UM Dive Office

01/26/2021

After about 10 years as Assistant Diving Safety Officer at the U, Robbie Christian is moving on to pursue his passion in Instructional Design. He's had a wonderful time being part of such a great program but is excited for the opportunities ahead. His last day is Friday, so feel free to stop by or drop a comment before then!

12/11/2020

After more than 26 years as the Diving Safety Officer at the U, Rick Gomez is retiring. He has built the program into what it is today, training top quality divers while maintaining an impeccable safety record with about 75,000 science dives conducted at UM under his leadership. Beyond the University of Miami, he has been active in the scientific diving community and is a past president of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences. Today is his last day at the U, so stop by or send him a message to wish him well on his adventures ahead! Thank you for your service and commitment, Rick!

11/12/2020

We are still going strong with scientific diver training and are in the water with our students 5 days a week (weather permitting). Here are some science diver candidates diving down to 15ft to gather and then don their equipment underwater (while neutrally buoyant of course). This skill helps divers build competency and comfort with the equipment as well as problem solve while neutrally buoyant. This snapshot is just one glimpse at the equipment training sequence that culminates in diving down to gather all the gear including mask and fins.
The other two divers are working on modified flutter kicks in one photo while the third diver is filming for post-dive video review. The other photo shows how much fun they’re having along the way. All science diver candidates learn and practice the same procedures so that all science diver training is standardized from the equipment setup to the skills and drills.

09/22/2020

Way to go UM scientists! What a great collaborative project!

09/18/2020

Just another Friday racking up some scientific diver training in our underwater classroom just off campus. You don't see any science equipment being taken underwater yet because we're building a very strong foundation of neutral buoyancy, awareness, stability, and trim. Once that foundation has been laid, then divers will start being task-loaded with additional equipment and data collection methods.

American Academy of Underwater SciencesRosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric ScienceUniversity of Miami University of Miami Rosenstiel School - MPS Program

09/18/2020

We're four weeks into the semester and we've made it through thorough policies and procedures of scientific diving, rigorous emergency care training, in-depth dive planning, and several introductory pool dives. Now we're getting into open water and racking up the dives out on the local reefs! We couldn't pick a better classroom for social distancing than this. Happy Friday!

09/17/2020

2020 has been a wild year for us all, but we're still here and have been extremely active since our last post. We have several labs conducting dives regularly with strict covid mitigation measures. We've logged about 1400 dives as a program so far this year, are teaching three sections of scientific diving students this semester, and our UM researchers continue to pursue groundbreaking studies on the underwater world we all love. We hope to get back to more frequent posts, but in the meantime know that we are here, healthy, and keeping the program running safely. Happy diving!

03/11/2020

We're still cranking along with our scientific diver training here in Bonaire on spring break. Now 15 dives into the trip, all divers have achieved more than enough dives to be authorized as scientific divers and we still have about 10 more dives left before packing our bags to head home.
Captain Don's Habitat-Bonaire University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science University of Miami Rosenstiel School - MPS Program University of Miami American Academy of Underwater Sciences

03/08/2020

We made it to Bonaire! Another week of intensive scientific diver training begins!
Captain Don's Habitat-Bonaire University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science

03/03/2020

UM scientists are steadily working away on the surface and underwater studying everything in the ocean. Here’s a story about some underwater science being done by our team here! It’s one of many cutting edge projects that our diving scientists do at the U!

Faculty and student researchers are experimenting with new techniques and materials to replant corals grown at University of Miami nurseries.