An American Underwater Odyssey -
50 Dives in 50 States
ISBN - 0-9716432-0-2 6x9 softcover,
208 pages, 62 photos and maps. $15.00

To order send check or money order for $20.00 ($15.00 plus $5.00 shipping) to Giant Stride Press at the following address.

P.O. Box 1922,
Mill Valley, CA 94942
Call: 415-381-1989

An American Underwater Odyssey - 50 Dives in 50 States

Underwater Odyssey is the story of a scuba diving safari to every state in America. Tired of touring coral reefs, the author embarks on a year-long quest to discover the incredible assortment of adventure diving found in our nation's backyard. Along the way, he discovers America.

Underwater Odyssey provides an entertaining look at fifty of the most distinctive dive sites in America. This truly original project takes the reader on a cross-country road trip to diving adventure.

- KEITH PHILLIPS, Features editor, Rodale's Scuba Diving

Chuck Ballinger has written about the unique diving available in each of our 50 states-diving you rarely read about in magazines. His dogged determination to follow his dreams and explore everything from flooded missile sites to abandoned mines should be an inspiration of each of us. Underwater Odyssey transcends the limits of a dive guide to reveal the broader adventure that diving provides. Ballinger sets out on a personal journey that each of us ought to take, in our own way, at least once in a lifetime.

- BEN DAVISON, Publisher and Editor, Undercurrent

SOME OF THE 50 ADVENTURE DIVES:

96° volcanic crater diving... 35° alpine lake diving in Oregon... Great Lakes wreck diving...Atlantic wreck diving...oil rig diving...inlet diving... Colorado River diving...fossil diving....bottle diving..missile silo diving...7600' altitude diving....concrete plants... leadmine diving...iron pit diving...night diving with manta rays, night diving with blue sharks... lobster diving... diving with the governor of North Dakota... mystery spires in Yellowstone... power plants...sunken bridges...sunken planes...submerged buildings, roads, bridges...springs, caverns and caves...the "great lakes" of Iowa... and much more.

Chapter Summation

Introduction - Safari-style adventure diving vs. coral reef tours- Taking a concept discovered in South Africa to the United States.

Genesis of a Dive Safari - A look at the amazing variety of diving across our fifty states.

Early Adventure Diving - Covers a variety of past adventure diving in the states of California, Florida and Hawaii.

Planning a National Dive Odyssey - What goes into the actual planning of a fifty state, year-long dive expedition. A kind of how-to planning guide for personal odysseys.

The remaining 47 states (by chapter):

Nevada- Arizona
The Kentucky Loop
The Gulf
The Atlantic
New England
The Great Lakes and Beyond
Mountains, Prairies and Plains
The Texas Loop
The Northwest

Observations - A State of Mind - What was learned on a personal level.

Observations - State of the Sport - What was learned about the sport.

Appendix - Information about the Fifty Dives