When people think of Southern Appalachia, they tend to think of hiking or mountain views, maybe chasing waterfalls and wildflowers, visiting breweries or searching for Bigfoot. But did you know that you can scuba dive and snorkel here too? When I first moved to Western North Carolina from South Florida, I thought I’d have to put scuba diving on the backburner. All that changed when I met Ischa Vingle. Ischa has dedicated her career to helping others explore the beauty of life underwater in North Carolina.

Ischa is the owner and operator of Asheville, North Carolina’s Mountains to Seas Scuba Adventures, as well as Nixi Aquatics Dive Travel, in addition to being a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer, AAUS Scientific Diver, USCG Captain, Marine Safety Officer and a Wilderness First Responder. Her local business in Asheville leads snorkeling and dive classes, as well as guided lake dives, quarry dives and river snorkeling trips throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains. She even takes divers from the mountains to the sea to hunt for fossils and shark teeth in South Carolina’s Low Country.

But how does someone from Southern Appalachia become such a badass mermaid? And what is it like snorkeling and scuba diving in the Blue Ridge Mountains? I interviewed her to find out.

Related Reading: Is a Snorkel Really Necessary When I Dive?

Underwater in the Blue Ridge Mountains

Most people who hike miles out to a lake or a waterfall never think to put on a mask and look underwater. But there’s a whole world down there with salamanders, trout, sturgeon, crayfish, mussels, snails and more! Spanning from Georgia to southern Pennsylvania, the Blue Ridge Mountains lie within the Appalachian Mountain range and are one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world, having formed over 250 million years ago. They contain some of the most biodiverse freshwater in North America—making them worth not only exploring, but protecting.

“Diving these mountains is honestly mind blowing,” Ischa exclaims, her passion beaming.

The first time she experienced river snorkeling was in her own backyard, and Ischa admits that she cried. She had spent so much of her life chasing a love for the ocean, and never realized how much beauty and life were beneath the surface, right here in her beloved Blue Ridge Mountains.

When new customers experience these mountain waters for the first time, Ischa shares that they are always shocked at how much life there is to see in just one to three feet of water.

Ischa’s Upbringing

Ischa was born in South Florida but her family moved to the mountains of Western North Carolina when she was two, so Appalachia has always been her home. She grew up in a log cabin on a dirt road in the woods outside of Brevard County.

“I was one of those girls that wanted to be a mermaid when I grew up,” laughed Ischa. “I actually had dreams of breathing underwater when I was little.”

Luckily, her family supported and fostered her obsession with the water. While on family vacations, Ischa was able to snorkel at a young age, and by the time she was 11 she was able to try surface supply diving. “I never wanted to come up—I had never felt as at home as I did underwater,” she explains.

Her obsession with the water exploded from there.

Working Around the World

Ischa got her first marine job on a big catamaran in the Florida Keys. “I may have embellished my work experience a bit to get the job—I had watched videos on sailing and knots for days, so I sounded like I knew what I was doing during my interview,” Ischa said with a chuckle.

While she may have started out with a “fake it until you make it” mindset, eventually—she really did know what she was doing. She went to the Lockwood School of Diving and Underwater Technology and obtained a Divemaster Certification and USCG Captain’s License. After graduating, she bounced her way throughout the Caribbean in the Bahamas and the British Virgin Islands, as well as Costa Rica. She obtained her PADI Open Water Instructor certification while living and working in Utila and Roatan, Honduras. Ischa then called Kauai, Hawaii home, and even made her way to Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand.

“It was an epic lap around the world—hitting some amazing dive destinations and expanding my skill set along the way,” exclaims Ischa.

Related Reading: Best Destinations for Advanced Diving

I Bought My First Dive Shop… in the Mountains

After years of working for different companies and “bumming around, living out of a dive bag,” Ischa was ready to settle down.

“I wanted to focus on high-quality training standards and eco-education, because I’m super passionate about the environment,” she said.

First, she started her own business, Nixi Aquatics, which offers private dive instruction and boutique international travel. It was during that time that Ischa met the previous owner of Mountains to Seas Scuba, Mike Wolfe, in Asheville and built a relationship with him. He was ready to retire, so she wrote him a check and took over the reins.

“I saw an opportunity to take a small dive operation to the next level and build from a great foundation,” Ischa explains. “There is something special about having a dive operation up here in the mountains. It’s much more taboo and extreme to people up here versus these areas where diving is already so common.”

As a kid who grew up in these mountains, Ischa once wished she could learn more about the ocean, and so she finds meaning and purpose in owning a business that is fostering a connection from the mountains to the sea—truly embodying the name of the company. As a women owned dive center (see other women in leadership), Ischa’s business focuses on building a strong community for women and children. Ischa opened a local chapter of Daughters of the Deep, which commits to dismantling the socioeconomic barriers that often keep young women from diving.

“Our shop statistics with PADI show that we certify more women than men, which is an extremely rare case in the industry, being that [only] 40% of certified PADI divers are female.” Ischa beams, “this shows that just having female professionals and role models in the industry completely changes the game.”

Related Reading: The Importance of Women in Diving and Conservation

The Future of Mountains to Seas

Ischa is opening a new dive shop and training center along Haywood Road in the greater Asheville area, with big plans for the future. Looking forward, she is hoping to collaborate with local conservation nonprofits and small businesses, such as Oxbow River Snorkeling, Gray Quarry, and the Blue Ridge Snorkel Trail to foster a community committed to learning about and celebrating the fresh and saltwater habitats that are all intricately connected, from the southern Appalachian Mountains to the Outer Banks and Lowcountry.