Intro
This will be my 6th “Top 10 Dives & Projects” list since I started the tradition in 2020.
It will always be tough to top 2023 which included diving in some of the most remote places on the planet (Antartica and Bikini Atoll) and also the pinnacle of wreck diving (IMO), the HMHS Britannic.
However, 2025 was a pretty darn good year. I had a great trip to Budapest to do some cave and mine diving (gasp – not wrecks!) and I finally achieved my goal of building a photogrammetry model of the USS Emmons in Okinawa. My third big trip of the year was to another bucket-list destination: Malin Head, Ireland and I saw some amazing WW I and WW II wrecks.
We also continued to make progress on finding new wrecks here in Southern California.
My diving was somewhat limited this year due to the introduction of Griswold into our family! I plan to get him trained on scuba diving as soon as possible so he can join me in my adventures!
Just a quick side note: not a single word of this post (or any other post on this blog) was written with AI. Any mistakes are mine and mine alone and I’m quite okay with that. 🙂
Previous Years
For those interested, below are links to the Top 10 from previous years. I can honestly say that most divers would be happy to achieve half of the dives in these years in an entire lifetime. I have been very fortunate to be able to follow my passion.
2024 Top 10 List | A year that saw trips overseas to Iron Bottom Sound (Solomon Islands), Kea, Greece and Gulen, Norway (which was quite an adventure). It was also the year that I finally was able to dive the USCGC McCulloch. A solid follow-up to the epic year in 203.
2023 Top 10 List | A chart-topping year that included trips to Antarctica, Bikini Atoll, and Greece to dive the Britannic. We also filmed an episode of Expedition Unknown and I won the Underwater Photographer of the Year for Wrecks which was quite an honor. We found some new wrecks and I made even more progress on my photogrammetry skills.
2022 Top 10 List | We discovered even more new wrecks in 2022. Another great year with Covid finally letting up and I had trips to Palau (twice), Croatia, and Malta (but I got Covid after a few days in Malta). My photogrammetry skills really increased. We discovered the “Full Stall Landing” TBF, the Fairchild PT-19, the Sea Dancer, the Boys Club, and the amazing F8F Bearcat.
2021 Top 10 List | Tyler and I were on the hunt for new wrecks and we killed it. This was the year I got my “MOD 3” deep rebreather certification with Mel Clark in Eagles Nest cave — knowing I would need it for the Britannic. We found the Border Yacht (still on the project list to identify), identified the Nightingale, completed the UB88 photogrammetry model, had an epic trip to the Great Lakes, and then in a feat that will probably never be repeated, Kevin Bond and I dove the USS Vammen (340 fsw) and the USS Burns (270 fsw) in the same day.
2020 Top 10 List | The year Covid hit. Highlights include meeting a lot of the local tech diving community, making friends, and diving such epic local wrecks such as the F-4 Phantom, the New Saturnia, the TBM Avenger deep off Point Loma, Osborne Bank caves and, of course, the UB88 WW 1 German Sub. Tyler, Lora & I had a fantastic three day trip in Dana Point discovering new wrecks.
Runner Ups
It is tough to narrow down the list to only 10 dives/projects. Here are a few that didn’t quite make the list but were still amazing:
- M/V Triple Crown – This was a tough one not to include in my Top 10 since I have been waiting soooo long to dive it. I wish the conditions were better and I’d love to dive it again when I have a better chance of seeing the wreck. 🙂
- Osborne Bank – I had been to Osborne Bank once before in 2020. If this had been my first trip, it would have undoubtedly been in my Top10. It is an amazing site far offshore that any SoCal Technical Diver should strive to go visit. Go with Danny at Triton Diving.
- SS Empire Heritage – This was a very cool dive site in Malin Head, Ireland. I loved the dive and it was like being a kid in a deep underwater playground filled with Sherman tanks.
- “AT” Wreck – This was a new wreck in Santa Monica Bay that I dove with Steve Lawson and Chris Gilmartin very recently. We haven’t been able to identify it (yet) and I haven’t written the article (yet). Anytime we find a new wreck, it is a cool experience.
