DIVE FREE is not a specialty site for any one form of diving: but for all kinds of human underwater activity that do not rely on air tanks. It's not for insiders or cosnocenti (although we're tried to present material and links of interest at all levels of diving): it's to promote and popularize the idea that diving on natural breath-hold is exciting, fun, and available to all.

The Snorkle Bum © is a sort of group effort. As the original Snorkle Bum, I write most of it myself, but input is from a loose aggregate of loose experts, also known as the people I dive with. Work other than my own is credited when possible (or when the person involved doesn't violently object.)

Oooo, GOOD question. The problem is really, "what do you call diving without tanks, since everybody seems to think the term "diving" applies only to Scuba diving?" One solution is the term "free diving", meaning free of tanks, natural like "free climbing". Unfortunately, that term has become confused, since to many people it refers to breath-hold contests of length and depth (see our page on that activity.) To add to the confusion, many sites and publications that use the term "freediving" are about bluewater spearfishing. (and yeah, we have a page on that, too). So you see the problem. You have to just try to tell from context whether a person using the term "free diver" is referring to a deepwater speargun shooter, a maniac trying to go down 400 feet on one breath, or just somebody who does their diving free and unaided. That clear everything up?

For the obvious reason: girls look pretty diving au naturelle, guy look silly. Also, most of our staff are red-blooded, politically incorrect guys (except for those who are barely reconstructed radical feminists with attitudes--we'd REALLY like some middle-roaders around) and like pretty pics. But mostly because that is what we get. Kind of like the way Sports Illustrated doesn't show a lot of male outfits in their swimsuit issue.