By Andi Cross, Co-Founder of Edges of Earth
For the last three years, I've been living in the wild. Yes, you read that correctly. I've been living out of a suitcase with not much more than my scuba diving gear, a few changes of clothes for all seasons, some toiletries, my computer, and of course, my underwater housings and cameras.
My life didn't always look like this—abandoning comfort and certainty to experience life in full motion, in high definition. I wasn't always sleeping in tents so hot I thought heatstroke might take me. Or going weeks without electricity or connectivity, trekking through muck and mud to learn about endangered species. I certainly wasn't living aboard sailing vessels bound for the ends of the earth to document hard-to-reach places few people explore. And there was no such thing as being welcomed by local communities and tribes, invited to learn their cultures from the inside.
Andi Cross on the Edges of Earth expedition carrying an Explorers Club flag. Photo Credit: Adam Moore
Before all that, I was your typical 9–5er working in corporate New York, subscribing to the constant grind. Fulfilling my duties as a good American by putting in my time and doing what I was told. Life on the "edge" had no meaning to me until 2017 rolled around.
I was thirty when I saw it, waiting for my boss to leave so I could continue my streak as the last one standing in the office. National Geographic released a photograph of a polar bear standing on a tiny patch of ice—shriveled and starving. While I sat on the 24th floor of my glass tower looking out at the Manhattan Bridge, the world beyond was changing. The ice was melting. The polar bears were dying.
Diving the sub-Arctic with ScubaPro and SSI. Photo Credit: Adam Moore
Little did I know, this image would soon become one of the symbols of climate change. But what I did register, rather immediately, was that I had no involvement in being part of the change. What was I doing about all this? The image would go on to haunt me, and with no time, I was filled with an unbridled urge to break free from the manufactured walls of my office, suddenly closing in on me.
I had spent my twenties learning how to sell bold creative ideas to mega brands. Maybe I could take that same energy somewhere else. Instead of selling sneakers to the privileged through the large agencies I worked for, perhaps I could work with people trying to protect places like the Arctic. Use my skills for something that … mattered?
That question—how to redirect my skills—became a thought that refused to leave my mind. I talked about it with everyone. Until one day someone asked me a simple question: "If you care so much about saving the ocean, why haven't you tried scuba diving?" I haven't looked back since.
Becoming a scuba diver and applying skills towards conservation storytelling and impact work. Photo Credit: Adam Moore
In November 2018, I got my Open Water certification and became your typical wide-eyed, clueless diver. By January 2019, I decided I needed to leave Manhattan because I wasn't going to get much diving experience there (or so I thought). And by May 2019, I had moved across the world with a one-way ticket to Perth, Western Australia—the farthest point on earth from my home—to become a professional diver. By April 2023, that happened. Just not in the way I expected.
It's funny what can occur when you commit yourself to a goal. When you work toward something day in and day out. That's what I did with diving, but it's also what I did with my career. Instead of quitting my "day job" as I knew it, I decided to blend my passion with the profession I had spent years building. And there's no denying the journey has been far from easy.
Blending passion and profession has led Andi Cross to the most remote edges. Photo Credit: Adam Moore
From losing my visa and having no working rights in Australia, to starting a business overseas while working night shifts to accommodate crazy time differences from the most isolated city in the world. There were stretches where I made no money at all while trying to get things off the ground. And certainly stretches where I was second guessing my life choices as a bold, over-eager 30-something year old. But those hurdles make the outcome that much sweeter—especially when you come out the other side with a life designed entirely on your own terms.
By the time June 2023 rolled around, my partner Adam Moore and I officially launched our expedition and consulting company, Edges of Earth. Through this work, we apply our corporate backgrounds to the frontlines of the climate crisis—helping communities, organizations, and leaders bring their visions for a more sustainable future to life. It's what has taken us around the world and back again many times over, offering support to people who often would not otherwise have access to it. So far, it's taken us to 47 countries and counting. And all the while, we've been documenting the journey, both above and below the water.
For Andi Cross, human connection is the most important part of her work. Photo Credit: Adam Moore
From the last remaining kelp forests in the sub-Antarctic, to melting glaciers in the sub-Arctic, to tropical reefs bursting with hard and soft corals. Even back home in New York, where oyster reefs are slowly being restored. Adam and I have been fortunate enough to meet the people who are keeping our most critical natural resources intact, and pushing for their long-term survival.
