Descending into the inky darkness of the night to experience the nocturnal underwater world can certainly be a surreal experience. Many new divers find the thought of diving at night rather scary. However, for the well informed, diving at night can be one of the most relaxing, sensory dive experiences. Witnessing the creatures of the night and the different behaviours [...]

Are you new to diving? Perhaps you have less than perfect eyesight? Are you wondering what your options are for seeing underwater or indeed whether you can dive at all with less than perfect eyesight? If so, read on! Why do I need to be able to see clearly underwater? Of course, one of the primary reasons why we dive [...]

I would never go round to a friend’s house for dinner and state “you’re a really great cook, you must have a really good oven!” All too often however, I hear people state when we are diving, “wow, you guys have a really good camera, you must take some great shots!” The simple truth is that taking photos underwater is [...]

For those of you that have read my previous article on proper weighting for SCUBA diving and buoyancy control, you will know how passionate I am about this topic! So very often, divers are overweighted. Being overweighted makes achieving and maintaining proper buoyancy extremely difficult. Not only that, overweighting can have other negative impacts such as reduced dive time as [...]

There are two types of SCUBA diver on this planet – those that have experienced a panic type scenario whilst participating in their sport, and those that have not YET. The panicked diver So what is panic? Well, quite simply, according to the dictionary definition, it is “a sudden and overwhelming fear that can occur with or without cause and [...]

What is a Surface Marker Buoy? In my view, a Surface Marker Buoy is a must have piece of dive safety equipment, which, in many cases, is required by local law. So exactly what is a Surface Marker Buoy (“SMB”), when should you use one and how do you use it? SMBs come in many different shapes and sizes. Quite [...]

Being a self sufficient diver As a certified diver, the sooner you realise that you are responsible for yourself, the better. Far too often, I hear divers talking about their past experiences, blaming their dive guide or buddy for getting them into trouble. Tales such as “I was happily following the guide who lead me into a near out of [...]

I am certainly not the best skier in the world. Whilst I am comfortable  in getting down most runs in some sort of fashion, as soon as I see ice, I worry.  The same used to be true for me as a SCUBA diver, I was reasonably comfortable in most circumstances, however as soon as there was a whisper of [...]