Free Descent

Jake and Myles sat down with Rachel Cushman, an amazing diver and educator with a wealth of experience, to chat about diving in aquariums, teaching, silly stories from learning to dive, and the challenges facing women in diving. Definitely not an episode to miss!

~Reminder~

Free Descent is intended as entertainment, and should not replace formal dive instruction. Always listen to your instructors and divemasters, and dive within th...

Dive 30 brings us a special conversation with Danielle Tentschert, Education Manager at Ocean Connectors. We talk about how to get kids into ocean conservation, and how impactful the ocean can be on a child, as well as what got us into loving the water! 

Ocean Connectors is a San Diego-based nonprofit whose mission is to educate, inspire, and connect youth in underserved Pacific coastal communities through the study of migratory ma...

We are back with our good friends Walt (@sweendogscuba) and Kelsey (@souldivers_). Walt and Kelsey answer your questions submitted via Instagram, as well as a few more. This is one of the best yet in our biased opinion; we cover burn-out, diversity, finding/keeping work, and so much more! 

~Reminder~ Free Descent is intended as entertainment only, and not to replace any formal dive instruction. Always follow the instruction of your...

April Fools! Our friends Alysha Acosta and Danielle DiLorenzo take over the show to interview us for a change. Listen in to hear how we answer questions about our lives as scuba instructors, our friendship, and everything in between. Alysha, Miss Scuba Queen California 2023, and Dani, Miss Scuba Queen USA 2023, also spill all the details on upcoming Miss Scuba International news. 

~Reminder~ Free Descent is intended as entertainm...

Updates, updates, updates! Myles finally moved to Spain, dove in the Mediterranean Sea, and is never leaving! Jake hit 400 dives in San Diego and booked a last minute trip to Bonaire!

After over a year of FDP, we finally got to sit down with our good friends Walt (@sweendogscuba) and Kelsey (@souldivers_). Walt and Kelsey have to wildly different stories about becoming dive professionals, but they both came to the same conclusion: ...

Dive 26: Myles and Jake cap off one year of Free Descent by recapping their most recent adventures along with special guest Lydia! Myles and Lydia tell tales of ice diving and the North American Ice Diving Festival, and Jake talks about his adventures in the Windward Islands of the Caribbean. We wrap up with a couple of questions for the listeners, so let us know your thoughts on Instagram at @FreeDescentPodcast! ~ Reminder: Free D...

Jake has been MIA for a month and Myles is gearing up to FINALLY get under the ice with Midwest School of Diving. Listen into our special interview with Mark Dugger from Midwest School of Diving, host of the North American Ice Diving Festival. Mark gives us insight into ice diving logistics, how the festival works, who will be there, how to get involved, and how they came to be the largest ice diving festival in the world.

In 2024 ...

Myles and Jake have dry gills, they NEED to get in the water! Hear all about their upcoming dive plans for February before jumping into an exclusive interview with Alexis Jabbour and Kelsey Elliot from the Buddy app. The Free Descent and Buddy teams have grown up alongside each other this past year, so this interview was a reunion for all of us. Listen in to get the scoop on the app's newest features, and what's coming in 2024. To ...

Saving our oceans has always been cool, but the Force Blue team makes it that much cooler! Jake and Myles interview Steve "Gonzo" Gonzalez on his work to unite Special Operations veterans with marine science and conservation projects. Click the link below to get involved!

As promised, the winner of our first ever MERCH contest will be announced at some point in the episode. Listen to hear if you won!

Link to the screening of 100 Ya...

It's a new year, and we are planning the best 12 months yet! We ring in 2024 with goalsetting for not only ourselves, but the pod of course! Our community plays a huge part in our podcast goals, so don't forget to participate in our merchandise competition! To win, you have to: 

- Follow us on Instagram

- Like and share the post about this show

- Comment your goals and tag a friend on the post

- Subscribe to the pod on Apple or Spo...

Dive 21 is CHOCK FULL of the hottest (and coldest) dive discussions! Women in diving, women in management, social media, Canadian diving, military diving, dos and don'ts of ice diving, GEAR, travel, instructing, community building, AND MORE! Join us as we give Myles a proper send-off into her next adventure (0:00 - 12:45) and we chat with April Weickert, manager at Torpedo Rays Scuba in Halifax, Nova Scotia and star of Jump In; and...

We made it to Dive 20! To celebrate, we share our gift guide for divers and those who love us (00:36-11:30), then chat with our favorite recurring guests, Dani DiLorenzo and Alysha Acosta about their amazing experience in Malaysia competing to become Miss Scuba International (11:30-46:00), and then cap it all off with the First Annual Dive Flag Awards!

Jake's photo prints are available at: www.jakesdiveshack.darkroom.com

Scuba Quee...

This week's episode is exclusively about the Modoc, the ship of the Earthrace conservation that ventured among the Chinese Overseas Fleet of squid fishing vessels to film documentary footage highlighting the global overfishing problem. 

We interview Jack Bundle and Josh Martin, two crewmembers of the Modoc, about how they got involved with Earthrace, their experiences working on the boat, and what life was like day-to-day. (0:30-36...

Jake is in Hawaii for a wedding and diving all over Oahu! Jake has also been made a Dive with Buddy ambassador. We also talk about Myles' most recent dives, and what we're looking forward to at DEMA! (0:35-13:40)

Then, Scuba Queen CA Alysha Acosta joins us to talk about her journey, the importance of bringing equity to diving, and what she's looking forward to as Miss Scuba International kicks off in a couple weeks!

~Reminder~ Free...

Just in time for Sharktober, we chat with David McGuire about the race to save sharks and what sharks mean to our oceans and our above-water world (0:36-24:40). We then sit down with shark attack survivor Maria Korcsmaros, who tells us her story of attack, survival, and advocacy (24:45-53:10). 

RESOURCES: 

Shark Stewards: www.sharkstewards.org

Run4Sharks: www.run4sharks.org

Maria's Story: https://voyagela.com/interview/meet-maria-k...

Jake is back! He shares his thoughts on his amazing liveaboard diving trip to Indonesia's Forgotten Islands, including how he got through some of his jetlag, changing money, the benefits of a liveaboard trip, and how adjusting to time zones is going. If you haven't listened already, this is a great complementary episode to Dives 14 and 15, so check those out as well!

~Reminder~

Free Descent is for entertainment, and not intended to...

Jake and Myles have a more casual discussion about how diving makes them feel during fun dives, classes, and solo dives. End of the story, diving probably isn't cheaper than therapy, but it's still our preferred way to process life! 

**Reminder** Free Descent is intended as entertainment, and not as a replacement for formal dive instruction. Always follow the instructions of your divemasters and instructors, and remember to dive wi...

We've crossed the six-month mark of Free Descent, and to celebrate, Myles and Jake talk about the trips they've been on and are planning for. Myles just got back from Hawaii, and Jake is headed for a liveaboard trip in Indonesia. We talk packing, prepping, gear to bring or leave at home, and Myles' tragic tale of woe at the Tijuana Airport. If you've got travel tips, tricks, or stories, share them at @freedescentpodcast on Instagra...