A Quick Introductory Post
🐳 You can find all my scuba comics in chronological order [HERE]
🦭 You can find non-scuba art and posts [HERE]
🐬 You can find my bio [HERE]
If you scroll down, you’ll find all my posts! Enjoy the blog and keep diving 🌊
Scuba Comic: Antarctica
To be a professional diver in Antarctica you often need to be productive in both commercial and scientific diving. Commercial diving programs in the United States can last 6-12 months and involve a lot of hard work, so you have to have put in the time and money to get the proper qualifications.
Scientific diving credentials are easier to get in theory, but the programs are selective and it can be hard to find a place that will train you. Programs are most often offered through universities, sometimes only to enrolled students.
On top of that, you need experience ice and drysuit diving. Drysuit diving courses aren’t hard to find, but ice diving is extremely location-specific! During my research I found the best places to ice dive in the US are in the Midwest.
Diving recreationally in Antarctica is expensive. You can’t just fly down for a weekend trip. If you’re in North/South America, you travel first to a city called Ushuaia in Argentina. From there, you sail to the Antarctic continent over the course of 3 days. Most people visit on a liveaboard trip, which means you “live aboard” a ship rather than staying on land in a hotel or resort. Your home base for the trip is the boat itself, but you can often join excursions on the land. In the case of Antarctica, snowshoe hikes are common land excursions.
Roundtrip airfare is expensive, and the liveaboard trips are expensive. It’s definitely a once-in-a-lifetime trip. But what a trip it would be!
Unfortunately I don’t do well in cold climates anymore, so Antarctica might not be the best place for me to visit. I wouldn’t turn it down if I impressed a rich billionaire patron, or found the perfect research opportunity, or entered a sweepstakes for an all-expenses-paid vacation though…!
So, what’s the big draw? For most people, it’s the wildlife. Emperor and Adelie penguins are the stars of the show, alongside many species of whales and seals. For others, it’s the almost alien landscape and beauty of the ice and snow. For some, it’s the remoteness and the peace that comes with it.
And for me, it’s the truly alien life hidden in the water.
Polar and deep-sea gigantism are fascinating: some things that live in extremely cold, extremely deep water have evolved to grow big. Scientists still aren’t sure why, but a leading theory is that it’s related to oceanic oxygen content. Colder water holds more oxygen, which promotes growth.
Similar animals in colder waters are normally larger than those living in warmer waters. I’ve seen this in real life and have been able to compare sizes! For example, the frigid Pacific Northwest of the United States is home to the Giant Pacific Octopus, which dwarfs the Caribbean Reef Octopus of the Yucatan Peninsula.
When you reach Antarctica, the water is so cold it encourages truly gargantuan growth. The aptly named Colossal Squid (different from the Giant Squid) is in the running for the heaviest known invertebratehe Giant Phantom Jellyfish (I made an art piece for a zine featuring this animal!) is one of the longest jellies to exist. The Giant Volcanic Sponge is even more impressive because not only does it get huge, it’s apparently extremely long lived — like over 10,000 years old. How is that even possible?! What is life like for a sponge that’s lived for millennia?
Actually seeing any of these animals is difficult because they don’t often come up to the surface. They live far below the limits of recreational, and in some cases technical, diving. But it’s very cool knowing there’s stuff out there so different and strange. I feel like just knowing about these possibilities makes the world seem like a fuller, more exciting place. Think of the possibilities! I’m getting excited just thinking about it, even if I never actually visit.
Well, a girl can dream and watch documentaries. Speaking of which, if you’re interested in the Antarctic documentary I mentioned, check out Antarctica: A Year On Ice. It follows an Antarctic crew over a year, and while it doesn’t feature any scuba, it’s well worth a watch.
Scuba Comic: Eye-To-Eye Shark Dive
I visited some friends up in Washington, and we went on a shark dive at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium!
The Eye-to-Eye Shark Dive is pretty cool because you don’t have to know how to scuba in order to participate. You don’t have to learn to use any equipment, and you don’t even need to swim (no fins necessary!). This meant it was perfect for my friends, as they’d never gone diving before.
