Diving background:

Learned to dive in Gozo in 2002 where I was always the one buried in the books after a dive trying to work out what I’d seen, it soon became apparent that to fulfil my need to be underwater I’d have to learn to use a drysuit and dive in the UK! My UK diving journey parallels my Seasearch journey.

Favourite dive site:

Anywhere in the sea (though I will dive in a quarry if all else fails). I love the UK but Tasmania and British Columbia are on the list if we’re ever allowed to travel again…

Best diving experience:

I still remember the first time I breathed underwater (in a swimming pool in Oxfordshire) and in the sea in Gozo – a transformative experience. Now I just like being underwater, full stop, and I can always find something to look at and discover, so I always have good dives. Except for… (see below)

Worst diving experience:

Not so much worst as ‘a pointless exercise’ – in the National Oceanography Centre dock in about 2cm viz. A whole day throwing up on the boat when we visited the very end of the Lizard Peninsula figures high on this list, as does a similar experience on the Durham Heritage Coast. And who can forget Boggle Hole on the seaweed safari. All character-building days at sea ;-)

Most embarrassing (diving) moment:

Oh so many! Yes, I have jumped in without my fins on, without completely closing my dry suit zip, I’ve arrived at a dive site with just my camera housing (no camera), I haven’t yet jumped in without my air turned on or weight belt on, but it’s probably only a matter of time. Anyone who claims not to make mistakes like that is probably a liar.

Favourite marine wildlife:

So much choice… Nope, I really can’t single out one particular species. I’ve still got a long list of ‘want to see’.

Favourite post-dive ‘cake’: 

Any really (except those ruined with nuts or mixed peel)

Best bit about being involved with Seasearch? 

It’s the best geeky dive club in the world, full of fellow enthusiasts talking Latin in the pub. Yeah, it’s a bit niche, apparently, or so I’ve been told.  The fact that we’re all learning together, and good things (like MPAs or trawling bans) happen because of us filling in the boring post-dive paperwork.

Diving background:

I snorkelled in the Middle East from about age 4, learned to dive in 1990, dived at assorted amazing places round the world during the 1990s and 2000s and have mainly been snorkelling for the last 15 years.

Favourite dive site:

The deep rocky gullies behind Gull Rocks, Holywell Bay, Cornwall.

Best diving experience:

Either snorkelling just outside Hobart in Tasmania to see weedy sea dragons or a night dive in Seychelles where there was a bloom of bioluminescent Noctiluca plankton. When you turned off your torch and moved your hand through the water, it left a glowing trail of brilliant blue.

Worst diving experience:

During a training course, we were doing sums at different depths to learn about effects of nitrogen narcosis. The viz was so bad that we couldn’t even read the slate, never mind record how long the tasks took. Total dive time – 6 minutes.

Most embarrassing (diving) moment:

Climbing into the boat after the last dive on a really scorching day in Dubai, being passed a can of beer, taking a big swig and finding that my mates had filled it with sea water. Might have choked a little bit.

Favourite marine wildlife:

Glaucus atlantica

Favourite post dive ‘cake’:

Sticky ginger sponge or coffee cake without walnuts.

Best bit about being involved with Seasearch:

Making use of all the data collected by Seasearch volunteers, not just by putting dots on a map, but by using cutting-edge methods to interrogate the data to find information that is of interest to the public and of value for conservation.

Diving background:

Learnt to dive on a trip to Australia. I wanted to see the Great Barrier Reef and a dive course was cheap option for that. Didn't think I really liked it that much but thought I should continue the training when I got back to the UK so I didn’t lose the skills and 15 years later I’m still diving regularly.

Favourite dive site:

Wherever I happen to be diving.

Best diving experience:

A dive in Rangiroa, French Polynesia, where a turtle swam right up to me trying to eat the (red) toggles on my weight pouches followed by flying through the Tiputa Pass with a manta ray.

Worst diving experience:

A wreck off Sussex where the organiser had calculated slack water totally wrong and as we descended, it was pitch black and running like a train. We never made it to the bottom!

Most embarrassing (diving) moment:

Jumping in from the back of the boat in Australia to watch my weight pouch float gently to the seabed at 20m. Fortunately, it was clear enough to see and not beyond a reverse profile depth to be able to retrieve.

