Our first shipment of books just arrived and are now available for order. This first batch of 40 will be signed by both authors! We can’t always get together for signing, so these will be special! We met on the side of the road and signed them in the back of my 1996 Volvo! 
We’ve built on the work of others and want to recognize some of the great people that helped make Women Underwater possible.
In 1979, Susan Bangasser and Jeanne Bear Sleeper published the first book to specifically reach women divers. In 1992, Ella Jean Morgan and Erin O’Neill published When Women Dive. They were way ahead of their time. All inaugural inductees into the Women Divers Hall of Fame, they were true pioneers in our industry. Co-author Reneé Power and I are proud to build on the foundation of these remarkable women.
In the late 1990s, my dear friend Patty Mortara and I were lamenting the lack of resources for and connections between the very few female technical divers around the world. With Velora Peacock, we started an organization called Cardea 2000, in the hopes that we could better connect women tec divers around the world by the turn of the century. Patty and I started a magazine called Women Underwater in order to further that cause. Edited and printed in small numbers the quarterly was mailed out around the world until we ran out of money to do it. We shared stories about expeditions, gear and resources with our growing community of women technical divers. I knew one day I would dust off the concept and this book is very much the result of that desire.
Reneé and I would like to thank the many people, organizations and manufacturers who assisted this project with loans and gifts of equipment, donation of charters and volunteer support. Specifically, we would like to thank Dr. Maida Taylor for incredible support and research, and Santi Diving, who provided Reneé with a drysuit when she really needed it and who continue to support my work generously. We would also like to thank: Amigos Dive Center, Aqualung, Ken Charlesworth, Cobalt Coast Dive Resort, DiveRite, DiveSangha, Divetech and InDepth Watersports in Grand Cayman, Halcyon, Bob and Sylvia Ledbetter, Light & Motion, Peter Skop Industries (PSI), Rick’s Dive ‘N Travel, SCUBA-Blog.com, Seminole SCUBA, and Suunto.
This book was carefully proofed and edited by Kristine Rae Olmsted. It is an enormous task and we truly appreciate her talent, support and guidance in bringing this to fruition.
