Tamara Thomsen

Maritime Archaeologist, Dive Shop Owner & Instructor


Tamara Thomsen is a Maritime Archaeologist with Wisconsin Historical Society's Maritime Preservation and Archaeology program. Her research has resulted in the nomination of fifty-eight submerged sites to the National Register of Historic Places. She has received awards from the Association for Great Lakes Maritime History, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society, and in 2014, she was inducted into the Women Diver's Hall of Fame. Tamara is an active cave, rebreather, and technical diving instructor with Diversions Scuba in Madison, Wisconsin, and has worked as a photographer, researcher, and research diver on projects including the USS Monitor with NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries, and RMS Titanic with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

The Cave Where I Live: Perspectives of a Midwest Cave Diver


With more than 2,500 cave dives logged over the last thirty years, Tamara Thomsen will share stories of cave diving, training, exploration, and science from caves around the world to those right in our own backyards.