The DANcast is the official podcast of Divers Alert Network (DAN), an organization dedicated to improving the health and safety of divers. The podcast brings together divers, medical professionals, researchers, instructors, equipment experts, underwater filmmakers, photographers, dive operators, and other members of the diving community for conversations about the underwater world.
The podcast was launched in January 2025 as part of DAN’s broader educational mission. Its purpose is not simply to entertain divers but to provide useful information and real-world perspectives that can help listeners develop their knowledge and make safer decisions while diving.
Over its first two seasons, The DANcast developed into a regular source of diving knowledge and community stories. In September 2026, DAN announced that the podcast had reached its 50th episode, marking an important milestone for the program.
Divers Alert Network and Its Educational Mission
To understand The DANcast, it helps to understand the organization behind it.
Divers Alert Network, commonly known as DAN, is a diving safety organization that provides services and resources relating to diver health, emergency assistance, research, and education. Its work covers areas such as diving medicine, accident prevention, emergency response, and training.
The DANcast extends this educational work into an audio and video format. Instead of presenting information only through articles, courses, or other educational resources, DAN uses conversations with experienced people to explore diving topics in greater depth.
This format also allows listeners to hear personal experiences alongside technical information.
How The DANcast Began
DAN officially announced The DANcast in January 2025. The first season included episodes recorded during the 2024 DEMA Show in Las Vegas, one of the major events in the diving industry.
The premiere episode featured Howard and Michele Hall, underwater filmmakers known for marine wildlife and natural-history productions. Their appearance established one of the podcast’s recurring themes: bringing together people whose professional or personal experiences provide a broader perspective on the underwater world.
When the podcast launched, DAN described it as a combination of practical knowledge and personal stories. The intention was to make information useful to both experienced divers and people who were newer to the activity.
Topics Covered on The DANcast
The DANcast covers a broad range of subjects rather than focusing exclusively on one aspect of scuba diving.
Topics have included:
- Diving and hyperbaric medicine
- Diver safety
- Training and education
- Scientific research
- Technical diving
- Diving equipment
- Underwater photography
- Filmmaking
- Marine conservation
- Exploration
- Dive operations
- Adaptive diving
- Professional diving
- Emergency preparedness
- The experiences and careers of people working in the diving industry
DAN’s announcement about the podcast specifically highlighted scientific research, training practices, technological innovations, conservation, underwater imaging, and filmmaking among the subjects listeners could expect.
This variety makes The DANcast relevant to different parts of the diving community.
Diving Safety
Safety is one of the central themes of The DANcast.
Diving involves specialized equipment, environmental conditions, depth-related considerations, and procedures that require appropriate training and preparation. The podcast gives DAN an opportunity to discuss these issues through conversations with people who have experience in different areas of diving.
Rather than presenting safety solely as a list of rules, episodes can explore how divers approach preparation, decision-making, emergency situations, and personal limitations.
The broader goal is consistent with DAN’s educational mission: helping divers develop the knowledge necessary to make informed decisions.
Diving Medicine and Research
Another important part of The DANcast is diving medicine.
DAN has long been associated with research and medical information relating to divers. The podcast provides a way to discuss some of these subjects in an accessible conversational format.
Guests have included physicians and researchers working in diving and hyperbaric medicine. DAN’s 2026 milestone announcement specifically highlighted Michael Lang of the UC San Diego Center of Excellence in Diving among the guests featured in discussions about diving and hyperbaric medicine.
The podcast has also featured experts associated with DAN’s continuing medical education activities. In 2025, episodes connected with the DAN–UHMS Continuing Medical Education conference included diving medicine experts such as Jim Holm, Michael Lang, Simon Mitchell, and Neal Pollock.
These conversations can help translate complex medical and scientific subjects into material that is more accessible to divers.
Training and Education
Diver training is another recurring theme.
The podcast has featured representatives from major training organizations and experienced diving educators. The 50th-episode announcement listed guests associated with organizations including NAUI, PADI, SDI, and SSI.
These conversations can cover subjects such as instructor development, diver education, training philosophy, preparedness, and the responsibilities that come with increasing experience.
The focus is particularly relevant because diver education does not necessarily end with an initial certification. Many divers continue learning through specialty courses, additional experience, technical training, professional development, and independent study.
Equipment and Technology
Technology is another area explored by The DANcast.
Modern diving equipment continues to develop, from regulators and buoyancy systems to computers, communications equipment, cameras, navigation technology, and other specialized tools.
The podcast provides an opportunity for manufacturers, technical specialists, and experienced divers to discuss how equipment is developed and used.
These discussions can also address the relationship between technology and diver behavior. Having advanced equipment does not eliminate the need for appropriate training, planning, and judgment. The value of a conversation-based format is that guests can discuss not only what technology does but also how divers use it in real situations.
Underwater Photography and Filmmaking
The underwater world has long attracted photographers and filmmakers, and The DANcast regularly gives space to people working in these fields.
The first episode featured Howard and Michele Hall, whose careers have focused on marine wildlife and natural-history filmmaking.
Underwater imaging involves challenges that differ substantially from photography on land. Divers have to consider visibility, lighting, buoyancy, depth, currents, equipment protection, and marine-life behavior.
