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Kally Kaiser | traveler • diver • explorer

@kallyexplores

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🇵🇭 Pinay Explorer
🤿 PADI Divemaster | TDI Cave Diver
📍 Austria
🌎 6 continents, 50 countries, 7 World Wonders
🤙🏽 Dove in 🇮🇩🇵🇭🇲🇽🇺🇸🇪🇬🇹🇭🇯🇴🇸🇽🇿🇦🇲🇿🇨🇭🇦🇹

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My 30th year has been utterly transformative, yet somehow feels like exactly the direction my life was always meant to take. Long-awaited culminations gave way to countless new beginnings, each closed chapter ushering me toward the next open door at a pace that’s hard to believe fit into a single year.

As I reflect on this evolution, I think back to the beginning: celebrating my birthday and the new year in Peru, exploring Machu Picchu with the people who know me better than anyone. This was without question, the best group trip of my life. Sharing the history, food, and culture of such a special place with those who allow me to feel most myself was unforgettable. It was there, surrounded by my safety net, that I realized none of my closest people lived in New York anymore, and maybe I was ready to move on too. Sometimes clarity arrives softly, long before we’re brave enough to act on it. But looking back, it feels like the universe took that realization and ran with it.

Over the course of this year, I left corporate and chose to fully commit to becoming an explorer; I hope to one day be part of diving expedition teams in pursuit of scientific discovery. I didn’t have the full roadmap, and I still don’t. What I do have is a deep knowing that staying comfortable would cost me more than trying. This path will take time, discipline, and thousands of hours of training—but certainty, I’ve learned, is built by taking the first step.

Now, it feels fitting to close this chapter in the homeland on a journey to reconnect with my roots 🇵🇭 I’m grateful to be ringing in 31 on the beach of our family island, feeling more connected to my massive, wonderful family than ever.

If you’re standing at the edge of something new and wondering whether to take the leap, this is your sign: you don’t need to see the whole path. You just need the courage to begin. by @kallyexplores

Today marks the beginning of Kally Explores: my journey to becoming a full-time explorer, creator, and artist.

After 31 hours of travel from NYC, I’ve just touched down in South Africa. Only time will tell where I’ll end up next.

Right now, I’m feeling all the big feels: primarily excitement, but also a healthy dose of fear, and some bittersweet sadness over leaving behind a life and a community I truly love. I’m untethered in the best and scariest way: guided only by my budget and a deep love for the people who support me.

This isn’t my first time setting off like this. When I graduated college, I left New York with a 38L backpack and two months’ rent to my name. During COVID, I also did a longer stint of traveling while working full time. Back then, I was wandering for wandering’s sake, chasing the unknown with more curiosity than direction.

But this time, I have a mission: I’m becoming an Explorer.

I’m going to find ways to use my technical diving skills to do work that is impactful and ideally in service of scientific research. I’m going to share this journey as authentically as possible, including the raw and uncertain parts. And hopefully, I’ll find what I’m meant to do in the process.

Since I was a kid, people have told me I’d need to “be realistic,” that the way I live isn’t sustainable or real. That my dreams are too wild, that my life needs a Plan B. That kind of doubt used to confuse me, and sometimes it still does.

But as I’ve been preparing for this trip, I’ve settled into my truth: just because a path looks different doesn’t mean it’s not worth exploring.

I am real. This life is my reality.
And I’m done asking permission to live it.

#girlsthatscuba #girlswhotravel #divemaster #exploretheoutdoors #sharkdiving #sharkdiver #kallyexplores #solotravel #scubalife #divingin #adventureiscalling by @kallyexplores

How to possibly sum up a year (or 30?) of metamorphosis beyond my wildest imaginings? 29 has been expansive, a year to shock the senses, to challenge all that I thought I knew of myself and tear down any last self-imposed boundaries— making way for an era of such all-encompassing evolution that I hardly recognize myself from the start of the year, much less the decade.

When I was young, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was my comfort movie— so much so that I broke our burned DVD edition by watching it too many times. From the moment I found out Petra was a real place, I became determined to see it when I grew up. I can now happily say, Petra far surpassed my childhood imagination. Wandering through the ruins of this ancient Nabatean city, learning what little is known of these timeless and intricate structures, was a cherished dream come true.

To that little girl watching her favorite Hollywood explorer: know that in a few short decades, you will grow up to become your own hero. You’ll venture into the wild open world to make your own discoveries, master your own strengths. While your path may diverge from what is expected, you will learn to transform along with the changing tides. Even as you reach new depths, I promise you have light enough within you to guide you through.

You are brave and fluid and unbound, and you will find yourself lifted by people who are excited to see you shine and live their truth along with you. You are lucky beyond measure and your life will be filled with joy and play and wonder. Spend your time with people you love, and always always be grateful for those who love you without cause or expectation.

