I’ve been a travel writer, scuba copywriter, and scuba storyteller for 30 years now.

My experience as a PADI-certified Open Water diver includes more than 175 scuba articles published in newspapers, magazines, newsletters, and websites with links to most of them shown below.

I’ve also been the Editor-in-Chief of the upscale travel, food, wine and shopping blog at Vagablond.com, creating about 1,500 articles.

I’ve been the monthly newsletter editor (with over 70 posted) and webmaster since 2017 for Marin Scuba Club.

And I was one of the featured speakers at ScubaShow2023 in Long Beach on the topic “Blogging About Bubbles”, where I hosted a 13-step workshop that showcased my “greatest hits” and shared my insights into getting published or memorializing your underwater exploits to share with friends, family, and dive buddies.

Miscellaneous Scuba Writing Stories

Local Getaways – California:
– Scuba Diving in Northern California
– Scuba Diving in the Central Coast of California
– Scuba Diving in Southern California
– Snorkeling in Southern California

Local Getaways – Hawaii:
– Scuba Diving on Kauai
– Scuba Diving on Oahu
– Scuba Diving on Maui
– Snorkeling in Maui
– Snorkeling on The Big Island

Scuba Diver Life:
– “The Best Scuba Diving in Kosrae”
– “Five Underwater Photo Tips for Beginners”
– “Diving Bloody Bay Marine Park”
– “The Best Places to Get Married Underwater”
– “Top Five Alternative Diving Bucket List Destinations”
– “3D Printed Terra Cotta Tiles Create Artificial Reefs in The Red Sea”

Zeimer.com:
– “Maui March Madness – Humpback Whale Tales”
– “Drift Diving Away in Cozumel”
– “Diving With The Oldies”
– “Little Cayman Scuba Writer Dive Log”
– “5 Reasons I Love Aruba”
– “What Divers Hate Most About ’47 Meters Down’ – A Review by 12 Experienced Divers”

Miscellaneous #ScubaStorytelling Stories:
Diving on Oahu: West Side Story

Right after the 2016 Elections, I did something exceedingly selfish. For about two hours, I was weightless beneath the warm Pacific seas off the quiet west coast of Oahu vs. the hectic, traffic-clogged southeast coast of Waikiki Beach. Read the article.

• Between 2002 to 2009, I wrote quarterly enewsletters and websites Red Sail Sports after booking a few days of diving with them in Aruba. This included their portal website, then separate websites for each of this resort- based diving and watersports operator in Grand Cayman and Aruba. For the that Southern Caribbean island, I had a spectacular visit filled with scuba diving, snorkeling, parasailing, lunch and sunset cruises.  Read Watersports Paradise Found.

SF Chronicle Sunday Travel Section, September 13, 2009, Just Back From Kosrae, Micronesia, by Gil Zeimer

This story by Gil Zeimer and photo by Doug Beitz of Kosrae Nautilus Resort appeared on 9/13/09 in the SF Chronicle’s “Just Back From” column in their printed and online travel sections. Read this article.

LA Times Scene Online, August 21, 2009, Kosrae, Micronesia, by Gil Zeimer

This story by Gil Zeimer and photo by Katrina Adams of Kosrae Village Ecolodge appeared in the Los Angeles Times Travel Section’s “Scene Online” on 8/21/09. Read this article.

Dive Pacific Magazine

I’m proud to be a regular contributor to Dive Pacific Magazine in New Zealand and Australia.

Nature’s Playground 2010 Annual from the editors of Dive Pacific Magazine. “Kosrae, Untapped Pacific Gem” by Gil Zeimer, Travel Writer is featured on pages 107, 108 and 109 of the 10th production of this slick, coffee-table quality magazine. It featured articles about sharks, turtles, shipwrecks, cenotes, belugas, mantas, whales, and exotic destinations across the globe. I was honored to be included in this issue.
— Kosrae article, page 107
— Kosrae article, page 108
— Kosrae article, page 109

The February/March 2009 issue featured a story called “The Day I Rode A Manta Ray: An Ecologically Incorrect Thing I’ll Never Do Again.” Read the article (pdf) about how I found myself in exactly the right place at exactly the right time for a once-in-a-life encounter.

The December 2008/January 2009 issue printed an article that’s a bit of a stretch for a diving magazine, but that’s why I’m proud to have placed it there. It’s called “Heavy Breathing on Half Dome —- And Other Ways To Stay In Shape For Diving.” Read the article about a one-day, 18.2-mile hike, 9-hour round-trip hike I took 200 miles east of the Pacific Ocean.

My first article in Dive Pacific was featured in the October/November 2008 issue. It’s called “Your Gear May Be Old, But Is It Safe?”. Read it here on the DNZ Website.

Marin Scuba Club –– Member Spotlight, November 2016

I’m very pleased to have been featured in this interview by the Marin Scuba Club that tells the story behind some of my scuba articles. Read the article.

Dive Travel Magazine

— My Dive Buddy Wears Diapers, Winter 1996, By Gil Zeimer
My dive buddy prefers warm water. So do I. Every evening around 8 p.m., we gather our gear, approach the dive site and take the plunge. Read more.

— Waterlogged Proposals, Summer 1996, By Gil Zeimer
I tried to propose to my wife underwater. She almost drowned.
While planning the moment — the commitment most men fear most — I thought this would be a romantic way to tie the knot. Read more.

