Notes for divers. The honest kind.
Most dive content is selling you something or talking down to you. 50ft below is the other thing — plain, opinionated notes for new divers, lapsed divers, and the curious, from a diver who pays attention and tells you what he's noticed.
Read it if it resonates.
The dive industry has a gatekeeping problem — a wall of know-it-alls, rushed certs, and gear you don't need yet. This is built to lower that wall. Mac's about ten years in — not a dive pro, not in the industry — who reads hard, tries things, and tells you what actually matters and what doesn't.
New notes a few times a week. Drop your email and I'll tell you when they go up.
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- The Maldives cave incident — we know nothing yet, but here's what we can learn Five experienced divers died in a cave in Vaavu Atoll. We don't know the plan yet — but the line this points at is one every recreational diver can think about now.
- Coming back to diving after years away Your certification didn't expire. Comfort fades faster than the card does. Here's the actual menu of ways back — what each one costs, what each one is for.
- What actually belongs in a save-a-dive kit The pre-packed kits are padded with parts for hardware you don't own. Here's the shorter, truer list.
- Before You Book the Red Sea, Read SB1 MAIB and BSAC put out specific guidance after Sea Story — a vetting checklist, not a reason to skip the trip.
- Goats find the weak spot. Water does too. A goat doesn't test the strong part of the fence. A pre-dive check done as rhythm doesn't either. The fix is the same — slow down on the post you'd most assume is fine.