DeeperBlue Podcast

DeeperBlue Podcast is the podcast of DeeperBlue.com, a diving website that Stephan Whelan says he started while at university, with a version going live in September 1996. It covers scuba, freediving and the ocean, and it sounds like dive friends working through a pile of stories. Nobody holds the chair for long. Megan Haney-Greer, who introduces herself as a freediver, ocean explorer and 'the imperfect conservationist', co-hosts some episodes, and Lyndon Wolbert, a professional mermaid, co-hosts others. Producer Jason turns up on the news, and Whelan introduces episodes of his own. The habit they share is simple: take a story, explain why a diver should care, then react out loud. The news is where that habit is easiest to hear. One set of items runs from a new entry-level ScubaPro regulator to a mask modeled on the Scout Trooper from Star Wars, which earns a mock boast about insider news. LIDAR imaging that may show the Temple of Hercules in the Bay of Cádiz draws open excitement, tempered by the admission that there may be little left down there. A proposal for floating cities built from buoyant limestone prompts a joke about diving to work and a real question about wastewater. Heavier items get room too. The show marks the death of a technical diving pioneer, then turns to a European petition against the shark fin trade that had reached a million signatures. Then come the interviews. Megan Haney-Greer talks with Bobbie Scholley, a retired U.S. Navy captain whose career took in special operations, surface warfare and deep sea salvage, including helping salvage the USS Monitor. Lyndon Wolbert speaks with TV personality Kinga Philipps about life in front of the camera, ocean advocacy and a whale shark encounter that widened her view of the world. Smaller pieces fill in around them: a top tip from underwater director David Diley, advice from Ocean Geographic's Alex Rose on starting out in underwater photography, and a contributor's best dive ever, with an open invitation to send more through deeperblue.com. Episode titles show how far the guest list reaches, naming Jillian Morris, Autumn Blum, Francesca Trottman, Isaac 'Shrek' Daly and Dr Mauricio Hoyos-Padilla, with Mark Evans in more than one. For a first listen, the Bobbie Scholley episode suits anyone drawn to naval history, and the Kinga Philipps one suits shark fans. Either way, expect brisk talk, plenty of dive-world names, and enough warmth that a joke can sit next to an obituary.