Of course, since my friends had never been diving before, they were a little nervous. I thought this experience was the perfect way to ease into being underwater and experiencing scuba, because you basically stay in one spot the entire time and it’s incredibly accessible.
You get into a large cage (completely open at the top) with easy access to the deck via a ladder, if you want to end the dive early. For those who need assistance, there’s a lift to help you get in and out of the water. You wear a drysuit, so you can wear comfortable clothing underneath and stay dry, and you breathe through a regulator attached to an enormous tank on the surface. No need to strap a heavy tank to your back or fiddle around with a BCD!
You really just get to sit back, relax, and watch the sharks swim by. It’s low-stress, and you have a staff member in the water with you at all times. It’s a really well-designed activity! You’re provided everything you need.
There were 4 species of shark in the tank, but we only saw 3: the white– and black-tipped reef sharks, and the Indo-Pacific leopard shark. Another, the wobbegong, was hiding too well for us to spot.
I’ve actually seen white-tipped reef sharks on dives in Mexico. They’re very shy! The ones in the aquarium were initially very curious, swimming in front of the cage in rounds to check us out.
OTP is short for “One True Pairing,” sort of like your ultimate celebrity couple you love to follow. Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce ain’t got nuthin’ on Peanut & Butter!
My favorite thing about the event was actually the people. The viewing window for the people visiting the zoo/aquarium looked in at the cage, so I got to watch the looks on people’s faces as they realized there were divers in the water! The kids were generally more interested in watching the sharks, but all the parents were pointing at us and very excitedly waving. It was pretty cute.
The star of the show was definitely Ms. Peanut the leopard shark, who was doing great work contributing to the survival of her species. You can read a couple articles about her, Butter, and the zoo’s conservation program in this article, and get an update on some of their babies in this post! Hip hip hooray!
The cage had a little door that opened up for us to better see the white- and black-tipped reef sharks swimming by, but as soon as it did open, the sharks got shy and stayed away from us. Dang it! So much popular media shows sharks as being aggressive, but in my experience they’re pretty wary. Plus, the average person is way larger than a white- or black-tipped reef shark. They don’t want to mess with us!
The dive was about 45 minutes long, the average time for a shallow scuba dive. After we got out, one of my friends said they enjoyed it so much they’d be interested in learning to scuba dive for real! There’s nothing quite like sharing the love you have for something with another person. How satisfying!
The outing was a success. We got to try something new, the sharks got some enrichment, and I think we added some fun to some random zoo visitors’ day. Next time I’m in Washington, I’ll have to go see Peanut again.
Now I may not be the #1 Biggest Peanut Fan in the world, that honor probably falls to one of the zoo’s aquarists and shark-wranglers, but who else can say they have a homemade Peanut Fan Club badge? Maybe I’m her #2 Biggest Fan haha!
🦈 Looking for more information on the Eye-To-Eye Shark Dive at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium? Check out their webpage here!
🦈 And many thanks to my friends for joining me in the adventure! You can find them online–they’re both artists!– as Vaquero-Azul on Instagram and Chaotic-Zora on Tumblr.
Interview: The Mermaid “Tail” of Ms. Junco!
I met Junco online, and we quickly discovered we share a love of the ocean and all things aquatic. Imagine my delight when I learned she owns not one, but several mermaid tails! While scuba diving and mermaid swimming (aka “mermaiding”) seem different, both activities open up the underwater world in similar ways. There are even mermaid classes offered by PADI, a scuba organization!
I thought it would be fun to ask her some questions about mermaiding, including how she got introduced to the sport and how one can learn to swim with a tail. Let’s dive in!
Q: How long have you been swimming for?
A: Well gosh, I’ve been swimming for as long as I’ve been alive! It’s always been my favorite activity, so whenever the family would have a pool or beach trip, you KNOW I’d be in the water the WHOLE time. My parents would actually have to pull me out a few times cause I’d swim until my lips were blue. I just love the water.
