Beyond the typical recreational diving expeditions and diving careers are the dive experiences and occupations that take an adventurous diver deeper into high-risk diving, from diving in nuclear waste to searching for bodies lost deep within a cave system. Our 10 wackiest, daredevil and dangerous dives are not quite insane, but they are definitely better suited to scuba divers who don't mind venturing beyond the ordinary.

If you enjoyed this, you might also like the crazy, fun and unique stories found in the What It's Like section of our website.

Scuba Diving With A Nile Crocodile

Big Animals Expeditions, based in San Francisco, is an adventure-travel program that gives people the opportunity to travel across the world to observe and photograph creatures. One of the many expeditions includes scuba diving with the Nile crocodile in Botswana. The adventure begins July 6 and ends July 13, 2014. The same date is available for the next two consecutive years. The dive is in winter months when the crocs are less active. The base is the Sepupa Swamp Stop Rest Camp. The expedition will be lead by Walter Bernard, a local guide from African Watersport.

Amos Nachoum, an accomplished photographer who was formerly a BBC photographer, will provide expert coaching on interacting with the crocodiles and how to photograph them. The expedition is restricted to expert divers: only one guest enters the water at a time. Divers will dive quickly to the bottom and use the shadow of the boat as cover so the crocs don’t see a silhouette of the diver a.k.a. the “kill zone.” The duration is eight days and the guests (maximum of two) stay in chalets and fixed tents including electricity, running water, a bar and a swimming pool. It is $9,800 per person, which doesn't include the deposit.

Scuba Diving With Leopard Seals

Amos Nachoum’s Big Animal’s special expedition Antarctica is a rare opportunity to witness leopard seals hunting and the incredible hunting strategy of orcas. Once orcas spot their prey (typically seal) sitting on an iceberg, the orcas split into two teams. One team swims in front of the iceberg while the other stays behind. When communicating the signal to each other, the second orca team will create a wave therefore, causing the seal to slide off into the water and meet its horrible fate by the first orca team to make to make the kill. Not only can a diver see this, but also he or she can photograph the whole event. The trip is possible because of the 74-foot Pelagic Australis sailboat, which is designed to cruise through Antarctica waters with minimal impact on the environment. The boat will allow divers to explore seal hunting grounds in uncharted inlets and bays. There will be open diving along walls of grounded icebergs. The boat sails through the Drake Passage and Albatros to the Southwest Antarctic peninsula. The expedition is offered in 2016 from Feb. 12-March 8 only for expert divers. The maximum number of guest is six and it is $33,600 per person, which doesn’t include the deposit.

Scuba Diving Out Of A Helicopter

Scuba diving allows divers to enter an underwater world where there are endless discoveries, and typically, divers get to the location by boat. But there’s another way that’s even faster – by helicopter. It’s known as heli-diving — the helicopter transports the diver(s) to the designated diving location and the diver jumps out of the plane into the blue. Heli-diving is becoming increasingly popular in part because it cuts down the travel time by boat, according to Dive the Reef, an Australian dive and adventure group. It “replaces a 90-minute boat trip out to the reef with a quick 10-15 minute low-altitude scenic flight.” Dive the Reef takes you both above and below the Great Barrier Reef with the option of heli-diving for a half-day or full day. Divers also have the option of staying on a Compass Cruise, staying on a comfortable boat for a two- to five-day trip while experiencing heli-diving. It is also offered in Thailand by Elixir Divers, as a one-day excursion to dive sites including Shark Point, Anemone Reef, Phi Phi islands, Similan islands and more.