Favourite marine wildlife:

Any kind of nudibranch

Favourite post dive ‘cake’:

Chips

Best bit about being involved with Seasearch?

I love the underwater environment, so it's great to be a small part of a project that is helping to protect it.

Diving background:

Started in 1975; still have my first own regulator - a spiro Royal Mistral twin hose. 3k plus dives since. Much of my diving has been for work as a marine ecologist and researcher - my first job as a young graduate was with the Dorset Underwater Survey. Researched into marine impacts of caged fish farming in the Outer Hebrides and Shetland, and into impacts of spilt oil and oil industry discharges on the seabed. Led or participated in diving/intertidal surveys around the UK for what later became the UK's Marine Nature Conservation Review team.  Work has taken me all around the world, diving and assessing environmental impacts.

Favourite dive site:

St Kilda. Oh, and islands/rocks anywhere offshore north and west of Scotland. And St Abbs.

Best diving experience:

The cave/tunnel system within a stack off the north coast of Soay, St Kilda - at different stages trepidation, excitement, scenery and visibility, elation and sunshine.

Worst diving experience:

Levenish, St Kilda, at the mercy of wild tide flows.

Most embarrassing (diving) moment:

Backward rolling off an inflatable in Gulf of Suez, and hanging from a grab-line I had inadvertently secured myself too by my ABLJ crotch strap.

Favourite marine wildlife:

Undisturbed and abundant.

Favourite post dive ‘cake’:

Not picky. Ginger cake is ace though.

Best bit about being involved with Seasearch?

The variety of folk you get to meet, and their enthusiasm - this is very sustaining.  It has also given me an impetus to start logging my dives again.

Diving background:

Learned to dive in London in 1983 after having volunteered at the Sherkin Island Marine Station as a photographer (my background). On my eighth dive I undertook my first underwater survey with the Underwater Conservation Society on a diving trip off Seaford Head in Sussex organised by (ex-Seasearch co-ordinator) Chris Wood. I then went back to Sherkin for a further two seasons diving. I was hooked! I have been involved in underwater conservation and photography ever since, got a Part 4 commercial ticket in ’94, and I still enjoy diving and taking underwater photographs as much as I ever did.

Favourite dive site:

Impossible to say. Certainly temperate. There are some great dives off Britain and Ireland and singling out one is too difficult. Oigh Sgeir (west of the Small Isles) is one I can vividly remember though, with red blennies, trumpet anemones and all the colour and richness associated with the best of Scottish dives. The Aran Islands, off Galway, are extraordinary too, especially in vis which can be 25m+ at times.

Best diving experience:

I still find the descent through green water and braking by drysuit inflation as the seabed looms up to be really exhilarating and loaded with anticipation of the uncertainty of what might be seen. Diving in New Zealand’s Fiordland was a privilege that I won’t forget either.

Worst diving experience:

A couple. Commercial dive in nil vis when the stupid rope got hooked on the bottom. I’ve never liked ropes underwater since. And finding a shot weight on the bottom of the line I was holding onto bouncing over the sea bed at 42m depth in very dark conditions, low vis and a raging current. I would prefer not to repeat either.

Most embarrassing (diving) moment:

Discovering a lens set to manual focus as I arrived at the seabed on a wonderfully alive dive site. Unbelievably frustrating too.

Favourite marine wildlife:

Fish. Especially gobies. Very nerdy and happy to be so as they are fascinating little animals.

Favourite post dive experience:

Lying on the surface and being warm whilst looking up at an intense blue sky. Happy to let the dive boat take its time.

Best bit about being involved with Seasearch:

Seeing things that are new and trying to photograph them and figure out what they are or what they are doing. There is always something new to see.

Diving background:

Learned to dive in the Firth of Forth under the railway bridge in January 1980.  I wore a wetsuit , the visibility was zero  and I’ve no idea why I  persevered.  A field trip to the Summer Isles helped followed by survey trips to Mull and Loch Fyne. Since then I’ve been almost constantly involved in marine conservation, mainly in Scotland but with the odd expedition to places like Alaska and Belize. For the last 20 years or so I’ve been involved with Seasearch, both teaching and diving, which has taken me from the Outer Hebrides to the Mull of Kintyre. Annoyingly Orkney and Shetland have so far evaded me though. Over the last few years I have been greatly heartened by the growth of Scotland's MPA network and alongside it the growth in community groups wanting to know more about their MPA.

