Scuba Diving Magazines?

[boulderjohn]

A lot of people are recommending the magazines that I agree are among the best.

I will do the opposite. The magazines to avoid are the ones that chiefly consist of two kinds of articles:

1. Dive sites that are the best in the world, ones you should not miss.
2. Dive gear that is all really, really great--you can't go wrong with any of it.

After a few issues, you realize that if you throw a dart at a world map, you will likely hit a spot that has been reviewed as one of the world's best dive sites in one of those issues, and if you blindly pick up some gear on eBay without checking it, it will be something that got a glowing review as well.

 

[Byrdie]

I enjoy Wreck Diver Mag. I believe there are 4 issues a year.

 

[TMHeimer]

I've read a couple of Alert Divers which seemed pretty good. I don't subscribe to anything, just pick up stuff at shops. I find that there is rarely something new in most magazines (how many diving topics are there anyway?). Dive Training is OK, but I find the training stuff quite rudimentary ("This is what it looks like when your snorkel is on the wrong side") and have no interest in the tech. stuff (again, how many topics?). I guess it can be good for a new diver, and there are some articles an instructor may find useful. Travel info. can be found on the internet at no extra cost, plus you can figure out places you may want to go then check them out. In fact, most mag. stuff is probably somewhere on the net.

 

[diversteve]

What I like about Alert Diver now is that since Steven Frink took over the photographs have improved by about 1000%.

You can get Diver (UK) free on an Android tablet via their app.

This one is free for download a month after subscribers get theirs. Scuba Sport Magazine- The Recreational Diving Magazine Digital Edition

With all due credit to Larry "Harris" Taylor, Ph.D. at the University of Michigan - Michigan Mafia Archive - here's a pretty current list:

Diving-Magazines

Advanced DIving - Advanced Diver Magazine
Alert Diver - Alert Diver Online
Apnea - Freediving - Spearfishing - Apnea Magazine
California Diving News - California Diving News - The Premier Website for California Divers
Cayman Diving News - The Cayman Islands: Organizing your way there with cayman . org!
Darryl's Diving Services - Scuba in Ontario, Darryls Diving Services On-Line Magazine, Scuba In Ontario.
Dive New Zealand - Dive New Zealand : Dive New Zealand, Dive News, news and articles, Dive New Zealand Magazine, Subscriptions
Dive News Network - Dive News Network - Your Source For Local Dive News - Dive News Network
Dive News - REN DiveNews.Com ~ News @ Depth
Dive The Blue - Dive The Blue . net
Dive Training - Dive Training Magazine — Scuba's magazine for new divers and their instructors.
DiveIn - DIVE.in - Free Online Scuba Diving magazine | For new and pro divers!
DiverNet - Divernet - Diver Magazine Online | SCUBA | Diving | Dive Shows | Gear Tests | Travel | News - Divernet
DiveTexas - Dive Texas - Scuba, Snorkeling and CPR training for Houston, The Woodlands, Huntsville, Cypress, Conroe, Spring, Dallas and Austin, Texas residents.
Diving Periodicals Int'l - Diving Periodicals Int'l. - Flags
Historical Diver - The Journal | Historical Diving Society
In Depth - www.in-depth.net
Marine Mammal News - Marine mammal news
Midwest Scuba Diving - Home - Midwest Scuba Diving Magazine
Ocean News & Technology - Ocean News & Technology - ON&T News
PS Diver - PSDiver.com
Revista Buceo (Spanish) - Revista Buceo Apnea Submarinismo BuceoWorld
Scuba Diving (Rodale) - Scuba Diving Gear, Dive Travel & Scuba Diving Reviews | Scuba Diving
Scuba Globe - ScubaGlobe Asia Pacific
Scuba Herald - Scuba Diving News | All ABout Scuba Diving; News, Products and Many More.
Sea Technology - Sea Technology Magazine - Worldwide Information Leader for Marine Business, Science and Engineering
Shark Diver - Shark Diver magazine - Everything you wanted to learn about swimming with sharks
Skin Diver Online - Scuba Diving Equipment, Scuba Gear for Caribbean Travel Skin Diver Online Magazine
SORTIE - S.O.R.T.I.E. - Special Operations Rescue Tactical Interdiction Expeditions
South Florida Diving Journal - Diving Palm Beach | Diving West Palm Beach | Palm Beach County
Spearing - http://www.spearingmagazine.com/index.html
Sport Diver (PADI) - Sport Diving, Scuba Gear, Dive Training and Diving News | Sport Diver
Undercurrent - Scuba Diving Magazine, Undercurrent Reviews Liveaboards, Dive Resorts, , & Dive Gear
Underwater Journal - UWJ |
Underwater Photography - UwP = Your free Underwater Photography Magazine | Home page
Underwater Times - UnderwaterTimes.com | news of the underwater world
Underwater3Some - Welcome to the World of Diving

 

[Walt Stearns]

I would suggest my own online publication Underwater Journal, which is free, no subscription required, but I am finding most people don't read anymore, they just wait for a video.

 

[The Chairman]

I don't know Walt... ScubaBoard wouldn't be around if people didn't read anymore. That said, I do like your magazine.

 

[grf88]

Missing from the comprehensive list is Diver magazine. This and Alert Diver are the two that I enjoy.
DIVER magazine | History

 

[FinnMom]

Some one above post a negative review of PADI's Sport Diver magazine. Please note that there are at least 2 completely different versions with that same title.

I'm not a PADI product and having been trained 95% by unpaid volunteers (CMAS club diver) I can't help but be biased about dive training for profit, with schedules and cost effectiveness etc. Noneless: I think PADI's UK (i.e. United Kingdom) version of Sport Diver is a good magazine & good subscription value. It's got about 3% to do with being a PADI publication, all the rest is about diving in general, becoming a better diver from many different levels, dives shows/conventions/seminars that might be of interest, recent wrecks or other finds of special interest to divers and and a very great deal is about diving in local sites, the cold, dark seas of northern Europe and sites that ARE NOT seen-it-a-million times warm water dive travel standard locations, esp. interesting sites in Europe and relatively close (<4 hrs flight) to Europe.

It's a nice thick magazine that offers a lot to read. Best of all if you could delete all the advertisements dedicated PADI stuff, you'd still have more than 75% of the magazine in your hand. I think we all know dive magazines that would have been decimated by that procedure.

 

[The Chairman]

I think I heard that UK's Sportdiver just got bought out by Bonnier, the people who own Sport Diver and Scuba Diving Mag.

 

[FinnMom]

I think I heard that UK's Sportdiver just got bought out by Bonnier, the people who own Sport Diver and Scuba Diving Mag.

Oh great :sad:

I subscribed to Scuba Diving Mag. in 2008 or so. A year or so later Bonnier bought it and it dove (pardon the pun) to a fraction of its former size. Ange left too. Absolutely no comparison to the magazine I had enjoyed.