Conversations with experienced photographers and filmmakers can therefore provide both creative inspiration and practical insight into working beneath the surface.
Conservation and Marine Stories
The DANcast also extends beyond diving technique to stories about the marine environment.
Diving provides people with direct experiences of underwater ecosystems, which makes conservation a natural part of the conversation. Episodes can explore marine life, environmental concerns, exploration, and the people documenting and protecting underwater environments.
The podcast’s launch announcement identified conservation as one of its subject areas, alongside scientific research, training, technology, and underwater filmmaking.
These stories give listeners an opportunity to consider diving not only as a recreational activity but also as a way of connecting with marine environments.
Stories From the Diving Community
One distinctive characteristic of The DANcast is its emphasis on people.
DAN describes the program as featuring conversations with divers from across the industry. Guests have included researchers, instructors, explorers, equipment specialists, photographers, filmmakers, dive operators, and other professionals.
This approach allows episodes to cover the human side of diving.
For example, guests may discuss how they began diving, how their careers developed, challenges they encountered, lessons they learned, and how their experiences influenced their approach to safety and education.
Notable Guests
The DANcast has built its guest list across different areas of the diving world.
Among the people highlighted by DAN are:
- Howard and Michele Hall, underwater filmmakers
- Michael Lang, a diving and hyperbaric medicine expert
- Terrence Tysall, associated with NAUI
- Beth Postell and Victoria Gonzalez, associated with NAUI
- Rich Somerset, associated with PADI
- Jesse Iacono, associated with SDI
- Guido Wätzig, CEO of Scuba Schools International
- Jim Elliott, founder and president of Diveheart
- Ken Kurtis, associated with the USC Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber
- Bob Collins, an SDI Instructor Ambassador and diving-industry professional
- Sarah Miller, associated with Azul Unlimited
DAN’s 50th-episode announcement grouped these guests across themes including diving medicine, training, education, community, and inspiration.
The DANcast’s 50-Episode Milestone
September 2026 marked the 50th episode of The DANcast.
According to DAN, the podcast had grown considerably since its launch in January 2025. Over two seasons, it had connected divers with experts, innovators, explorers, and industry leaders. DAN also reported that short-form highlights from the show had generated more than 1.3 million video views on social media, while full-length episodes had received more than 100,000 streams across YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
The milestone reflects the podcast’s expansion from a new media project into a recurring part of DAN’s educational and community outreach.
Where to Listen
The DANcast is available through several major podcast and video platforms.
DAN’s official podcast page provides links to Spotify and YouTube, as well as an RSS feed that listeners can use with compatible podcast applications.
The podcast is also listed on Apple Podcasts, where Divers Alert Network is identified as the creator. The listing describes the show as being updated regularly and provides its episode catalog.
Having the podcast available across multiple platforms allows listeners to choose between traditional podcast listening and video-based viewing.
Who Can Benefit From The DANcast?
The DANcast is designed to appeal to a broad diving audience.
New divers can use episodes to become familiar with safety concepts, training, equipment, and the wider diving community.
Experienced recreational divers may find discussions about diving medicine, technology, research, exploration, and marine environments useful for continuing their education.
Dive professionals and instructors can gain perspectives from other instructors, researchers, medical professionals, and industry leaders.
Underwater photographers and filmmakers can explore conversations with people who work in marine imaging.
The podcast’s broad guest base means that listeners do not have to be interested in only one category of diving to find relevant material.
A Resource for Lifelong Diving Education
One of the underlying ideas behind The DANcast is that diving education can continue throughout a diver’s experience.
Certification provides an important foundation, but divers encounter new environments, equipment, conditions, and challenges as they gain experience.
Listening to experienced divers and specialists can provide another avenue for learning. The podcast cannot replace formal training or professional medical advice, but it can complement those resources by exposing listeners to different perspectives and areas of expertise.
This fits with DAN’s wider emphasis on education and informed decision-making.
The DANcast and the Future of Diving Media
Podcasts provide a flexible way to share specialized knowledge. A conversation between a physician, researcher, instructor, filmmaker, or explorer can cover subjects in greater depth than a short social-media post.
The DANcast combines that conversational format with DAN’s established focus on diver safety and education.
Its evolution through 50 episodes also demonstrates the range of stories available within the diving community. Diving is connected to medicine, science, engineering, conservation, photography, exploration, training, and adventure, giving the podcast a wide range of potential subjects.
Conclusion
The DANcast is the official podcast of Divers Alert Network, launched in January 2025 to expand DAN’s educational mission through conversations with people from across the diving world.
The podcast covers diving safety, medicine, scientific research, training, equipment, technology, conservation, underwater photography, filmmaking, exploration, and personal stories from divers and industry professionals. Its guests include medical researchers, instructors, equipment specialists, photographers, filmmakers, dive operators, and other experienced members of the community.
By September 2026, The DANcast had reached its 50th episode, establishing it as an ongoing part of DAN’s media and educational activities. Episodes are available through platforms including Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcasts, with an RSS feed also provided by DAN.
For people interested in scuba diving and the wider underwater world, The DANcast offers a combination of practical safety information, professional expertise, scientific discussion, and stories from the global diving community.