E077 Alessandra Figari - "Follow Your Dreams"

This episode is brought to you by XDEEP and by the patrons of Speaking Sidemount, huge thanks to both for their support.

In this episode, Alessandra shares her inspiring story of the events that led to her moving to Mexico to pursue diving. How she started her cave diving journey under the tutelage of legendary cave explorer Bil Phillips. She relates how she built her experience diving with friends before doing her cave instructor training in Florida. We contrast cave diving in Florida and Mexico before talking about Alessandra's philosophies regarding teaching diving at her business, Cave Training Mexico. I ask her what makes her training unique and she shares stories from her courses and the friendships that she has developed with both her mentors and her students.

We finish by talking about the incredibly concerning Tren Maya project to run a train track straight over the top of some of the most phenomenal cave systems on our planet between Playa Del Carmen and Tulum on the Yucatan Peninsula. Alessandra shares a wealth of resources on this issue and her thoughts on what we can do to support the local opposition to this project. Look out for more on the Speaking Sidemount Facebook page.

Enjoy

Steve