Q: What first inspired you to buy a mermaid tail, or was it gifted? How did you get it?
A: I was gifted my first mermaid tail on Christmas 2014!
You can watch her tail gift unboxing [HERE] and [HERE] on instagram!
“Professional mermaid” was one of my several ocean-related dream jobs I’ve wanted throughout my life. I even made a little presentation on professional mermaiding in college! When I received the tail, I went straight to the local public indoor pool to try it out and it felt MERMAZING✨️ I own 4 FinFun tails (and monofin) at the moment, which are cheap (basically swimsuit material), and super easy to use and care for.
Courtesy of FinFun Tails
My DREAM tail would be a custom one from FinFolk! Incredibly costly, but super realistic and fantastical! They’re the real deal when it comes to tails.
Courtesy of FinFolk Productions
Q: How did you learn to swim with tails? How often do you swim, and any favorite places to practice?
A: So actually, I’ve always swam like a mermaid. Using the classic “dolphin kick,” I would dive down, skim the bottom for as long as possible, and rise up to breach as if I was a real dolphin. No one taught me this method, I just discovered it on my own! I actually can’t swim using the “normal” methods. It’s gotta be mermaid style! So the tail only feels natural.
I used to swim up to 3 times a week at our YMCA until they banned tails due to a liability issue. So I can only swim when invited to a pool, or I just go to a local river or ocean. But I don’t typically bring my tails to wild water for safety reasons. In all honesty though, I’d rather swim in natural waters than pools. Chlorine is painful.
Q: Did you know there is official training to be a mermaid through some scuba organizations? What are your thoughts on that?
A: I did know about PADI! I actually attended a panel once and received their business card. I have yet to look further into it, but it sounds super rad!
Courtesy of PADI
Q: What’s the best way to get started with mermaid swimming?
A: To get started, practice the dolphin kick. I’ve taught some kids how, by having them hold the edge of the pool to stay stable. The trick is to envision the lower half of your body as a long spine. Practice moving each vertebrae up and down from your lower back, to your hips, then knees, then feet. The idea is to keep all the parts linked and moving in a smooth pattern, just like a whale tail. When you can actually swim like this, a monofin by itself is the next step. It will keep your feet together, but it’s super easy to remove if you feel unsafe. The tail should only be on when you feel absolutely comfortable! And NEVER swim alone! Always have supervision.
Q: Have you ever gone to an event or performed with your tail?
A: I am not really the performer type, as I’ve always had stage fright. I have played with kids during pool parties, but I’d really rather swim on my own, heh. I’ve seen mermaids working, though! A nearby aquarium had a mermaid event and I actually got to see them in action in person! I studied them so hard, haha. How they dress, pose, swim, use the oxygen tubes, and make expressions. It was fascinating and quite educational.
Q: What’s your favorite part about swimming?
A: My favorite thing about swimming is just being completely underwater. It’s the most calming sensation I can ever experience. I love to lay on the bottom and look up at the mesmerizing movements of the water’s surface. I love diving down to skim the bottom like a stingray, and I love feeling the bubbles on my skin when I do flips and twirls. If only I could breathe underwater, I’d never leave! I would even lay face-down in the bathtub just to feel like I’m fully submerged, napping on the sea floor.
I suppose I should mention I’ve had a fascination and adoration for the ocean forever as well! My mom told me when she was pregnant with me, she was watching The Little Mermaid and I kept kicking the whole time. The ocean and everything within was always my passion. I have no favorite marine animal, because they’re all my favorites. What others fear is my fascination. I’ve truly been under the sea’s spell my whole life!
If you want to see more mermaid adventures, check out Junco’s Instagram page at seaspritelazulite! You can see videos of her swimming, get introduced to her mermaid persona Raylazure, and get a new perspective on the magical underwater world.
If you want more information on training and fins, check out the links below:
Thanks for reading, and thank you so much to Junco for her time and answers!!
