| March 23, 2026 |
NatNews |
ISSUE 210 |
UNDER THE SEA: ADVENTURES IN SCUBA DIVING
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Approximately 71 percent of the world is covered in water, with oceans making up more than 96 percent of such liquid, and some individuals—whether naturally adventurous or not—become fascinated by the underwater world and enjoy opportunities to explore it. They can pour one out for Frenchmen Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnan, who are credited with inventing scuba diving and the gear that helps keep people alive while doing so in the early 1940s. According to the Diving Equipment and Marketing Association, there are approximately 2.5 million active scuba divers in the U.S. and roughly 6 million worldwide. Since 1967, the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) has issued more than 30 million diver certifications globally. Former Dallas and now Puerto Rico resident Julie Lanaux accounts for one of those active divers. Lanaux said she completed the certification process in 2019, a little less than a year before COVID-19 changed the world. “Between the pandemic and living in land-locked Dallas, I think I was diving about three times a year for a while there, and most of my travel focused around scuba diving,” she said. But Lanaux and her husband, Andre, moved to Puerto Rico last July, so her diving frequency has increased significantly. “I live about 10 minutes from one of the most popular dive shops on the east coast, so I dive about once a month now,” she said. Scuba diving hasn’t always been such an enjoyable activity for Lanaux, though. She said when she initially began, she didn’t necessarily look forward to each descent into the ocean blue. “I was terrified of sharks, but my husband wanted to dive,” she said. “I never want to be the person to hold him back from doing something he genuinely wants to do, so I opted to give it a try. My first few dives, we stuck to fresh water to avoid sharks. But then on my first trip to Cozumel, and the first time I saw the wreck of the C-53 minesweeper there, I was sold.” And that experience seeing the wreck’s remains sparked an interest in Lanaux, who said what she now enjoys most about her diving adventures are wrecks and sharks—yes, the animal that once resulted in fear and hesitation. “The bonus is that wrecks often attract sharks for various reasons, so it’s the best of both worlds,” she said. “There is something otherworldly to entering a shipwreck and swimming down hallways and through doors that someone once walked through. And it never ceases to take my breath away when I enter a room in a wreck and can identify what the room initially was—whether that be the engine room, the wheelhouse, or even a bathroom.” |
But wreckage and sharks aren’t the only encounters that make dives exciting for Lanaux. Throughout all of her scuba escapades, there is one in particular that stands out above the rest. Lanaux said, hands down, her most memorable underwater experience was the manta dive in Kona, Hawaii. “It is one of those bucket-list dives that most divers strive to do at least once,” she said. “It’s a night dive in about 30 feet of water. Divers form a large circle on the sea floor, while the shops place dive lights in milk crates in the middle of the circle. The lights attract plankton, which then attract the mantas to feed.” Lanaux added that one aspect that contributed to the uniqueness of this special moment was that it is the only place in the world where divers can experience such an occurrence. “There is nothing that compares to having a manta ray with a 10-foot wingspan swim so closely over your head that it brushes up against you,” she said. There are several organizations and facilities, including the International Scuba Dive Tribe in the Dallas area, providing lessons and certification in scuba diving. Interested potential future scuba divers can also use Go Dive Now as a resource to find additional locations. Lanaux said she understands that diving may cause apprehension in some individuals, especially those who are fearful that they might meet the real-life villain in Jaws—after all, she was once one of those people. “I know that sharks are a large reason many people do not want to dive, but the more I have learned about sharks and the more I have interacted with them, I have realized that the fear is largely unfounded,” she said. In fact, Lanaux said the bigger risk is actually to swimmers and surfers at the surface of the water, not to the divers submerged below. “Most sharks hunt their prey at the surface, and you can be mistaken for food, particularly when the water is murky,” she said. “At depth, sharks don’t view you as prey—you are a fellow predator. They definitely come around to check you out, but it is more out of curiosity than anything. So go diving—you’re far less likely to be attacked as a scuba diver than as a swimmer.” |
DID YOU KNOW?
