ANOTHER MARYLANDER WHO FELL IN LOVE with scuba diving, Michael Eversmier began bringing back photographs to educate others about the oysters and crabs and plant life that he was able to see in the often-turbid waters of the Chesapeake Bay. He started learning to scuba dive when he was 16 years old and started teaching it when he was 20. In 1990 he and his wife Maureen began Aqua Ventures, Inc., a business which specializes in scuba training, scuba gear, and dive travel opportunities. As a diver he has explored Atlantic Ocean waters from Maine to Florida and organized dives and shoots in the Caribbean and the South Pacific. As an instructor he has received top teaching awards from Scuba Schools International which also cited him for his contributions to the industry and his impressive number of logged drives. And as an underwater photographer he has captured oyster reef restoration projects for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and his work has been published by the National Aquarium, the Baltimore Sun, the Washington Post, and Chesapeake Quarterly.

Photographs, Michael Eversmier