Hey there, welcome to my little corner of the internet!
I’m Jason Botticelli. I live in Buffalo, NY where I specialize in toxic tort and environmental law and product liability cases. Through work I am an editor of the award winning Asbestos Case Tracker Blog. But when I’m not working my day job, you can usually find me in the water diving or instructing new divers at my local dive shop.
MY SCUBA DIVING BACKGROUND
I grew up watching my father, Gary, dive in Lake Erie and have been diving myself since I was 10 years old. Some of my fondest memories of spending time with my dad is diving with him off the back of his houseboat “The Shinning Star.”
It wasn’t until 2014 that I officially became a certified scuba diver. My brother Joe decided to get certified with me and initially I thought it would just be something fun to do together. However, I quickly realized that my love for scuba diving went far beyond it being just a “hobby”. It’s actually one of the things I love to do the most.
So, in 2017 I took my passion for scuba diving and turned it into an opportunity to help others learn how to dive as well. I became a NAUI divemaster that year and then a scuba Instructor shortly after that.
My work instructing new divers has proven to be a very rewarding experience. Helping people learn a new skill that will hopefully lead them to many great adventures has been most gratifying.
Becoming a dive instructor has also allowed me to pass on the family tradition of scuba diving – I’ve certified some of my children, close friends, and even my neighbors!
I have traveled for diving – and led dive trips – to numerous locations including multiple trips to Key Largo, Little Cayman, Morehead City in North Carolina, 1,000 Islands, Roatan, The Bahamas and Tobermory Canada, with many more to come. One of my dive goals has been to dive the WWII German U Boat – U 352 – off of Morehead City, NC.
The weather has to be just about perfect to get there since it’s about a two hour boat ride out into the Atlantic Ocean. Despite numerous tries, I’ve yet to get on that sub.
However, this leads me to one of the best dives of my life. Since we couldn’t dive the U 352, we dove the Caribsea instead. This is a freighter that was sunk by another U Boat – U 158 – in 1942. As we began our dive we noticed numerous sand tiger sharks swimming around…and there were even more down below. This was a spectacular dive, as you can see below!!
I tell people scuba diving is my yoga…my Zen. It’s one of the few things you can do where you are totally cut off. There are no phones, text messages or emails to distract you. You are living in the moment!
It has also given me the reward of watching my students go from beginners fumbling around in the pool to divers traveling with me and taking the plunge into the open water. Through my diving I’ve been able to lead dive trips to cool new places I’ve longed to explore, like the one I’m leading in 2026 to Egypt and the Red Sea.
Anyway, this blog is a passion project of mine. It’s where I can relay some of my experiences scuba diving and discuss all things diving and travel-related – from places I’ve visited, to places I hope to someday explore.
The diving community is a fun one and hopefully, this blog will be both useful and fun. To my family I’m Jason, but to my dive buddies, I’m Jay, Scuba Jay!
Adventure is out there waiting for us all, so let’s get diving!