I've posted a couple of times (I read more often) and was a member over on the UK Dive Forum of old (Hi Wibble), but I thought I should introduce myself properly.
My diving experience started with a try dive in my hotel pool in Cyprus in 2009, followed by a proper try dive in the sea a couple of days later.
Without my wife's suggestion, I never would have done more than experience scuba gear in that pool, but the sea dive, off a RHIB, left me wondering why I'd never tried it before!
The following year I was in Sharm to 'do my PADI' and qualified as an Open Water Diver.
In the next 12 months, I took the PADI drysuit course (what else can you do in Wraysbury in February?) and the Nitrox Speciality, followed by a few more dives in Wraysbury, my PADI AOW in Madeira and then, finally, a dive in UK ocean waters when I bit the bullet and bought my own equipment.
That convinced me that I needed to do MORE diving than just the odd few days on family holidays and I joined my local BSAC club (Aldershot Dolphins) after chatting to a few in the area.
Since then most of diving has been under their auspices, although I did my PADI Wreck course down at Plymouth and travelled independently up to Stromness to dive the Scapa wrecks with Scapa Scuba before my 50th dive (Don't let anyone tell you that you can't enjoy Scapa with just an AOW qualification).
Since then I've progressed through the various BSAC levels up to Advanced Diver and I've dived in Mauritius, California, Cuba, The Maldives, Aqaba, Indonesia, Cyprus, Italy and, of course, the Egyptian part of the Red Sea (I've probably missed a few locations) as well as completing a fair number of dives in the UK (I'm up to around 600 dives, after 12 years).
So, that's me, thanks for having me aboard - I'll try and contribute where I can and learn from others.
M
My diving experience started with a try dive in my hotel pool in Cyprus in 2009, followed by a proper try dive in the sea a couple of days later.
Without my wife's suggestion, I never would have done more than experience scuba gear in that pool, but the sea dive, off a RHIB, left me wondering why I'd never tried it before!
The following year I was in Sharm to 'do my PADI' and qualified as an Open Water Diver.
In the next 12 months, I took the PADI drysuit course (what else can you do in Wraysbury in February?) and the Nitrox Speciality, followed by a few more dives in Wraysbury, my PADI AOW in Madeira and then, finally, a dive in UK ocean waters when I bit the bullet and bought my own equipment.
That convinced me that I needed to do MORE diving than just the odd few days on family holidays and I joined my local BSAC club (Aldershot Dolphins) after chatting to a few in the area.
Since then most of diving has been under their auspices, although I did my PADI Wreck course down at Plymouth and travelled independently up to Stromness to dive the Scapa wrecks with Scapa Scuba before my 50th dive (Don't let anyone tell you that you can't enjoy Scapa with just an AOW qualification).
Since then I've progressed through the various BSAC levels up to Advanced Diver and I've dived in Mauritius, California, Cuba, The Maldives, Aqaba, Indonesia, Cyprus, Italy and, of course, the Egyptian part of the Red Sea (I've probably missed a few locations) as well as completing a fair number of dives in the UK (I'm up to around 600 dives, after 12 years).
So, that's me, thanks for having me aboard - I'll try and contribute where I can and learn from others.
M
