Aug 22, 2021 5 min read

EASTON (AP) – Matt Schade has crossed the iconic Easton-Phillipsburg free bridge hundreds of times, looked out at the Delaware River and wondered what was underneath the water’s surface.

Many have wondered the same thing, curiosity piqued by rumors of what, or who, might be hidden in the river in between Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

But most don’t have scuba gear like Schade, and fewer have the sense of discovery that pushes the Allentown man to suit up and dive in waterways around the Lehigh Valley.

“I was always curious as a kid, looking out at water sources, or the rivers and lakes, curious on how deep they went, what could be down there. What does it look like down there?” he said. “It’s a lot of mysterious questions, they’re unanswered and I always enjoyed that. Exploring is one of the main things that I truly like to do.”

Schade explores with friends, but thousands of strangers now eagerly share in his adventures.

Schade, who goes by STILLFIN online, posts videos of his hikes and dives to his Facebook and YouTube pages. He initially posted the videos for fun, but during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic and amid Pennsylvania’s stay-at-home order, Schade’s videos took off.

A May 2020 video of his dive near Bethlehem’s Sand Island, where he found a hatchet, was the first one to get more than 2,000 views on Facebook. His audience has only grown since then.

Schade’s most popular video so far is his dive in July under the free bridge, which has more than 64,600 views and almost 350 comments on Facebook.

Watching his videos, there are Zen-like moments of peace, as Schade navigates the dark waters with only the sounds of the water and his breathing.

“It definitely is calming, it’s very tranquil down there, especially when a fish swims right up to you, without question,” he said. “It’s a completely different world down there, completely different physics. … You can’t really hear anything, but when you do hear something, it surrounds you.”

The 31-year-old said he started exploring the area woods and water after realizing he wasn’t fully living his life.

“I felt like I was doing a lot more work than actual living. I moved onto something a little more exotic, a little more extreme,” he said. “It definitely perked up my life a lot, so now I’m really happy with it. It’s a good thing.”

Before he got his water certification in 2017, Schade was hiking in the woods, checking out abandoned buildings, and diving with a snorkel, some fins and a knife.

“I would go looking for junk and take pictures of it, and throw it online,” he said.

He and his diving buddy, who goes by STIFFCHIN, started recording their dives about five years ago. Now, they use GoPro cameras on their hands and head to document the trips.

Sometimes they dive in places they see every day, like the free bridge or the Race Street bridge in Catasauqua. Other times, word of mouth leads them to other spots. Not all of the locations are dive-able, with some too far from any road or a place to park to bring in the necessary gear.

One of his favorite dives was in the Delaware Water Gap, where the river can go from about 30 feet to 50 feet in spots and gets really dark.

“That was beautiful. I was not expecting the visibility to be that good,” Schade said. By comparison, the Lehigh River gets dark at about 20 feet.

“It’s like going on the moon, except you don’t need a rocket,” he said.

Abandoned fishing lines are a common hazard, especially in the Lehigh. Schade and his diving friends have gotten tangled and needed to be cut free.

“It’s something that needs to be cleaned up. It’s out of hand,” he said.

Other hazards are rebar, flash floods and tree limbs. Branches in the water can turn into spider webs that trap a diver, and flash flooding not only changes the current, but affects visibility.

“Once you start getting zero visibility and you’re out there in chocolate milk with your buddy, you’ve got to get the hell out of there,” Schade said.

The rivers are full of fish, random trash and some treasures: hubcaps, car seats, tires, cellphones, old coins, even a pocket watch.

“Anything could be in that river. Anything, man,” he said. “I’ve seen so much stuff under there, I wouldn’t know where to begin.”

The rivers were especially busy last summer when most municipal pools were closed because of the coronavirus.

“People were exploring Mother Nature more, since they didn’t have these other places to go. We found a lot more stuff in the river last year. People were losing stuff left and right,” he said.

Right now, Schade said he’s sticking to exploring around the free bridge. He uploaded a new video Wednesday after diving friends helped guide him to the remnants of the old bridge.

“It’s unknown territory to us. There’s still plenty to be found down there. I’ve been told there’s abandon cars down there, and all that,” he said.

His latest video was up for less than a day and already more than 4,700 people had watched it.

The popularity has surprised him, but Schade said he would keep diving even if no one watched the videos.

“Now it’s finally taking off a little bit. I can’t believe it. It’s something else,” he said.