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The skin of a kiwi is edible and actually provides more nutrients, including 50 percent more fiber, than eating the fruit without its skin. |
IF IKEA OVERWHELMS YOU, YOU ARE NOT ALONE
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Sweden has provided enjoyment for many individuals with its music and meatballs, but there is also a popular four-letter word it has brought to some people’s lives: IKEA. Beginning as a small mail-order company in rural Sweden in the 1940s, IKEA has become a well-known home furnishing brand with more than 500 stores throughout the world. Named after the initials of Ingvar Kamprad (its founder), Elmtaryd (the farm on which Kamprad grew up), and Agunnaryd (a nearby village), IKEA offers its customers an inordinate amount of product options as well as sustenance for their shopping excursions. Dallas-area resident Jason Vaile said his initial experience at IKEA was when the first Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex location opened in Frisco in 2005. “It was a great place to take my younger kids where they could wander around, look at the toy section and all of the kid furniture, and get interesting snacks,” he said. Like Vaile, Dallas-area resident Cindy Hallo Reasor also recalls her first IKEA trip being to the Frisco location. “I think the whole maze aspect is pretty fun the first few times you go, and you see all of the inventory and the tiny little apartments set up with all of their stuff, but there is no short trip to IKEA,” she said. “Good luck with those ‘shortcuts.’” IKEA stores are generally set up in fixed-path layouts, long and winding from one section to the next until shoppers finally reach the final destination: the checkout area. The design was intended to resemble a walk-through catalog, though it can cause exhaustion and frustrations for some customers. However, when the store attempted to change the layout a few years ago in select stores, loyal IKEA voyagers expressed the desire for the return of the original layout. More recently, Dallas-area resident Juliette Vielhauer also ventured to the Frisco location with her boyfriend, NatNews IT Department/CIO Josh Odegard. Like many individuals who enter the massive facility for the first time, Vielhauer felt a bit overwhelmed by the layout and endless products before her. “My first trip to IKEA felt a bit like being dropped into a maze I didn’t agree to enter,” she said. “I’m not a big in-store shopper to begin with—I’ll go out of my way to avoid it (grocery delivery, curbside pickup, you name it). So walking into IKEA, with its winding layout and endless rooms, was a lot. It’s impressive, sure, but also slightly chaotic if you’re not mentally prepared. I kept it simple, grabbed a couple of bowls, and made a very intentional exit.” While Vielhauer is by no means completely anti-IKEA, one should not expect to bump into her there anytime soon (or likely ever). “Will I go back inside IKEA? Probably not, unless absolutely necessary,” she said. “Will I order something online and swing by to pick it up? Much more likely. I respect the concept—I just prefer to experience it from a safe distance.” |
Hallo Reasor said she shopped at IKEA more in the past, acknowledging that she believes many of its items are well-made and that her first apartments were filled with products from the store. Currently, however, she considers certain factors to determine whether or not she is willing to venture to the blue and yellow building. “I’m more into the fun kitchen items now, but I have to weigh if the whole ordeal of getting into the store (parking, starting the maze, figuring out all of the shortcuts, etc.) is worth the price of whatever I’m getting,” she said. “Right now, it’s a no.” Vaile said he has shopped at IKEA quite a bit, noting that he typically purchases furniture items that are more “disposable.” “The quality isn’t bad—it’s just not things that you’ll be passing down to the next generation,” he said. “It’s good for kid furniture that might get torn up or a temporary piece to fill in space.” One appealing aspect of the store, Vaile noted, is the cheaper prices it offers its customers, as compared to other furniture retail options. “Furniture has gotten so expensive,” he said. “You don’t want to fill your child’s room or college dorm room with thousands of dollars worth of solid wood heirloom pieces. You don’t feel bad tossing a $30 recyclable bookcase in the landfill when it’s run its lifespan.” In addition to the cost aspect, Hallo Reasor said there are several factors that cause individuals to be drawn to IKEA and its unique offerings. “I think Scandinavian design has always been kind of popular,” she said. “Minimalistic, functional, well-priced items are always going to pull people in. And things that didn’t start up around here (In-N-Out, Uniqlo, Pop Mart, etc.) have always gone through a popular phase. Plus there’s a food court—you’ve got to eat something after you’ve been wandering around for two hours.” IKEA is continuing to expand, and earlier this month, a new smaller-format two-level store opened at The Shops at Park Lane in Dallas. In the DFW metroplex, a location in Rockwall is also set to open soon. “From what I’ve heard from friends and die-hard IKEA fans, it checks a lot of boxes: affordable modern furniture, a showroom that helps you picture your space coming together, and an experience people somehow turn into a full-on outing,” Vielhauer said. “And, yes, the Swedish meatballs come up in almost every conversation, so clearly they’re part of the appeal.” However, Vielhauer said those selling points are not enough to win her over. “I’m not looking to spend hours wandering through a store or making a day out of furniture shopping,” she said. “But I can definitely see why other people love it—it’s just not quite my version of a good time.” WEEKLY PHOTO OP     .jpg)  NatNews staff and dear readers recently celebrated four years of all of the news you never knew you needed |
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