A Polar ice safety diver was featured in Scuba Diving magazine’s “Dangerous Diving Jobs” article published in October 2007. At the time the article was published, Rob Robbins, supervisor of dive services with Raytheon Polar Services, was a polar ice safety diver. What does that mean? Robbins said that every year, roughly 20 scientists come to Antarctica to study penguin physiology and more. Robbins' job is to keep the scientists alive while they explore the icy waters. The challenges? Water temperatures at 28.5 degrees F, the possibility of regulators freezing and dangerous animals pose. According to the article, “In 2003, a leopard seal claimed a scientist at the British Rothera Research Station near Palmer.” Despite these challenges, Robbins believes it’s worth it to see the hidden world beneath the ice. “Above the ice there is nothing alive, it’s just blue and white. But when you drop through that hole and suddenly the world opens up in vibrant, lush colors — deep red starfish, pink soft coral. There’s no other place like it in the world.” Neil Lucas, a former producer with BBC’s renowned Natural History Unit for over 20 years, shared his experience about having Robbins as a diver at Ross Island while Lucas and a crew were filming a project for BBC and Discovery Channel in the article “Under The Ice.”

Become A Mermaid

With spandex tails over dive fins and makeup, the divers transform into the mermaids behind the glass at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park in Florida. Crystal Zidegar, a mermaid at Weeki Wachee, said in Scuba Diving magazine's March 2004 article “What It’s Like to Be a Mermaid” that “we (mermaid performers) breathe from any of 17 thick rubber hoses, connected to high-pressure compressors. Each has a nozzle that acts as an on/off switch. With our index finger and thumb, we control the flow. You don’t draw the air out. If the air stream of a regulator is like water from a garden hose, what we get has the force of what firefighters use. Keep in mind that we don’t wear masks. Everything we see is blurry. We also don’t wear weight belts. We stay neutral by taking a full breath, then exhaling half.” The mermaids must also fight the current from the spring pumping out 170 million gallons every day. The mermaids sometimes have manatees interrupt the show besides fish and snapping turtles. Mermaids don’t just live in Weeki Watchee; you can even find them swimming in the 117,000-gallon reef aquarium at the Silverton Casino Hotel aquarium in Las Vegas. The aquarium has over 4,000 tropical fish plus stingrays and sharks.

Underwater Weddings

Stressing about your wedding dress, guest list or venue? How about an underwater ceremony? Although you may not be able to actually say the words “I do,” most dive centers provide the bride and groom waterproof paper and ink or a dive slate to write down their vows and exchange them underwater. The necessary documents are also waterproof. The destinations aren’t so hard to find as there are many places that offer the unique experience. Stuart Cove Dive’s Bahamas has ceremonies performed by Matthew Sweeting, a native Bahamian, non-denominational pastor and licensed marriage officer. The couple can choose the “venue” being a wreck, reef dive or even a dive with sharks. Couples receive an underwater slate. The tropical Florida Keys are another dream underwater wedding destination. In Key Largo, check out [Amy Slate's Amoray Dive Resort](Check out Amy Slate's Amoray Dive Resort as) for a romantic place to honeymoon after the dive operation performs the underwater ceremony of your dreams. Also in Key Largo, Captain Slate, who holds the Guinness Book of World Records record for the largest underwater wedding, can perform the underwater service in the Keys. Captain Slate’s Scuba Adventuresgives the couple a selection of HD video packages of the wedding, from rehearsal dinner through reception are available by Frazier Nivens, Emmy Award-winning video cameraman.

Zombie Scuba Diving

Most of the time diving is a safe sport, but when the unexpected happens, are you prepared? The fears of diving or having a diving incidents may burst someone’s bubble, but divers need to be aware of all possibilities and be prepared to take on any situation. Rescue classes are taught through PADI. PADI instructor Woody Tinsley of Vernon, Conn., takes a more gruesome yet entertaining approach in teaching about recovery scenarios. He certifies divers through the PADI Zombie Apocalypse Dive Distinction Specialty certification. After successfully completing the course, you get a certification card and 28-page survival manual, according to the article published in 2013 in the Sport Diver magazine titled “The Swimming Dead.” Tinsley describes his undead-driven approach for the rescue class he teaches at the PADI Dive Resort-Laguna Beach Resort in Utila, Honduras. It is also part of Kids Sea Camp. “Students make two dives: the first, they are presented with a recovery scenario, and then dive in teams to recover as much marine debris as possible,” says Tinsley. “The second dive is part obstacle course, part skill drill and part race.” The students or “survivors” escape the zombies by jumping into the water, but just like in movies, zombies don’t mind getting their rotting flesh wet. Divers try to avoid coming in contact with a zombie for fear of infection, which requires both rescue and self-rescue. The two-week course is taught from June 7 through June 14, 2014. Classes are also taught in: Guam; Edgewood, Ky.; Phoenix; Fort Collins, Colo.; Seattle; Okinawa, Japan; Waikiki, Hawaii; San Diego; Ottawa and Ontario, Canada.