Scuba Comic: Divemaster vs Master Diver
There are two separate certification levels you can get that have very similar names: Divemaster, and Master Diver. One is a professional certification, the other is kind of like a certificate of achievement. What’s the difference, and why does everyone keep mixing them up?
The thing that makes it even more confusing is, for the most part, you take the same path to get to both Divemaster and Master Diver. You start with your Open Water certification, get your Advanced Open Water certification, then get your Rescue Diver certification.
From Rescue Diver, the path splits into two options: Divemaster, and Master Diver.
The Master Diver path ends. There are no further certifications that require Master Diver as a prerequisite.
The Divemaster path continues, and is a prerequisite for all the professional certifications like Instructor.
Master Diver doesn’t teach you new skills, and there’s no dedicated course you have to take in order to receive the title. There are requirements you have to fulfill to qualify:
- 50 dives
- Rescue Diver certified
- 5 specialty classes
Then you submit an application through a dive shop and get a spiffy new card!
What are specialty classes, then? Specialty classes teach an already-certified diver a specific scuba skillset, rather than teaching how to dive in general. Some are really technical and can be difficult, some are super easy and you basically just have to pay for the class to get the certificate. Some classes just teach you knowledge, others certify you to go to new depths or environments.
Courtesy of PADI
Specialty classes like Coral Reef Conservation or AWARE Specialist don’t require dives, just a short classroom session. You don’t learn skills. I took both and thought they were valuable!
Classes like Emergency Oxygen Provider don’t require dives either, but they’re very hands on and teach you skills (usually first aid).
Classes like Underwater Naturalist, Boat Diver, or Night Diver require dives and teach you new skills, but don’t give you new permissions. Anyone can dive at night regardless of whether they have the Night Diver specialty certification; the class is still a good idea to take if you’ve never done a night dive before.
Classes like Cave, Deep, and Drysuit require dives– more than the average Specialty class– and give you permissions to do new types of dives. These are classes for which the type of diving carries more risk and/or you need to use specialized equipment, so you really need good training. No dive shop or guide will let you near a cave if you don’t have your Cave Diver certification.1
Enriched Air Diver is a weird one because you aren’t required to dive for the class, but you can’t dive with enriched air unless you have the specialty class.
Since you don’t take a “Master Diver” course, this is considered a Rating rather than a Certification. However, nobody in real life calls it a Rating (except me, because I’m that nerdy about this stuff).
Divemaster is a whole course and it’s very involved. I have a couple comics on here about my Divemaster learning experience!
Here’s the thing: you can be BOTH a Divemaster AND a Master Diver. They are not mutually exclusive! If you are at least Rescue Diver certified, with 50 dives or more, and 5 Specialty classes, it doesn’t matter if you’re an Instructor or Divemaster or a Course Director, one of the highest levels where you can teach Instructors. You qualify, you can get the rating. Most Divemasters I’ve met have never applied for Master Diver though– I think they see it as a waste of time and money since they’re already professionals.
I think it’s an excellent excuse to get another spiffy card. I want to be a Divemaster and a Master Diver! Maybe I can combine the two names and call myself a Master Divemaster…
It’s a common question I see online: is getting Master Diver worth it? The general consensus is, no. I think it’s worth it, depending on what you want from scuba diving.
For example, if you’re an Open Water certified diver and you’re just interested in diving on vacation maybe 1-2 times a year, then any further certifications wouldn’t be needed. Unless of course you love diving and are interested in training more for the love of the sport.
If you’re a Rescue Diver, you’ve already got a huge requirement out of the way and you’re probably really interested in scuba. In this case, having Master Diver as a goal would be great in my opinion. Taking the 5 specialty classes and getting in more dives will make you a better, safer diver. I think it would also make you better prepared for if you wanted to become a Divemaster.
In sum, the biggest differences between Divemaster and Master Diver are the required training and what you can do with the certifications. You need to do a specific training course to become a Divemaster, and you then get to professionally guide people and potentially make money. Master Diver has requirements you fulfill on your own time, and is not a professional certification. You can be both if you’d like.