Stats
As with previous years, a look at some overall stats for this year are below. It was a great year but I had fewer dives and less time underwater but I worked on amazing projects and got to see amazing sites.
- Total Dives = 45 (this was quite a bit less than previous years)
- Rebreather Dives = 45 (no OC dives in 2025)
- Deepest Dive = 293 feet (Target @ Anacapa Island — nothing but a “plane shaped rock”!)
- Ave Max Depth = 164.5 feet
- Longest Dive = 2 hours, 25 minutes (M/V Triple Crown)
- Total Dive Time = 2 days, 5.75 hours (2024 was 3 days, 6 hours and 2023 was 3 days, 18 hours, 2022 was 6 days 7 hours)
- I’m guessing more than half of that time was decompression
Top 10 of 2025
I’m pretty sure every diver would love to have this many great experiences in any period of time — much less all in a single year. It was hard to get down to only 10, but here they are in reverse order.
10. U-2511 (Malin Head, Ireland — 210 fsw)
I love diving submarines (almost as much as airplanes) and this was one of two that we saw during our trip to Malin Head, Ireland. It is a very cool submarine with an interesting history that could have had a bigger impact but it was produced by Germany near the end of WW II and wasn’t fully deployed when they surrendered. (Photo Credit : Ben Lair).
9. Kobanya Mine (Budapest, Hungary — 95 ffw)
This was my first mine dive and I really enjoyed it. In the words of Ben Lair a mine dive is “like a wreck dive and a cave dive had a baby” (or something like that). It was cool to be underwater in a structure that is usually above water. (Photo Credit: Ben Lair).
8. RS-13 Lens Project
This was such a cool project and I have only begun to take advantage of this “retro” lens that was installed into a modern lens on a modern camera. It is sooooo cool! Isaac did an amazing job. If you want a good fisheye lens that has a small footprint, it is hard to beat this one.
7. Molnar Janos Cave (Budapest, Hungary )
I don’t often dive caves, but when I do….
This was an amazing cave that I enjoyed diving with some good friends. It was also nice because we had time to do some sightseeing in Budapest which is a great city that had unexpectedly great food. (Photo Credit: Ben Lair)
6. Mystery WW II Plane (Point Loma, California — 190 fsw)
Hopefully we will solve this mystery. I love puzzles and this is definitely a good one. We think it is a Corsair but it might actually be two airplanes and we can’t explain the bomb release arm that we found since Corsairs don’t usually have them or anything like it. We found this wreck while diving targets on our quest to find the Ables S-3 Viking.
5. HMS Audacious (Malin Head, Ireland — 200 fsw)
How great is the name of this battleship that sank during WW1 in 1914? It is an epic dive that is the “signature” dive of Malin Head, Irleland. We did two dives on this wreck and only scratched the surface for what there is to see.
4. HMS D6 Submarine (Malin Head, Ireland — 280 fsw)
I think we were only the third dive team ever to visit this wreck. It is relatively deep and it lies on a bed of white sand which makes for a very drastic contrast and backdrop. I wish I would have spent more time on the wreck and done a photogrammetry model. If I ever return to Malin Head, it is definitely on my project list!
3. Cessna N414BA (Point Loma, California — 200+ fsw)
This was a tough one. The crash was very recent (June 2025) and six people lost their lives. We felt it was the right thing to do to find the wreck and notify the families — which is exactly what we did. We also notified the NTSB and USCG and provided pictures of the tail number. Tragic event.
2. S-3 Viking Search Project (Point Loma, California)
This project started when a relative of Kenneth Ables, who died in the crash of the S-3 Viking, reached out to Tyler to find the aircraft. We have been working on trying to find it for more than 5 years. We are getting closer and teamed up with UCSD/Scripps to deploy an AUV to help with the search and have conducted 6+ dives looking at targets.