For years, I've carried large underwater camera systems to document these places. Not only to remind myself of where we've been, who we've met, and what we've learned. But to show this content to others, to use it as case studies proving how many people are out there fighting for our shared, secure future. While they produce incredible results, they're also exhausting to travel with. Airports, border crossings, remote boats, rough conditions—lugging massive gear around the world comes with its own set of challenges. And sometimes, those systems simply aren't practical.
Sometimes life on the edges requires immediate in-water action where assembling more gear is not an option. Photo Credit: Adam Moore
The kind of diving Adam and I do requires flexibility. Remote expeditions mean unpredictable conditions, limited space, and constant change of plans. When you're working at the edges of the world, you need tools that can adapt just as quickly as you do. Sometimes we need to jump in the water immediately. Sometimes we need to capture content and send it quickly to partners in the field or communities who can't download massive video files. And sometimes we're operating in places where being discreet with cameras matters more than people might realize.
This is what drew us to the DIVEVOLK. This hand-held underwater phone housing allows us to turn the phones already in our pockets into a capable underwater tool in a way we had been looking to achieve for a while. It's simple and compact. In the kind of remote environments where we work, that simplicity can make all the difference.
Edges of Earth and DIVEVOLK have teamed up for a multi-year expedition around the world. Photo Credit: Adam Moore
There have been countless moments where it's earned its place in our kit. Quick shoreline dives between meetings with community leaders. Dropping into the water from small boats where space is limited and every piece of gear has to justify its weight. Swimming through shallow ecosystems while carrying a large camera rig would slow everything down and damage the underwater world, so precious and vital to us. Instead, we slide a phone into the housing, seal it up, and jump in.
And when we surface, the story is no longer on a memory card waiting for editing software back home. It's already there on the phone. Ready to be shared with the people we're working with—the communities protecting these places—who might have never seen their underwater world in this way. Sometimes it's not so much about the full editing experience when it comes to ocean or water content. It's actually more so about sharing it with the people who are spending their lives protecting it, right then and there, in the moment and in real time.
Diving in remote corners of the Pantanal, Brazil that have never been documented before. Photo Credit: Adam Moore
For us, documentation has never been to collect footage for the sake of it. It's always been to forge connections—showing people what exists in places they may never visit, and why those places matter. After years of hauling heavy camera systems around the world, we still rely on them, no question. But tools like the DIVEVOLK have become part of our everyday workflow, especially in the places where adaptability is the key. Because when you spend your life traveling to the edges of the earth, you learn quickly that the ocean doesn't wait for perfect conditions. You have to be ready for whatever it decides to show you next.
Looking back, it's still a little surreal to think about how this all began. Sitting in a corporate office in Manhattan, staring out at one of our most famous bridges and wondering if there was something more I was meant to do. That question led me across the world to become a diver, and eventually into a life that now revolves around the ocean entirely. And while it hasn't been a straight path, and it certainly hasn't been easy, that pull toward the water—toward the places most people never see—is hard to ignore.
DIVEVOLK is a compact, easy-to-carry underwater housing setup for phones of all kinds. Photo Credit: Adam Moore
Sometimes that call inspires you to pack up your life and move across the world with an inkling of a plan. Sometimes it means learning to adapt, over and over again, as the journey unfolds. And sometimes, it simply means being ready—when the moment comes—to slip beneath the surface and document what's there before it disappears.
About the Author and Edges of Earth
Andi Cross is the co-founder of Edges of Earth, an expedition and consulting company applying corporate strategy to the frontlines of the climate crisis. A DIVEVOLK brand ambassador, she has traveled to 47 countries documenting ocean conservation efforts above and below the water.
- Andi Cross on Instagram: @andicross1
- Edges of Earth on Instagram: @edgesofearth_
- Edges of Earth website: edgesofearth.com
- Photographer Adam Moore on Instagram: @adammoore1
Explore the DIVEVOLK underwater phone housing collection and discover why expedition teams around the world trust it as essential gear. Have questions? Get in touch with us.
