I certified at age 50 and I've only made about 55 dives in the last 10 years because I live in Oregon and hate diving in cold water! My dive experiences have been in the Caymans, Virgin Islands, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillio and Cabo San Lucas. My one cold-water experience was a trio of altitude dives in an Oregon mountain lake (brrrrr).
My love of diving, coupled with an interest in archaeology, has resulted in several new "hobbies" for me. I author a crypto-archaeology blog (www.TheMegaBlog.com) that focuses on the ongoing underwater archaeology research being done in the Bahamas. I'm also the author of a series of mystery - adventure novels (with a SciFi twist) that explores several of archaeology's REAL unsolved mysteries. The second book in the series, titled Tsubute, takes place almost entirely on the tiny Japanese island of Yonaguni and features several dive scenes - including one at the famous Monument itself! More information about the series is available at www.SeedsOfCivilization.com.
The third novel in my series is currently in productin and takes place in the Gulf & Caribbean, between the NW tip of Cuba and Andros Island. It invloves some diving but also incorporates the use of ROVs and submarines. I'm interested in hearing from anyone who has been diving at the so-called Bimini Road feature or in the Andros area. If you're planning a trip to the Bahamas in the near future, let me know and I'll hook you up with some of the researchers who think they're on the verge of proving that a maritime culture existed in the area 10,000 years before the dates acknowledged by traditional archaeology!
R.J. Archer
