In a world where it can be challenging to find clarity and substance; and self-growth is often overlooked, we are given extraordinary opportunities as divers to learn more about ourselves. It does not matter if you are a seasoned recreational scuba diver, a dive professional, or beginning an open water class next week. The fact is both diving and the ocean have an impressive ability to be therapeutic, lend lessons, and heighten self-awareness about all aspects of ourselves in life. Surprisingly enough we may not even realize it.
Among the diverse dive community throughout the world, we have a commonality, a desire to examine the underwater world. It is easy to forget how crucial the ocean is in our everyday lives; it provides a significant source of protein to many worldwide and supplies half of our breathable air. As we humor our curiosities through exploration of the deep, we are granted moments to receive powerful information, not just about the ocean, or the amazing world of diving, but about ourselves. Many of these findings have absolutely nothing to do with diving, rather are manifested through diving processes and the water; from planning that may take months, prepping gear, dive execution, or simply meditating underwater enjoying beautiful Molasses Reef here in Key Largo. As we learn to control ourselves in the ocean, control our equipment, and become more experienced divers, we gain confidence.
This enables us to expand personally, enjoy our dive experiences,
gain a higher sense of appreciation, and last but not least- HAVE FUN!
I have encountered much of this in my experiences diving at all levels. Most of the time well after a dive- weeks, months, or even years! I know that these experiences have helped me mold who I am, in everyday life. And there’s no need to search, I feel like it just happens. On the contrary, I feel that many potential self-awareness opportunities have gone right over my head! And there is nothing wrong with that! Most often it is welcoming to take a break from our lives, take in the ocean, and just dive; which is therapeutic in and of itself. Not everyone has a desire to tap into their consciousness. I truly believe people grow when they want it. (Here’s a great article that explores scuba diving as Therapy.)
This post is simply a reminder that a higher level to diving exists beyond advancing in certifications, mastering skills, getting the latest and greatest equipment, or knowing all the hot tips and tricks. But remember, all of those examples are what potentially catalyzes further awareness. I encourage all future and current divers to come join us for some beautiful diving, lots of fun, and gorgeous weather here in Key Largo. Escape to paradise to take a break and clear your head of the daily stressors on land. And if you choose, tap into yourself, through enrichment and discovery.
“Sometimes all we need is a solid break from our everyday lives to consciously focus on our personal development.”
– Sea Dwellers Dive Center Instructor Shorey Condon
(oh, I already mentioned that didn’t I?). You get the picture?
I know I know, we’ve said this before…but heck, we’re going to say it again…the darn marine life down here in Key Largo is simply fantastic! Caribbean Reef Sharks (on most dives now), Spotted Eagle Rays, Tarpon, squid, Goliath Groupers, just to name some of the critters we’ve been seeing on our reefs and wrecks. Add this to the calm seas and you’ve got great scuba diving. We’re fortunate to have many of our scuba divers give us pics of some of the marine life off Key Largo they’ve been seeing.
The Mutton Snapper is one of the larger members of the Snapper family. The larger Snappers tend to be more solitary, and generally can be a bit skittish around scuba divers.
encounters prove the uncertainty of a Turtle’s behavior; at times skittish, simply swimming away quickly when glancing a diver… and sometimes the opposite; content to simply swim right on up to a scuba diver and “check things out”. The latter is one of the great joys of scuba diving Key Largo…being able to swim with and interact with one of these beautiful, interesting creatures on a coral reef!
favorite, originally intended for our long standing scuba divers, many which have been diving with Sea Dwellers for decades! And by the way, we’re honored to be a dive destination for these wonderful divers who are customers…but most importantly, our friends! How can you dive with someone for years, decades, longer…and not be close?
are)…we hope to see you next year for our 10th Annual…sure to be an extra special event…(we promise!). 
we’d go over some of the things that have impacted the diving world this year, at least from the perspective of Key Largo and the Florida Keys. It’s not all good news, as some of the things that have caused the excellent conditions for diving has also caused a bad thing to return for the first time in many years; coral bleaching.
2015 brought calm, warm, clear water scuba diving…and a lot of it! I can’t remember this many good days of diving quite frankly, and there were only a handful of days with bad diving conditions. El Nino is partly responsible for these conditions, as this Pacific Ocean phenomenon generally causes hotter than normal waters in the Atlantic, and generally less wind. We certainly saw that this year! But, it’s a good news-bad news thing…as unfortunately, the warmer than normal water temps brought some bleaching, which we haven’t seen to any great extent in many years. It appears that the Keys were affected less than other areas, like Hawaii for example, but any bleaching is significant. Not all the news is bad on this front, as the 
e making huge strides in “actively restoring our reefs” by harvesting, growing and transplanting corals. Now they are even using data they’ve obtained through operations to harvest and transplant more bleach-resistant strains of corals! Amazing stuff, and hope for the future! (The CRF operates on donations, so for scuba divers who want to help preserve our reefs this is the place to start.)