Sea Research Society’s “Tom Mount & Sheck Exley Certificate for International Underwater Cave Exploration” was created to recognize and honor divers who had completed 1000 or more safe cave dives but only when the dives were fully documented and spread over five or more countries.
This certificate was named for two of the world’s most accomplished cave divers — Tom Mount (March 1939 – January 2022) and Sheck Exley (April 1949 – April 1994)
Tom Mount was a pioneering cave diver and technical diver. He was also a founding member of NACD (the National Association for Cave Diving), the first cave diver training organization in the United States and was the author of The Cave Diving Manual. Mount also published a number of technical diving texts, including the Technical Diver Encyclopedia, Exploration and Mixed Gas Diving Encyclopedia and Tek Closed Circuit Rebreather. In November 2000, Mount received the Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences (AUAS) NOGI Award in its sports and education category. A NOGI is the oldest international award in diving and is widely considered the diving world’s equivalent of an Oscar.
Sheck Exley was widely regarded as one of the early pioneers of cave diving. Exley was the author of two important books on the subject: Basic Cave Diving: A Blueprint for Survival and Caverns Measureless to Man. Exley died at age 45 while trying to set a depth record by diving Zacatón, Mexico’s 1,080-foot (330 m) deep, freshwater cenote. At the time of his death in 1994, Exley was a member of Sea Research Society.
To date, the Society has given out only one of these certificates, and that was in January of 2026 to Robert H. Pritchett III. Pritchett is an underwater cartographer who has mapped numerous caves and shipwrecks and was a founding member of La Fundación Espeleobuceo Hispaniola and a member of the Bermuda Cave Diving Association. Pritchett is a lifetime member of the Sea Research Society, the National Association of Cave Diving, and the International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers.
This page was compiled by Brad Needleman (President of Sea Research Society for 2021-2024)