— Waiting to Inhale, Spring 1997, By Gil Zeimer
I waited to inhale for 1,286 days. That’s how long it’s been since my last dive. I waited through 3-1/2 years of visiting in-laws and spending weekends in landlocked hotels. I waited. And I planned. Read more.

— The Insider’s Guide to Baja, May/June 1997, By Gil Zeimer
I was one of three contributors to this Destination X story. The following is my dive briefing and live-aboard experience.
Download the PDF version or Read more.

— Family Planning, July/August 1997, By Faith Mulvihill & Gil Zeimer
A guide to setting up your dive vacation and bringing along the whole family.Read more.

Alert Diver Magazine from Divers Alert Network

— The Sun Also Burns, May 2001, by Gil Zeimer
Barbecued ribs. Braised shoulders. Baked legs. These sound like summer grilling choices, but they’re really describing the effects of the hot sun on your skin – if you don’t take precautions with sunscreens and protective clothing. Skin cancer is something that all divers should think about. Read more.

— Low Anxiety, June 2001, by Gil Zeimer
What’s round, midnight blue, 1,000 feet/308 meters wide, and over 400 feet/123 meters deep? The Great Blue Hole of Belize, one of the world’s foremost dive destinations. It’s a spectacular underwater cavern where I got “narked”, ran out of air, and broke my watch 130 feet/40 meters below the warm Caribbean waters. Download page 1 PDF. Download page 2 PDF. Or read more.

— To Dive Or Not To Dive, April 2002, by Gil Zeimer
I hadn’t been underwater in a few years, so I’m always more cautious on my first dive of a trip. This day, the wind off the Florida coast in late February was gusting to 20 mph, the seas were rolling with 3-4 foot waves, and water temp was 74. I jumped in to follow a divemaster and 6 divers to a depth of 85 feet on a drift dive. Read more.

— Equipment Upgrade 2.0, May 2002, by Gil Zeimer
Most of us don’t even think twice about upgrading our computers, our software, our cell phones, our wardrobe, our cars, or perhaps even our homes every two to 10 years. But when did you last consider upgrading your essential dive gear? Our equipment allows us to breathe, stay neutrally buoyant, and explore underwater. Maybe it’s time you seriously considered replacing some or all of it. Read more.

Red Sail Sports, Red Sail Sports Newsletter, August 2002, by Gil Zeimer
— Watersports Paradise Found
I traveled over 4,000 miles to find a watersports paradise. It’s called Aruba. From the shallow turquoise blue waters caressing the high-rise hotels along beautiful Palm Beach, I had my choice of a dozen watersports activities through Red Sail Sports, the island’s most popular sports supplier and an international adventure outfitter.
Read more.

Scuba Times Magazine

— So, You Can’t Make The Reef, November/December 1994, by Gil Zeimer
I became the poster child for Murphy’s Law at the Great Barrier Reef. I assumed the world’s largest living thing would be easy to visit. I assumed wrong. Four of my five planned dive days were canceled. Read more.

Adventure Journal Magazine, Summer 1998, by Gil Zeimer

— Dancing To The Humpbacks’ Song
While on my honeymoon, I fell in love with another man. So did my wife. We’re not even swingers.
He was a big fella – 45 feet long, 30 tons, and had a beautiful voice. Though he was three or four miles away, I heard him singing when I went scuba diving at Ka’anapali Beach at Maui’s southern shore. Later, we both listened to his haunting calls from a mere 200 hundreds yards as we snorkeled on a whale-watching cruise near Lahaina. We actually felt the sound vibrations reverberate through our bodies. It was like getting splashed with a liquid wave of sound. Read more.

No. Cal. Underwater Photographic Society Newsletter, Dec. 1996, By Gil Zeimer

— M-I-C-K-E-Y S-C-U-B-A
I met Walt Disney in 1956 in Anaheim. Forty years later, I never imagined that I’d dive in his aquarium in Orlando, Florida.
My secret entry key was Walt Disney World’s EPCOT Dive Quest Program. Limited to eight certified divers per day, it’s a pleasantly-packaged, behind-the-scenes tour of the Living Seas exhibit, with the bonus of a 40-minute dive into the 6,000,000-gallon tank. The dive operators ask you to bring your mask and certification card. They supply everything else. Read more.

Sport Diver Interactive May 2001, by Gil Zeimer

— One Roll, One Day, Underwater In Monterey
Take 100 rolls of Kodak slide film. Give one each to 100 scuba divers. Add 50-degree water, rugged cameras, thick wetsuits, masks, fins, gloves, weights, and tanks. Ask for it back in a few hours. And award the best shots with over $20,000 in prizes.
That’s what the Northern California Underwater Photographic Society’s annual one-day competition every Spring is all about.
Read more.

Why I Love Being A Scuba Storyteller

I got certified as #ScubaStoryteller as a #PADI Open Water Diver in 1985. The site was a silty-bottomed creek in Granbury, Texas, southeast of Dallas where I was living at the time. Generously, I’d say the visibility was 2-10′, but it was more like 6″ to 1′, the water temp hovered around 60 F., and the crappy fish (yes, that was their name) nibbled on my ears.
Read more.