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DIVE TALK

Woody Alpern and Gus Gonzalez

Woody and Gus love exploring underwater caves and discussing all things Scuba. Woody has been diving since the 70s and is also an Instructor Trainer and a Normoxic Kiss Spirit CCR instructor. He has earned 12 PADI Awards of Excellence as an instructor, and has a staggering 7,500+ dives under his weight belt. Gus started diving in 2018, became an instructor in 2020, and cave diver in 2021.

Our address/PO Box:

Dive Talk
3605 Sandy Plains Road
Suite 240-500
Marietta, GA 30066
USA

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20 episodes
Avg 56 min
English

Episodes 20

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Sep 10, 2025 · 34 min
Episode 35: The Jeremy Wade Reaction Debrief
A few weeks ago we filmed a reaction to a video of Jeremy Wade facing some challenges during a night dive on a rebreather where he was trying to film extremely rare Oarfish. The original episode can be found HERE.
Dec 31, 2021 · 1 hr 14 min
Episode 34: An Update on our Cave DPV Certification
The Cave DPV Certification is one of the toughest technical diving certifications to attain! Those of you who have followed our podcast/ YouTube channel for a while are probably aware that we tried to achieve this certification earlier in 2021 and it was a total disaster. We discussed this on great detail the last episode of this podcast. Today we give you all an update on our progress and share our stories on the toughest scuba diving credential we've ever worked for.
Apr 23, 2021 · 54 min
Episode 33: Complete DISASTER during our Cave DPV Class
A few months ago Woody and Gus bought some amazing DPVs (Diver Propulsion Vehicles) with the intent of using them when diving the Florida caves which in most cases are springs and a bit of a workout to swim against. So the guys showed up to class, with minimal practice, a leaky dry suit, and new dive gear configurations, what can possible go wrong? Well, apparently, everything!
Apr 9, 2021 · 42 min
Episode 32: Diving in 'Cave Country'
Central Florida is the home of 'Cave Country' and since we live only 4-5 hours away we get to cave dive there often, but we have many friends who live in Cave Country and dive their caves constantly, almost daily in some cases. We were wondering why we and thousands of other people continue to dive the same sites over and over, and also, how come 'Cave Country' attracts so many non-cave divers? We interview Joe Cocozza, a local cave diver who is also the owner of the Pod Diver Lodge and host of Pod Diver Radio. Joe is an amazing host, a scuba instructor, and a huge wealth of knowledge regarding cave diving and scuba diving in general. Links: Pod Diver Lodge: https://www.poddiverlodge.com/ Pod Diver Radio: http://poddiver.org
Mar 20, 2021 · 40 min
Episode 31: How do you know if you are a good diver?
This episode was recorded on video too! If you are interested in seeing our pretty faces and hand signals you should head to our YouTube channel and check it out! Today we talk about the main pillars of scuba diving and what can you do to conduct a self-assessment of your skills as a diver and determine whether you are a good diver and/or what areas you need to work on in order to take your skills to the next level!
Mar 5, 2021 · 49 min
Episode 30: DIVER'S CEMETERY
In this episode we discuss "Diver's Cemetery" which is located in Dahab, Egypt. We discuss why it is so dangerous, why should some people stay away from the site, and why we would absolutely love to dive it!
Feb 19, 2021 · 59 min
Episode 29: DIVING COLD
We had the wonderful idea to go diving in the Gulf of Mexico, in February, on wet suits. The water temperature was 63 degrees (17 celsius) and lets just say we had some problems... We learned our lesson and wanted to share with you what happened and how you can avoid running into some of these issues.
Feb 5, 2021 · 46 min
Episode 28: DEEP DIVING
It is no secret that we are addicted to diving. And just like many divers out there we are members of Facebook groups and forums where diving is discussed 24/7. Occasionally you see questions from people asking about the limits of diving on air. We see things like "Has anybody gone past 130 ft/40 m on air? There are some wrecks I want to see but they are below those limits so I wonder what would happen if I just went for it on air?" And of course, a question like that is only followed by a jungle of misinformation led in some cases by "experts" who are happy to announce how often they dive "super deep on air without issues" because "they never get narked". We like diving deep, so we understand why other divers want to go below recreational depths, but we do it safely! We wanted to discuss what it takes to dive deep and share some potentially lifesaving knowledge and facts with divers that want to be able to dive deep like us.
Jan 22, 2021 · 51 min
Episode 27: SEPARATED DIVER
On this episode we talk about our plans over the next couple of weeks, exciting news about DPVs and lights, a failed rebreather experiment, and we cover a story detailing what happens when a diver surfaces and is separated from his boat. We also talk about the gear we use to mitigate this risk.
