Global Underwater Explorers

Global Underwater Explorers (GUE) is a nonprofit membership organization based in High Springs, Florida, that combines diver education with underwater exploration, scientific documentation, and aquatic conservation. It teaches recreational, technical, and cave diving through a structured curriculum built around standardized equipment configuration, team procedures, and measurable performance standards. The organization is particularly associated with the Doing It Right (DIR) approach, a system that promotes consistent equipment, streamlined configuration, disciplined gas management, and coordinated team behavior. GUE was formed by Jarrod Jablonski and a small group of educators, explorers, and instructors seeking to establish a broad international network for aquatic education and conservation. Its early development was closely connected with the Woodville Karst Plain Project (WKPP), a Florida-based cave-exploration and research initiative that later became a nonprofit affiliate. WKPP projects helped give GUE visibility within the technical-diving community, especially through ambitious explorations of the Woodville Karst Plain and Wakulla Springs cave systems. The project’s standardized procedures and equipment practices were associated with a reduction in diving incidents during work in the cave system, although GUE’s training philosophy has also been debated because of its prescriptive approach. The organization’s training began with technical and cave-diving instruction and later expanded into recreational education. GUE Fundamentals became its principal entry course for divers coming from other training systems and serves as a foundation for progression into more specialized technical, cave, propulsion-vehicle, rebreather, and instructor programs. The broader curriculum has included recreational diver levels, technical diver levels, cave-diver qualifications, rescue and navigation primers, drysuit and doubles training, gas blending, documentation diving, and instructor education. GUE has emphasized extended training time, objective skills assessment, and continuing qualification requirements for instructors and some divers, distinguishing its model from more conventional recreational certification pathways. GUE’s conservation work extends beyond diver training. Through Project Baseline, it supports long-term documentation of aquatic environments, with local teams recording ecological and environmental conditions at waterways and underwater sites. GUE and its affiliates have also participated in cave surveys, groundwater-awareness initiatives, beach cleanups, educational exhibitions, archival work, and scientific or exploratory projects. In Florida, WKPP-related groundwater advocacy was associated with public investment in improved wastewater treatment and protection of groundwater resources around Wakulla Springs State Park. The organization also publishes educational material. Its output has included the quarterly Quest journal, books on recreational, technical, and cave diving, instructional videos, and annual reports describing training, exploration, and conservation activities. GUE obtained European Underwater Federation certification for selected recreational and instructor qualifications in 2013. Its international presence is supported by instructors, local communities, workshops, conferences, and affiliated projects rather than by a conventional commercial retail network. GUE remains primarily an education, exploration, and conservation organization whose identity is closely tied to rigorous team diving and environmental stewardship.

Global Underwater Explorers was established as a nonprofit organization to promote education, conservation, and exploration in the aquatic environment. It was founded by Jarrod Jablonski together with a group of diving educators, explorers, and instructors. The founders sought to build a distributed international network in which local advocates could support diver education, exploration projects, and environmental initiatives. In its early period, GUE was colocated with the Extreme Exposure dive store; subsequent changes in the store’s location allowed GUE to develop independently and expand its organizational activities. GUE’s identity developed alongside the Woodville Karst Plain Project in Florida. The WKPP conducts cave exploration, documentation, and research in the Woodville Karst Plain and related groundwater systems, and later became a nonprofit affiliate of GUE. The relationship helped establish GUE’s reputation in technical and cave diving. WKPP teams used a standardized approach to equipment configuration, gas management, communication, and team procedures. Exploration efforts in the Wakulla Springs system produced major cave-penetration achievements, including a 5.6-kilometre penetration reported in 1998 and further records in 2001 and 2006. The project also contributed to public understanding of groundwater and cave environments. Jablonski was a prominent advocate of the Hogarthian equipment configuration associated with William Hogarth Main and helped develop and promote the broader Doing It Right system. GUE made this standardized approach the foundation of its training. The system seeks to reduce avoidable differences between divers, improve team coordination, and make emergency responses more predictable. GUE’s instructors have generally been expected to meet objective performance standards and maintain qualifications, while the organization’s training model has involved more extensive skills evaluation than many mainstream recreational programs. The strictness and prescriptive nature of the system have been both a defining feature and a point of debate within the diving community. The initial focus on technical and cave diving expanded into recreational instruction. GUE Fundamentals became the main gateway course for divers entering the GUE system and a prerequisite pathway toward more advanced training. The curriculum grew to include recreational diver levels, technical-diver levels, cave-diver levels, diver-propulsion-vehicle courses, rebreather programs, rescue and navigation primers, drysuit and doubles training, gas blending, documentation diving, and instructor qualifications. By 2017, the published curriculum comprised 26 courses across recreational, foundational, technical, and cave-diving categories. GUE has also pursued conservation and public-education work. Project Baseline was created as a global effort to document the condition of aquatic environments over time. GUE and its affiliates have participated in groundwater education, cave surveys, environmental cleanups, scientific projects, conferences, and archival initiatives. WKPP-related advocacy helped draw attention to groundwater protection and wastewater treatment in Florida. In 2011, GUE-associated divers working with the Projecto Espeleológico de Tulum and the Quintana Roo Speleological Survey explored Hoyo Negro in Mexico and reported finding mastodon remains and a human skull. The organization has supported its educational mission through Quest magazine, books, DVDs, workshops, conferences, and annual reports. It has also participated in external technical-diving events and obtained European Underwater Federation certification for selected qualifications in 2013. GUE continues to operate as a nonprofit education, exploration, and conservation organization with an international instructor and membership network.

