Meet Aaron and Meghan - scuba diving, traveling, and recovering expats! They just moved back from Germany, where they lived and worked for two years and are now making their home in the great state of Texas, quite a change for these northerners! Follow along as they dive and travel all over the world.
When one thinks of ocean diving, places like the Caribbean or the South Pacific, popular warm water dive locations, come to mind. Here, there are beautiful coral reefs, full of colorful fish, big creatures, and small delights. While warm water diving is always nice, there is still so much of the ocean that can be dived, if only you're willing to deal with the cold. Norway was one such place.
Read MoreI'm not sure how, but a while ago, Aaron learned about Gulen Dive Resort, a small dive resort about two hours (give or take) north of Bergen, nestled in among the fjords of Western Norway. When he saw they had a house reef with nudibranchs, some of which aren't found anywhere else, AND World War II shipwreck diving, it jumped to pretty close to the top of his list of places to dive. When my sister and I decided to meet up in Norway, and she agree to do some babysitting, we knew we could make it work.
Read MoreThe REAL reason we went to Austria in May was to dive the famous Grünersee. After seeing it in countless magazines and on too many ''Top 10 Dives to Do Before You Die'' lists, we knew we HAD to add it to our bucket list and make it happen. I mean, it's pretty awesome to say that you've dove in the Alps too. Most people go to ski, but we're crazy and go to dive.
Read MoreWe took advantage of another long weekend in May (there are quite a few of them this month!) and headed to Austria for some diving and to check another item off of our bucket list. We booked two day tours with a dive shop out of Vienna, Neptun Diving. On Saturday, we dove at Grüblsee near Vorndernberg, Austria. And what a dive it was! The small lake, more of a pond really, is located at about 800 meters (2600 feet) in elevation, with a small dive shop and school next to it. It is officially the highest dive school in all of Europe! Surrounded on three sides by mountains and looking over a nearby ski area, the scenery is pretty awesome. We were blessed with beautiful weather too - not too hot for dry suit diving, but not too cold so that you couldn't warm up between dives.
Read MoreI remember the exact moment that I first learned about Silfra. We were on our way back from Roatan, having just spent a week diving in clear, warm, Caribbean waters, about a month after getting certified. We were waiting to board our last plane from Atlanta back to Detroit when Aaron looked at me and said, ''We should dive Iceland someday.'' I balked. That water was cold! What is there to see in Iceland? And that's when he showed me the pictures. I was sold. But we were still new to diving and missing some crucial gear (i.e. a drysuit) and experience. Not to mention flights are usually fairly expensive from the US to Iceland. So, I thought it would be years and years before we were able to dive it.
Read MoreThe next day, we were supposed to be diving in a lake fed by a geothermal hot spring. However, a storm had washed away part of the gravel road leading to it, therefore making it inaccessible while we were there. That's a testament to just how rugged the landscape is in Iceland. Even though it has been inhabited for over 1000 years, from when the first Vikings landed there, very little of the island has been tamed by man. But, it's a good thing to leave some things unspoiled.
Read MoreIn the summer of 2014, the Oaks' packed up their life and moved to Mannheim, Germany for work. This is an ex-pat blog that follows their adventures living as American expats. They are interested in scuba diving, travel and exploring their new home. Feel free to follow along!
Welcome to our expat/repat and travel blog! We're Aaron and Meghan. This is a place where we blog about travel, scuba diving, what it was like living as expats in Germany, and now what it's like to be repats in Texas. Please join us on our journey!
Want to learn more about us? Visit our About Us page!
Disclosure: We use affiliate links on this website, which means we earn a small commission - enough to buy a beer, but not a vacation. All opinions are always our own.
