I remember the sensation and thrill of breathing underwater for the first time. I suppose it was inevitable. I grew up in Rhode Island and spent countless hours watching Sea Hunt and The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. I dreamed of working as a scuba diver aboard the Calypso. 

As far as I was concerned, Falco had the best job in the world. I couldn't say the same about Mike Nelson. Wasn't someone always slashing his double hose regulator with a knife? 
Spending my boyhood summers at my grandfather's beach house in Bristol [R.I.], overlooking Mount Hope Bay, also sealed my love for the sea. The ocean is beautiful, but I think its most alluring and interesting features are hidden below the surface.
After moving to Fort Lauderdale from New England in 1980 and booking several snorkeling trips to Key Largo, I signed up to dive. I soon found myself with a regulator in my mouth - in four feet of water at the local YMCA pool - slipping beneath the surface and drawing my first underwater breath. 
This is cool, I thought. Very cool.

That was 16 years ago The sense of adventure I felt then is similar to the excitement I feel today with the premier issue of Florida Underwater, a magazine dedicated to providing divers, snorkelers and the entire marine community with news and entertaining features about scuba divers, the environment, dive safety and other important regional issues.
By the way, if our cover didn't tip you off, we're not like any other dive magazine on the market. Florida Underwater takes its journalistic responsibilities seriously. We will provide accurate and balanced reporting about local and regional people and events in our news columns, but we'll also look at the lighter side of diving.

Our first issue has some excellent articles: A profile on 'Big John' McLaughlin, the stuntman who doubled for Sean Connery; a story about a proposal to create a marine sanctuary off Broward County [you read it here first]; a cartoon, dive-oriented horoscopes, an advice columnist and a consumer story.

We've also got a web site containing some features not found in the magazine. We will update it on a regular basis. And if you subscribe online, we'll send you an electronic newsletter every few weeks with the latest local diving news. In the coming months and years, we want our site and magazine to become an invaluable resource for scuba divers here and around the country.
Florida Underwater will publish four times this year. Our next issues will be out in July, September and November. Since we're based in South Florida, we will concentrate our coverage here, but we'll also write about diving elsewhere in the state. 

Our second issue will include a lobster mini-season guide, dive club listings and a dive boat/dive store directory for advertisers. We will add columns or write features about underwater photography, technical diving and boating safety as it relates to diving. Whether it's counting fish or catching lobster, diving to 30 feet or 300 feet, we'll cover it. I hope you enjoy the magazine. To encourage subscriptions, we'll donate $1 to the marine environmental organization of your choice. The reason is simple: We believe in supporting the local dive community, especially on environmental issues.

I want Florida Underwater to be a magazine divers read. So if you've got an idea or suggestion, please post a note on our web site's message board. And if you've got a news tip, don't hesitate to pick up the phone or send me an e-mail. In order for Florida Underwater to succeed, we need the support of our readers. A little about myself: My background is news. I spent 20 years working as a newspaper reporter, including 18 at the Sun-Sentinel, where I covered scuba diving boating and marine environmental issues [I didn't mention the boring stuff]. This is year one in the magazine biz. I want to thank our advertisers for supporting a new dive publication in its first issue. I also want to thank the people, close friends, freelancers, photographers and others who helped out along the way.
Back to the pool.

While exploring the YMCA's chlorinated waters in 1983 [visibility was excellent], I discovered a dive fin. I was perplexed: How do you lose a flipper and not know it? I searched for a diver swimming in circles. No luck. There is no doubt learning to dive is exciting, but like many new adventures in life, it gets much better with experience. I hope divers, snorkelers and environmentalists will support us as we expand. I'll make only one promise: Florida Underwater will be the best local dive magazine you ever read.

To the readers of Tropical Adventure Magazine, I am offering the first month's issue of Florida Underwater print magazine FREE. The normal rate is $9.50 for 4 issues and $19.50 for 10 issues, Tropical Adventure readers will only pay $8.50 and $18.50. What do you have to lose, so try the first issue FREE and see if you like it. Send an email to me and in the subject put Tropical Adventure Offer. Enjoy!!