• 2016

  Annual reporting began

  [1]Global Underwater Explorersen.wikipedia.org

  GUE began publishing annual reports covering training, operations, community projects, and conservation activities.

• 2013

  European certification recognition

  [1]Global Underwater Explorersen.wikipedia.org

  Selected GUE diver and instructor qualifications received European Underwater Federation certification recognition.

• 2011

  Hoyo Negro exploration

  [1]Global Underwater Explorersen.wikipedia.org

  GUE-associated divers participating in a Mexican cave survey explored Hoyo Negro and reported important paleontological and archaeological remains.

• 2006

  Additional WKPP exploration record

  [1]Global Underwater Explorersen.wikipedia.org

  Another major cave-exploration record was reported in connection with the WKPP.

• 2001

  Further Wakulla Springs exploration record

  [1]Global Underwater Explorersen.wikipedia.org

  WKPP divers established a subsequent exploration record in the Wakulla Springs system.

• 1998

  WKPP team reported a 5.6-kilometre cave penetration

  [1]Global Underwater Explorersen.wikipedia.org

  GUE-associated WKPP divers achieved a major reported penetration in the Wakulla Springs cave system.

• 1995

  WKPP introduced a standardized diving approach

  [1]Global Underwater Explorersen.wikipedia.org

  The Woodville Karst Plain Project adopted standardized equipment and operational procedures that later became central to GUE’s educational model.

A rigorous, systems-oriented nonprofit diving organization focused on standardized team procedures, high diver proficiency, technical and cave exploration, and aquatic conservation.

• Foundational diver training

  GUE Fundamentals

  GUE Fundamentals is the organization’s best-known introductory course for divers who want to learn its equipment configuration, buoyancy, propulsion, gas-management, communication, and team-diving principles. It is designed both for new GUE participants and for experienced divers coming from other training systems. The course provides the technical and procedural foundation for progression into GUE’s recreational, technical, cave, and other specialty pathways.

• Recreational diver training

  GUE Recreational Diver curriculum

  The recreational curriculum includes introductory and progressively advanced diver qualifications, including nitrox, triox, and trimix-related training. It applies GUE’s team-oriented procedures and standardized configuration to recreational diving while providing a route toward more advanced education. The curriculum is intended to develop consistent practical skills rather than treating certification as a purely knowledge-based credential.

• Technical diver training

  GUE Technical Diver curriculum

  Technical courses cover staged and advanced decompression diving, including Technical Diver levels, Tech 60, higher-level technical qualifications, and selected rebreather programs. Instruction emphasizes planning, equipment consistency, gas management, team coordination, and disciplined execution. The curriculum is intended for divers undertaking operations beyond the scope of ordinary recreational diving.

• Cave-diver training

  GUE Cave Diver curriculum

  The cave curriculum includes Cave Diver levels and underwater cave survey training. It addresses the specialized navigation, line work, gas planning, communication, emergency procedures, and environmental awareness required for overhead-environment diving. The program reflects the organization’s close historical relationship with the Woodville Karst Plain Project and other exploration initiatives.

• Aquatic conservation and documentation

  Project Baseline

  Project Baseline is a global conservation and documentation initiative associated with GUE. Local teams observe and record the condition of aquatic environments so that changes can be tracked over time. The project extends GUE’s activities beyond diver certification by linking trained divers with environmental monitoring, public awareness, and long-term stewardship.

• Diving publication

  Quest

  Quest is GUE’s quarterly journal and an outlet for material related to diving education, exploration, conservation, and the organization’s operating philosophy. GUE has also published books, videos, and other instructional resources addressing recreational, technical, and cave diving.

• 2011Hoyo Negro exploration and survey work

  Mexico

  GUE-associated divers worked with the Projecto Espeleológico de Tulum and the Quintana Roo Speleological Survey to investigate the Hoyo Negro cave system.

  Outcome. The team reported locating mastodon remains and a human skull with potential significance for the region’s paleoanthropological record.

  Source
• 2003Ocean Conservancy beach cleanup

  United States

  GUE participants took part in an Ocean Conservancy beach-cleanup activity at Hutchinson Island in Martin County, Florida.

  Outcome. The activity provided a direct coastal-conservation and community-outreach contribution.

  Source
• Project Baseline

  Global

  GUE launched a global initiative to document aquatic environments and support long-term conservation through locally organized observation and exploration projects.

  Outcome. The initiative created a framework for ongoing environmental documentation by divers and local project teams.

  Source

• Make standardized team diving the foundation of trainingStrategy

  Background

  GUE developed from technical and cave-diving education associated with the WKPP and the Doing It Right approach.

  Action taken

  The organization built its courses around consistent equipment configuration, team procedures, objective skills assessment, and continuing qualification expectations.

  Aftermath

  This approach became GUE’s principal point of distinction and contributed to both its reputation for rigor and debate over the prescriptive nature of its system.

  Source

• Expand from technical and cave diving into recreational educationStrategy

  Background

  GUE initially focused on technical and cave-diving instruction but sought to establish a broader diver-education network.

  Action taken

  It introduced recreational diver courses and positioned GUE Fundamentals as an entry point for divers progressing toward advanced training.

  Aftermath

  GUE developed a multi-level curriculum spanning recreational, foundational, technical, cave, and instructor education.

  Source

1. 1Global Underwater Explorersen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Global Underwater Explorers official websitegue.com