gallant
Underwater actress and stuntwoman (Sea Hunt, Kingdom of the Sea, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea); photographer; writer; first woman to descend below 200 ft (209 ft / 64 m – 1954) [...]
Read More
FUNKHOUSER, Lynn
By Jeffrey Gallant
Photographer; author; environmentalist; public speaker; consultant on Philippines diving; co-founder of the International Marinelife Alliance in 1985; inaugural inductee of the [...]
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BROOKS II, Ernest H.
By Jeffrey Gallant
Pioneering underwater photographer; author; educator; president of the Brooks Institute of Photography from 1971 to 2000; instructed Cousteau's Calypso photographers for [...]
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PECHTER, Alese
By Jeffrey Gallant
Photojournalist; author; teacher; co-author of What’s in the Deep: An Underwater Adventure for Children, the first children’s book using underwater photographs; public speaker. Through their [...]
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HASS, Hans, D.Sc.
By Jeffrey Gallant
Scientist; diving and underwater photography pioneer; explorer; author first published in 1939 with Jagd unter Wasser mit Harpune und Kamera; made his first dive in the Mediterranean [...]
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COUSTEAU, Simone
By Jeffrey Gallant
First woman scuba diver and aquanaut; made her first dives in the Mediterranean Sea in the summer of 1943; spent four days inside the Starfish House habitat during Conshelf II in 1963 [...]
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TURPIN, John Henry, CPO
By Jeffrey Gallant
U.S. Navy Master Diver; one of the first African American Chief Petty Officers (1917) and the first African American Master Diver (1915) in the U.S. Navy [...]
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From the deepest dives to the most dangerous sea creatures, our feature posts showcase outstanding diving facts and trivia, hand-picked from our Diving Records, Diving History, and Who’s Who. Nothing here is fake or clickbait!
By Jeffrey Gallant
These legendary figures left such a mark in their respective fields that they would change the world of diving forever [...]
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By Jeffrey Gallant
These trailblazing underwater women have inspired so many divers to follow their passion and make a difference [...]
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By Jeffrey Gallant
From true to life nature scenes to the surreal, these amazing underwater artists will make you dream of diving [...]
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Our Timeline of Man Underwater, which chronicles over 6,000 years of exploration and innovation, is the most thorough history of diving available online.
The SPID is designed and built
By Jeffrey Gallant
[ 1964 ] Edward A. Link designs and builds a two-man undersea habitat called the SPID (Submersible, Portable Inflatable Dwelling). Two commercial [...]
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Two divers die in Johnson Sea Link
By Jeffrey Gallant
[1973] Edwin Clayton Link and Albert Dennison Stover died from carbon dioxide poisoning after the submersible was entangled for over 24 hours at a depth [...]
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Commeinhes develops open-circuit scuba
By Jeffrey Gallant
[ 1937 ] The first model of a two-cylinder open-circuit breathing apparatus with demand regulator is developed by Georges Commeinhes for [...]
Read More
Priest publishes The Art of Breathing Underwater
By Jeffrey Gallant
[ 1681 ] French priest Abbé Jean de Hautefeuille publishes L’art de respirer sous l’eau (The Art of Breathing Underwater) in which he explains why it is not [...]
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Refit of Cousteau’s Calypso restarts
By Jeffrey Gallant
[ 2016 ] Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s famed oceanographic vessel Calypso is moved to Turkey for a full refit, including new engines; Calypso's sad saga began [...]
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Discovery of HMS Erebus
By Jeffrey Gallant
[ 2014 ] On September 7, Parks Canada archeologists from the 2014 Victoria Strait Expedition discover the wreck of one of the ships from the ill-fated [...]
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Record habitat dive in Romania
By Jeffrey Gallant
[ 1994 ] Romanian aquanauts Liviu Miron and Constantin Mihaï set the European record for the longest uninterrupted stay in an underwater habitat by [...]
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The bathyscaphe Trieste is designed
By Jeffrey Gallant
[ 1950 ] Dr. Auguste Piccard and his son Jacques design the bathyscaphe Trieste, which is launched in 1953. The bathyscaphe consists of [...]
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Archaeologists find HMS Terror
By Jeffrey Gallant
[ 2016 ] On September 18, 2016, Parks Canada confirms that the wreck discovered by the Arctic Research Foundation is HMS Terror. The archaeological [...]
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Divers rescue 12 boys and coach from flooded Thai cave
By Jeffrey Gallant
[2018] On July 2, cave divers Rick Stanton and John Volanthen locate all 12 members of a youth football team and their coach [...]
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Leonardo Da Vinci designs a diving suit
By Jeffrey Gallant
[ CIRCA 1500 ] Leonardo Da Vinci designs a diving suit and flexible snorkel system for breathing at depth. The snorkel is made of cane tubes [...]
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First dives for treasure
By Jeffrey Gallant
[ 480 BCE ] Herodotus tells of Cyana (a.k.a. Hydna of Scione) and her father Scyllias, a pair of divers who recovered sunken treasure for the Persian King Xerxes. When Xerxes [...]
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Divers in the Trojan War
By Jeffrey Gallant
[ 1194 BCE ] Homer writes of divers attacking ships during the Trojan War in the Iliad. Whether there is any historical reality behind the Trojan War remains an open question. Many [...]
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William Bourne designs a wooden submarine
By Jeffrey Gallant
[ 1578 ] William Bourne, an English mathematician draws the first plans for an underwater boat powered by oars. The wooden submarine covered [...]
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Edmond Halley improves the diving bell
By Jeffrey Gallant
[ 1690 ] English astronomer Edmond Halley—of Halley’s Comet fame—improves the diving bell. Additional air is available in weighted barrels [...]
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Artifacts recovered from Antikythera
By Jeffrey Gallant
[ 2015 ] Archaeologists excavating the Antikythera shipwreck recover more than 50 items including a bronze armrest, remains of a bone [...]
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Anthony’s Key Resort is founded on Roatan
By Jeffrey Gallant
[1968] Julio Galindo Sr. and his wife, Cheryl Galindo, welcome their first guests on the island of Roatán, Honduras. Anthony’s Key Resort has since become [...]
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Renowned explorers in the High Arctic
By Jeffrey Gallant
[ 2015 ] A team of renowned explorers mounts the Elysium – Artists for the Arctic expedition to the High Arctic to produce a feature documentary, a book [...]
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Join the editor of the Diving Almanac as he visits record destinations, and meets notable divers and personalities from our international Who’s Who.
The Diving Almanac is the only central body of information on diving records, people, and diving history. Browse the website or search our exclusive database of thousands of records, diver profiles and historical events covering every aspect of the underwater world.