So, what do you think: would you be interested in becoming a Master Diver someday? Or maybe even… a Master Divemaster!
Courtesy of diver below
- Well… they shouldn’t, but shops and guides make terrible decisions too. Don’t! Go! Cave! Diving! Without! The! Proper! Certifications!!! ↩︎
Comic: Beach Horseback Riding
I love riding horses. I don’t get to do it often enough, so there’s a lot I still need to learn.
Tux, the star of the show!
Horses are complicated creatures in terms of drawing. They have odd proportions, lots of weird angles, and some difficult shapes compared to other animals. I’ve tried unsuccessfully to draw horses all my life, and it was only in this year (2026) that I told myself, “I’m going to figure out how to draw these animals correctly!”
Horses are one of those subjects that are notoriously difficult to draw. You know you’re looking at a great artist if they can draw a good-looking horse. Maybe I’ll get there eventually.
I did not fall off the horse. But I felt like I was going to fall down when I got home, I was so much in pain. Galloping on a horse involves a lot of core, back, and leg strength– things I don’t have much of– so I got a full-body workout.
Ouch! Well, it was worth it. However, I think I’ll need some time to rest and heal before I can go on any more adventures. I’ll dream of horses and the beach until then.
Freehand Drawing Demonstration
I ran a discord group for artists and put on monthly events. As an example, some of our more popular events were Secret Santas, where each person would be assigned to secretly make a gift for another group member. It’s been a lot of fun.
September 2026’s event was a Tutorial/Skill Demonstration exhibition, wherein participants were asked to make a tutorial on a skill. I get a lot of questions about how I freehand drawings so I focused on that for my demonstration. The Discord app isn’t great for sharing videos and big files, so I’m borrowing my little website for this project!
For my friends coming from the Discord group: hello!!
Alright… let’s get into it.
When I draw, I often only use pen with no sketches. I put the pen directly to the paper– but what’s happening in my mind isn’t all that simple. It’s actually a little hard to describe my thought process (but I’ll do my best).
The photo above is of a ceramic dragon, and I decided to use this as my reference. Something that’s really important for me, since I don’t use pencil sketches, is having a reference image. While I can draw some things from memory, having an image to draw makes the process so much easier.
My first step often involves mentally blocking out the space I want to take up on the page. Is it going to be a full page drawing? Will the drawing be very small, only taking up a corner of the page? For this exercise I didn’t worry too much about placement because I’m not drawing anything else. I have to take space into consideration particularly when I’m drawing comics.
I like to think of freehanding with a reference image as mentally tracing . I took a photo of my dragon, and overlayed lines to try and show you how I think of the image as I’m drawing it. Later, you can watch an actual video of me drawing the dragon!
I basically always start with the head, if the object has one. I try to think of the object as though it has layers– what needs to be drawn first so there are no overlapping lines? The dragon here has a lot of layers: the wings overlap, the dragon is sitting on a castle/rock and the body overlaps the scenery, one claw is holding a gem/pearl, etc. Stuff like that! I have to consider what to draw first and how, depending on how many things cover or overlap each other.
I know some people start from the bottom up, or from the feet to the head. I do the opposite, because in my opinion blocking in the head first lets you get the proportions of the rest of the body to be more accurate. If you know how big the head is, you know how big the body should be.
The arm serves as a sort of anchor point for me. I can use the arm as reference to start drawing the rest of the body and the castle. You have to pay attention to the little details, like gaps! The yellow line is the bottom of the throat, and it creates the top of a little opening or gap that shows the background.
Nice! The body is mostly blocked in. Now we can use that as a size reference to draw out the castle/rock outline.
There’s so much little detail that will need to be added, now that the basic lines are down…
Now that I’ve shown you approximately what goes on in my mind, let’s see how I put it into practice!
This summer, I did try incorporating pencil sketches into more of my drawings and it’s really helped me draw better… but I’m a horribly impatient artist, so I’m still mostly freehanding haha!
