Desert in Bloom – My Favorite Time of Year in Tucson

Justine Arizona

The word “desert” tends to conjure different images for desert dwellers than it does for our friends from moister climes (points for me for using “moister climes” in a sentence!). You moisture lovers often think of the desert as nothing but sand, and refuse to believe there’s anything redeeming about Tucson’s nature. Though some deserts are admittedly nothing but sand, the vast majority aren’t. Tucson is actually pretty green most of the year, including winter. It gets even greener in the spring and during monsoon season (my second-favorite time of year here). On top of the green, we get all …

Scuba trip: San Carlos, Mexico (April 2018)

Justine International

A week and a half ago, I made my 5th diving trip to San Carlos, Mexico. Though I’ve been quite a few times now, all my previous trips were in the late summer and early fall. This time, I got to explore the murky, chilly, yet surprisingly bountiful world that exists underwater off the San Carlos coast in mid-April.

Free scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef: my 5 days as a hostie

Justine International

Sometimes, the best travel experiences are the ones you didn’t plan. A perfect example of this: five days of free scuba diving while I volunteered as a “hostie” on a recent trip to Cairns, Australia. In this post, I’ll explain what a hostie is, and how you too can dive for free at the Great Barrier Reef.

Scuba diving and depression: why I dive

Justine Let's get personal

The majority of my posts over the last few months have been scuba-related. I’ve written a lot about what I’ve done, but not a lot about why I’m doing it. I have a couple more posts about my PADI Divemaster course in Australia planned (here are Part 1 and Part 2), but before I fisnish those, I wanted to reflect a bit on what scuba diving means to me.