Cave Diving Rescue and Recovery

The IUCRR is an international all-volunteer nonprofit group. Its mission is to rescue and/or recover victims in an underwater environment such as caves, caverns and mine shafts. The team must take notes and when the victim is found, the team must be able to maneuver through tight spaces while properly holding the victim. In _Scuba Diving’_s article “What It’s Like to Attempt a Cave Rescue,” cave rescuer Edd Sorenson tells one of many tales of his successful recue dives, though, sadly, not all are successful. “Ninety-nine percent of the time, cave rescues end as a body recovery — but that doesn’t mean I don’t do everything in my power to save a life … For a successful cave rescue, a thousand things have to go right, and a million things can go wrong. I’ve been recovering bodies since 1999 and never kept count. Usually it’s a thankless job. That day, fortune smiled.” Divers around the world safely dive in caves every year, and often, diver deaths and accidents are the result of untrained divers entering cave systems. The article “Lessons for Life: Safe Cave Diving” describes a diver getting lost in a cave, unable to find the way back to the entrance. The article outlines the “lessons for life” that could have saved this diver’s life.

HAZMAT Scuba Diving

This is considered to be the most dangerous jobs in the field of professional diving. These divers deal with hazardous materials and are at risk for contracting diseases, which is why they take safety precautions like getting vaccinated for tetanus, hepatitis, and other diseases. Their mission is to safely remove hazardous materials of all types. Being exposed to toxic waste, the divers must decontaminate their suit and gear after each dive. The job of a nuclear reactor diver also made the list in Scuba Diving magazine's “Dangerous Diving Jobs,” published in October 2007. At the time, Charlie Vallance, who was former director of the underwater technology program at the Florida Institute of Technology, before joining UCC to service nuke plants, said, “Each diver is limited to a cumulative radiation exposure of 1,000 millirems per year. To put things in perspective, the average U.S. citizen absorbs 200 millirems of radiation annually from naturally occurring radon gas, and gets a 50-millirem dose with every diagnostic x-ray.” Yes, it is an extremely dangerous job where there’s the possibility of drowning or getting crushed, but Vallance and his divers wear vulcanized rubber dry suits — helmet connected — and use positive-pressure, surface-supplied air. "Water is a very effective radiation shield," Vallance said. "Just two feet gives you the equivalent protection of two to four inches of lead."

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Scuba Diving For Golf Balls

Golfers keep their posture, focus on the ball sitting on the tee and aim for a hole-in-one — or at least the fairway. It may seem like a perfect swing till they hear that dreadful “ploop” as the ball sinks into the depths of a murky pond. Golf ball divers risk their life to gather and collect the sunken “white gold.” Fred Willis, owner of Golf Plus, a golf ball recycler, said, “It takes a special breed of cat to do the work” in the article “What It’s Like To Be a Golf Ball Diver,” published in Scuba Diving magazine in November 2002. In the article, Brett Parker, a professional golf ball diver, is one example of the rare breed of diver who is attracted to what is estimated to be a multimillion-dollar industry. Parker drops down to the muddy bottom and at the most picks up five balls at a time, placing them into his marsh bag. In an hour, he’s filled two bags with 1,400 balls; on an average workday he collects 3,000. At the time that the article was published, Parker had been in the golf-ball retrieving business for 14 years and had private contracts with 20 golf courses, including the Dallas Athletic Club. In addition to the scuba-diving risk, there is the constant threat of gators and venomous snakes lurking beneath the surface.