And here is the finished piece, after cleaning it up a little:
Scuba Comic: Gear!
Every once in a while I like to categorize all my art supplies so I can compare what I’m using now, to ask the stuff I used to use. I’ve started doing the same thing with my scuba gear, now that I’m shortly adding pieces to the collection. It’s cool to have a record, for memory’s sake.
I technically don’t have much, but some of the items are really bulky. My fins and drysuit in particular take up a lot of space. Eventually, I want my own BCD and regulator/first stage & second stage set. I’ve used enough different kinds, that I think I know what I want now… I feel like I’m always changing my mind though!
I think I own mostly Cressi grear, because that’s what’s really available where I’ve lived. I’ve seen some disdain for Cressi in the United States, which really annoys me. It’s a good brand! It doesn’t have the cache of ScubaPro or other “high-end” brands that people like to throw around, so I guess some people look down on it. What a shame! The brand has several distributors in Mexico so it’s really easy to find, and it’s been durable and affordable. I’ll happily use it!
Scuba Comic: The Night Dive
I didn’t have any trouble with my sinuses, just an itchy throat, so I decided to risk it. I never ended up getting a sore throat, but I’m happy I went diving when I did because once the illness really took hold I had a stuffy nose and pretty gunked-up sinuses. I squeezed in that dive just in the nick of time!
Night diving reminds me of cavern diving. It’s very dark– in most cases it’s actually darker than a cavern or cenote. Different animals come out when it’s dark, or the animals you see at day have different behaviors. There were so many octopus on the reef, which I have never seen around here during the day.
The weird stuff swimming around in the water freaked me out a little. They didn’t bite, but they were attracted to our lights and hands and kept bumping into my skin. A couple looked like they were going for my face. I have no idea what they were! Where do they go during the day, and why do they only come out at night? So many questions…
Online Zine: Unconventional Self Portraits (August 2026)
Cover image above courtesy of Veronika Vilkas. You can find her stellar textile art over at https://www.veronikavilkas.com/.
Over the course of a couple months, I managed a personal zine project that involved 11 artists (including myself). We each created 1-2 pieces of art centered around the theme of unconventional self-portraits. The main guideline was to make a written or visual piece depicting oneself without being literal. Some participants elected to create portraits showing how they perceive themselves, how they wish they could appear, nicknames and aliases, and even how the external world seems to perceive them. The varieties in style, media, and even meaning were exciting to see, and everyone put a lot of time and though into their pieces. I’m really pleased by how the project came out.
I managed the participants and project, formatted the zine, and created small page illustrations to go with some of the entries. Below is my entry, which I though would be fitting to share on the scuba blog:
TITLE: The Aquarium Life
MEDIUM: Traditional (Collage)
NOTES: If you had told me I would grow up and earn a professional scuba certification, I don’t think anyone would have been surprised. As a baby, my parents would put on aquarium videos for me to watch and I’d be practically hypnotized. The same went for visiting aquariums in person: I could probably be entertained for the whole day. I have a lot of fond memories of going to the beach, swimming, kicking around in tide pools, and generally enjoying being around water throughout my life.
Collaging used to be one of my favorite ways to make art, so I wanted to incorporate it into the portrait. I used an old baby photo, cut up some scuba and travel magazines for the background, then applied holographic film to certain animals to make the composition pop.
These days all my photos are digital and taken on my phone, and it’s getting harder to find specialty magazines that are still in print. Though the world is rapidly changing, the ocean will always feel like a great escape from the hustle and bustle on land. It feels like I’m returning to my roots when I get my head under the waves. I have seen all the animals and corals present in this collage in real life!
Unfortunately none of the holographic sparkle came through in the final image. I’ve included a couple close up shots to show off the shimmer:
If you want to see the full zine, it’s currently being hosted on itch.io : https://fineartistsgallery.itch.io/unconventional-self-portraits-zine.
You can also vote on the next zine theme here: 2027 Theme Poll if you’re interested in participating.
Enjoy!