1. USS Emmons Photogrammetry Project (Okinawa, Japan — 150 fsw)
This project has been on my “Top 5” for quite some time. It took a while to find the right guy that was local to Okinawa that could help me — and that guy is Kurt Reese! We completed the project and I recently presented the model and gave a keynote at the annual Emmons Family Reunion in Virginia this year. We also provided all data to the NHCC.
Up Next in 2026
I’m going to cut back on big, international trips in 2026. I have a few cool projects that I’m planning but nothing finalized yet.
However, I have a long list of local dive projects that have been “festering” for quite some time. Most of them require advance planning and complicated logistics so I’m hoping to spend the right amount of time on them and finally get them completed.
In terms of local SoCal dive projects, I have a number of them to work on:
- San Clemente Island – There are at least 3-4 more wrecks that I want to dive there. They have all been lingering on my to-do list for a while and they are all relatively deep. A couple of them have never seen divers as far as I know.
- USS Moody – This was also a carryover from 2023 and 2024 and now from 2025. I want to make a photogrammetry model of both halves of this wreck. Hopefully 2026 will be the year that I finally complete this project.
- Coronado Islands, Mexico – Tyler has a few wrecks and targets that are down by the Coronado Islands that could be our next frontier in finding and documenting new wrecks. We didn’t get there in 2024 and almost got there in 2025. This is one of my top priorities for 2026.
In addition, I do have a few things that are on the planning horizon:
- Maybe going back to Kea, Greece to work on a project that I’ll keep under wraps for now.
- The SS President Coolidge luxury liner in Vanuatu
- A super secret project in Asia that I have had at the top of my “wish list” for many years
I’ve also had a number of people who have asked me if I’m going to write a book. We’ll see what 2026 brings but there is a distinct possibility that a book will be in the works…
Cover Shot Out-takes / Fun Times With Friends
I often struggle with what photo to use for the “cover shot” for the blog post. For the annual Top 10 post, I try to use a photo of me taken somewhere during a trip. I thought it would be fun to include some of the photos that I thought about using but decided not to. Many of these photos are taken with friends and remind me of the good times this past year.
I decided to use the “selfie” shot taken by Kurt Reese right after one of my dives on the USS Emmons. It was the hardest project I’ve taken on so far and it really epitomizes the teamwork involved in working on a project like this. There is just no way I could have completed this project without the hep of Kurt & William.
Thanks To…
First and foremost, a huge amount of gratitude to my wife. It takes a lot of patience and understanding given my schedule, travel, and incessant talk about wreck diving. She supports me in all my projects and trips.
I’d also like to thank Tyler Stalter for being a good friend, a dive and research partner, and for always coming up with new targets to try and sites to visit. We make a great team and complement each other’s skill sets.
Kurt Reese & William in Okinawa. There is no doubt that the USS Emmons project would not have been possible without their enthusiasm and support.
I’ve had the pleasure to dive with numerous amazing divers this year (sorry, I’m sure I forgot a few): Ben Lair, Danny Graham, DJ Mansfield, Steve Millington, Oleg Baranovsky, Cody Cordero, Justin Judd, Kurt Reese, Anton Kozhevnikov, Steve Lawson, Chris Gilmartin, Ross Overstreet, Jeremy Roth, Nir Maimon, Greg Melzak, Travis Cormier, Ivan Arzola.
Thanks to Steve Lawson and Chris Gilmartin for taking me out on their boat on a few diving adventures this past year. Hopefully we’ll get more in 2026 and work on the Moody model (and maybe find a few new wrecks)!
Thanks to Lora, Chris, Rod, Captain & Scout at Marissa Charters for all the dives we had together in San Diego. It is always fun & laughs while diving with them. The Viking search continues…
Thanks to Danny Graham at Triton Diving Charters. We did quite a few target searches and have plenty more to do in 2026!
Thanks to Ben Lair and Paragon Dive Group for arranging the great dive trips to Budapest and Malin Head!
HAVE A GREAT 2026!
Sunrise at the Mission Bay Sports Center, San Diego — Getting ready to board the Marissa