I can hardly imagine what 30 can bring to a life as full as this, but I can’t wait to find out 😌 by @kallyexplores

Moments of peace

#underwaterlife #seekadventuresavetheocean by @kallyexplores

What a year it was, thank you my love ♥️
It’s wild to think that all of these adventures across 4 continents, from the bottom of the ocean to the peaks of mountains started in an airport a year ago!
I can’t wait to see what the next year with you brings😍
Thank you! by @kallyexplores

Frames from the Philippines 🇵🇭 📸

#philippines #shotonsony by @kallyexplores

Finally made it to Moalboal!

Spent a week diving here and it absolutely did not disappoint. The sardine run can get busy with divers and freedivers, but being engulfed by thousands of fish is genuinely an incredible experience.
Quick tip though, stick close to the surface where the magic happens. It gets pretty murky below the bait ball. Beyond that, Pescador Island delivered some stunning wall dives and reefs, and the turtle sanctuary was a real highlight 🤩

What’s wild is seeing the scale of tourism that’s been built on the back of this one school of fish. Whilst places with this much visitors always have their issues, it’s been inspiring to see local stakeholders, policy makers, and business owners actually working together on conservation, community involvement, and long-term sustainability. That kind of collaboration is rare and worth celebrating 🤘
Thanks for hosting us @cebufundivers_official

#moalboal #phillipines #ecocenter by @kallyexplores

Just a unedited and uncut BTS video from last years South Africa expedition.

We got surprised by a brides whale feeding on a bait ball surrounded by dolphins,sharks and birds.

While conditions can be testing on these trips the wildlife and interactions are like nothing else that can be seen anywhere.

I’ll be headed back this year to experience this once more and we still have spots left to join our @mindtheseas trip, leave a comment bellow if you want to see this in real life 🤩

#sardinerun #southafrica #expedition by @kallyexplores

Finally made it to Malapascua

This place is a must visit for all shark lovers out there, especially with the recent move of the sharks they can now be spotted in the shallows as well 😁

Whilst there is an argument for making the early trips we did stick to the 8am departures and still had incredible encounters. My favorite dive was an afternoon dive where we had the place and incredible encounters with 3 sharks at the same time to ourself at 9m on top of the reef 🤩

Thanks for hosting showing us these magical creatures @tsdmalapascua

First shot taken by @kallyexplores by @kallyexplores

Realizing I never posted part 2, so here she is! I’m actually really glad I recorded so many reactions and pre/post-dive emotions over the last months because they take me right back to those moments of learning, growth, and joyful accomplishment 🥹

It feels wild to be settling back in Austria, and I’ll be sharing more about this transition, but for now re-watching this has me so excited to get back to training! We have planned so many amazing dives coming up, and there is still a lot to share from the summer, so stay tuned!

#girlsthatscuba #explorermore #girlswhotravel #scubadivinglife #tec #tecdiving #tec40 #girlswhotechdive by @kallyexplores

Getting ready for my first certified decompression dive! In response to the questions and encouragement I’ve been getting (thank you!!), I wanted to share a bit more context as to what I am doing and why as I prepare for my first deco dive to 40 meters:

Breathing compressed air under pressure during a dive causes nitrogen to dissolve into the body’s tissues. The longer and deeper a dive, the more nitrogen accumulates. Decompression or “deco” diving involves intentionally going beyond normal “no-decompression limits” (NDLs) to extend bottom time at depth, which requires a carefully planned ascent with intermediate stops (deco stops) to allow the body to safely release excess dissolved nitrogen and prevent decompression sickness (DCS).

Though I am only at the very beginning of my training journey, this kind of technical diving training will enable me to explore deeper wrecks, caves, or other ecosystems for longer. For this dive, we staged tanks (not shown bc we had already dropped them at the entrance to the dive site before kitting up) containing a gas blend of 50% oxygen to speed up our decompression.

#girlsthatscuba #scubadivinglife #tecdiving #twinset #girlswhotecdive #tecdiver #tecdivinggirls #scubadivinggirls #scubadivingmag by @kallyexplores

My mind during this dive was impaired by a classic case of gas narcosis, likely caused by our descent to 40m at some altitude (a new experience for me now training in alpine lakes) being faster than I was used to. This experience feels vulnerable to share, but it’s part of the journey and I want to be able to look back and see how far I’ve come.

Now when I experience this mental fog again, I’ll know how to handle it, or at least it won’t be so surprising. On the upside, I can be proud that I didn’t let it affect my dive physically and I still maintained my trim and buoyancy during all deco stops. And most excitingly *I stayed dry* for the first time! Baby steps 😮‍💨

Have you ever experienced gas narcosis during tec dives or diving at altitude? Would love to hear more stories from how you handled and learned from it!

#girlsthatscuba #tec #tecdive #tecdiver #scubadivinggirls #scubadivinglife #girlswhotravel #exploreroftheseas #explorermore #tecdiving by @kallyexplores