As scuba divers, we’re privileged to explore, enjoy, and play beneath the surface—something the vast majority of people on the planet will never experience. While it’s hard to pick a favorite, each of us certainly has a dive we’ll never forget. Whether it’s crossing something off our scuba diving bucket list, making eye contact with a humpback whale or simply enjoying a perfect day underwater with our favorite dive buddies, we love to share dive stories with other aquaholics.

To celebrate the beauty, variety and joy this sport brings, we’re sharing some truly unforgettable dives from around the world, as told by the divers who lived them firsthand.

Related Reading: An Unforgettable Dive: Parrotfish in Paradise

Name: Erica Moulton

Certification: August 1983; officially 41 years of diving. I was certified in my hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida. My checkout dives were in Bradenton at a shore dive known as the Sugar Barge, and then in Crystal River.

Current: Assistant Dean of Natural Sciences at St Petersburg College; owner of PVC ROV, a small, for-profit business that sells ROV (remotely-operated vehicle) kits for education; Executive Director of the Center for Open Exploration, a non-profit organization

Follow: @pvcrov, @center4openexploration

My “Must Have” On Any Dive Trip: A “mom bag” for all the found treasures

I’ve discovered that, somehow, I always land in the role of mom, so I never forget to bring an extra ditty bag on dives. My children always find stuff on a dive and ask if I can hold it all. There’s something about the natural system of mom default in which, “Can you hold things?” happens. There are lots of funny pictures of me on a dive with a big “mom bag” hanging off me full of all kinds of stuff.

We do a lot of quasi-treasure hunting dives on different rivers and beaches after holidays. We’ll wait until the crowds are gone and then go where people have been tubing or playing at the beach to look for things that were lost. We’ll do a cleanup, but we’ll also find other neat stuff like new masks, sunglasses and lots of cell phones. These go in the mom bag and we try to reunite them with the people who lost them.

My Unforgettable Dive: Cancun, Mexico

My most memorable dive was our first family dive together. I was pretty insistent on my kids getting certified when they were 12 or 13, and our first dive was at the underwater museum (Museo Subacuático de Arte Cancún) off the coast of Cancun, Mexico.

We swam with the whale sharks, and then we did a scuba trip to see the underwater museum and the coral reef there. Oh gosh, what did we see? Everything you’d see in a Caribbean-Mexico coral reef dive. The underwater museum was really fun to discuss after. There’s a dog house, a kitchen table and even someone sitting at a desk.

Related Reading: An Unforgettable Dive: So Many Sea Turtles in Panama

There’s this eerie feeling of all these beautiful statues underwater looking up or looking down, but encrusting algae and coral have overgrown the structures and all these fish are swimming everywhere. It was really surreal! It was a truly unique experience to have with my family.

I’ve had a lot of amazing experiences, but getting my own little guys certified and sharing a big dive with them was really fun. It was an absolutely incredible experience to have my own little family four-pack of divers under the sea with me.