Jan 8, 2021 · 57 min
Episode 26: CAVE DIVING
For our One Year Anniversary episode we wanted to talk about something we are super passionate about, Cave Diving! We spent a week in Cozumel with an amazing group of divers from the KISS Rebreathers Tech Diving Team, so we invited 3 world-class Cave Divers to join us on this episode. We discuss what's the path to become a cave diver, cave diving unbreakable rules, what happened to most people who died in caves, and shared some funny and interesting stories from dives in the past. Our guests for this show are Doug Ebersole, Bryan Buescher, and Mike Young who in addition to being one of the world's greatest cave divers and explorers, he invented the rebreathers we all dive and absolutely LOVE.
Dec 25, 2020 · 40 min
Episode 25: New Year's underwater plus interesting articles from 2020
Here's what we've been up to over the last two weeks, pus our plans for New Year's and we review some of our favorite articles from 2020.
Dec 11, 2020 · 37 min
Episode 24: The Dive Talk Diving Challenge
Nowadays you can achieve the rank of Master Diver - or perhaps even Instructor - without ever diving in the Ocean, or at night, or deep! So we decided to come up with a challenge for divers out there...and those who can complete it will join a very exclusive club.
Nov 27, 2020 · 1 hr 35 min
Episode 23: HIGHLY POLARIZING TOPICS
Today we talk about twenty polarizing dive related topics you probably have heard of on dive boats, dive forums, and online dive groups. Tune in to hear us discuss many topics that have turned many dive buddies into enemies! Special Guest: Doug Ebersole!
Nov 13, 2020 · 1 hr 7 min
Episode 22: So you want to dive REBREATHERS?
It is no secret that we are HUGE FANS of our rebreathers, and a lot of of you have asked us to do an episode about rebreathers. We wanted to answer the most common questions like: How much are they? Which one should I buy? How do they work? What can I do with them that I can't do in Open Circuit? In order to share as much expertise and knowledge as possible on this episode we invited Georgia Hausserman, PADI's Tec Diving Consultant and Instructor Examiner to help us answer these questions.
Oct 30, 2020 · 53 min
Episode 21: So you want to be a Tec Diver?
We were underwater A LOT over the last month, so we wanted to give you an update on what we've been up to, plus talk about "Technical Diving" and how can people make a transition from Recreational Diving. If you've ever been curious about what it would take to be able to dive beyond Recreational limits (I.E. Deeper, Longer, Caves, etc.), this episode is for you!
Oct 2, 2020 · 53 min
Episode 20: TWENTY SCUBA MYTHS
Scuba diving is SUPER EXPENSIVE! Cave diving is SUICIDAL! You CAN'T mix and match gear from different manufacturers! It's WAY CHEAPER to buy online vs. a local dive shop! Which ones of these are truths and which ones are myths? Tune in to find out!
Sep 18, 2020 · 1 hr
Episode 19: Woody's back! Let's talk about specialties
Woody's is finally out of the water and he's back on the show talking about Dive Specialties. We discuss the ones we find super useful or even critical, and the ones that we don't find as critical.
Sep 4, 2020 · 1 hr 5 min
Episode 18: Here's what happened during my Instructor Evaluation
This past weekend I attended my Instructor Evaluation. This is a two-day test where you have to prove you have what it takes to be a certified Open Water Instructor. I didn't attend the IE alone, there were two of us being evaluated, so I invited Megan Beazly to join me in sharing how our IE weekend unfolded. We ended up talking about our dive careers, why we decided to become instructors, and which instructors and mentors influenced our lives over the years.
Aug 21, 2020 · 1 hr 8 min
Episode 17: Woody is Super Busy plus Must-Have Tools for a Safe Dive
Woody has been diving a LOT lately, so I took the opportunity to give you an update on what we've been up to, plus we review the Must-Have Tools for a Safe Dive according to Scuba Diving Magazine. Do you agree with this list? Article: https://www.scubadiving.com/keywords/scuba-diving-safety/26-must-have-tools-safe-dive
Aug 7, 2020 · 1 hr 12 min
Episode 16: Diving in Pensacola plus embarrassing questions new divers are afraid to ask
This past weekend was a busy weekend for us, we were scheduled to go diving in North Carolina but a Tropical Storm cancelled all of our plans, so we were forced to improvise and gamble on a trip to Pensacola, FL instead. What could possibly happen when you just decide to bypass "planning and logistics" and just go with the flow? You'll have to listen to find out. We also answered 20 questions that brand new divers or Open Water students might be afraid or too embarrassed to ask their instructor. Pensacola Dive Operators we used: Shark Quest: https://www.scuba-dive-pensacola.com/ H2O Below: https://ussoriskanydiver.com/

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