Underwater Odyssey is the story of a scuba diving safari to every state in America. Tired of touring coral reefs, the author embarks on a year-long quest to discover the incredible assortment of adventure diving found in our nation's backyard. Along the way, he discovers America.

Some of the 50 adventure dives include: 96°-volcanic crater diving... 35°- alpine lake diving in Oregon... Great Lakes wreck diving... Atlantic wreck diving... oil rig diving... inlet diving... Colorado River diving... fossil diving... bottle diving... missile silo diving... 7600' altitude diving... concrete plants... lead mine diving... iron pit diving... night diving with manta rays... night diving with blue sharks... lobster diving... diving with the governor of North Dakota... mystery spires in Yellowstone... power plants... sunken bridges... sunken planes... submerged buildings, roads, bridges... springs, caverns and caves... the 'great lakes‚ of Iowa... and much more

Charles Ballinger, a dive journalist and world traveler, has been to 47 countries and has written for 8 magazines in his 48 years. In his book An American Underwater Odyssey: 50 Dives in 50 States, Ballinger chronicles the most distinctive, unusual, 'not-to-be-missed‚ dive sites and even a few of the 'better-missed‚ ones.

At depth, Ballinger explores a side of diving that is rarely reported: The adventure quotient, the thrill of discovery-whether it's a pristine reef in the Keys or a long-lost pickup truck at the bottom of a murky lake. He looks at countless dive spots whose reflected surfaces look much the same-until those surfaces are penetrated

I hope to show that the sport exists beyond the shores of far-off tropical islands," states Ballinger. "And I hope to chronicle the sport through many eyes, as Americans from every state participate in the great sport of scuba diving.‚