Favourite dive site:

A certain maerl bed in very shallow water that is just bursting with life.

Best diving experience:

In recent years taking my daughter in for her first open water dive, but there is also seeing fireworks anemones emerge out of the gloom or flying around the cliffs of the Bar Mor. 

Worst diving experience:

Almost drowning in a freshwater loch in the Pentland hills after becoming entangled in rope or air abruptly cutting off in total darkness at 25m in a salmon cage in Loch Etive.

Most embarrassing (diving) moment:

Too many to mention, filmed by an ROV as I became tangled in an SMB line on Bo Fascadale, jumping in the water without a weight belt on whilst being filmed by a drone then the film being used at the Nature Scot awards, arriving at a dive site with no boots, (wet suit days) so ended up diving in socks. My feet became so cold that I couldn’t walk and had to be helped out.  

Favourite marine wildlife:

Fireworks anemones

Favourite post-dive ‘cake’: 

Guinness - not technically a cake I know...

Best bit about being involved with Seasearch? 

I get to go diving all over Scotland, well the good bits on the West coast, and meet all sorts of enthusiastic people. The excitement of seeing something new underwater never fades.

Role in Seasearch:

Since moving to Orkney I've been the coordinator and tutor there, but my secondary role is to organise the various social media platforms on behalf of all the Seasearch Scotland groups.

Diving background:

I did my first ever taster dive in the Red Sea (2005) but didn't learn to dive for another 5 years whilst at uni in Leeds. Being so far from the sea we did all our training in a Capernwray quarry (in winter!!)…nothing quite beats mask clears in 2-degree water. My first UK sea dives were on the East coast of Scotland at Bass Rock! I was overwhelmed by the colour and diversity of UK marine life (and the smell of gannet poo!) and very soon enrolled on a Seasearch Observer course. Now I'm a BSAC Dive Leader and Open Water Instructor. I organise the South Scotland regional training events and for 4 years I was the Diving Officer for the Highlands and Islands Sub Aqua Club.

Favourite dive site:

Eeee this is the most difficult question! It's definitely in Scotland!! But I've been fortunate to dive at some spectacular locations that have just blown my mind. A recent favourite has got to be Nun Rock, a submerged pinnacle 30 km north of mainland Scotland.

Best diving experience:

It's got to be breathing underwater for the first time! But getting up close and personal with a flapper skate that decided to check me out in the Summer Isles is pretty high up there. He soared right over my head whilst I was busy checking out an octopus!

Worst diving experience:

Every time I plan to dive on the East coast it either gets blown off because of the weather, or my car just says no…so if you want to dive St Abbs and Eyemouth it's probably best that you don't invite me.

Most embarrassing (diving) moment:

Probably when I completely split my old drysuit in a very embarrassing place whilst bending over to don my fins…whoops!

Favourite marine wildlife:

I tend to have a daily favourite, yesterday it was lobsters, today it's porpoise…you'll just need to ask me when you see me.

Favourite post dive ‘cake’:

Lemon drizzle (with extra lemony drizzle!!)

Best bit about being involved with Seasearch?

Loads of best bits!! I love seeing the difference that our data makes to marine conservation and marine management throughout UK waters. I also love teaching and seeing happy enthusiastic faces learning more about their local marine life.

Diving background:

My diving journey began in my second year of my undergrad degree, when I joined my university's sub aqua club. To be perfectly honest, I would be lying if I said I was a natural diver. Between rampant anxiety, inner ears that refuse to equalise, and a brain that has a habit of projecting the "worst-case scenario", my training journey often felt more strained than it seemed for my peers.

However, my first open water dive changed things. Despite my initial reservations with the poor visibility and the constant pull of the current, I soon calmed and took in my surroundings. Ctenophores, starfish and seahares, all species I'd never seen in-situ before. How could you not get hooked on experiences like this? I subsequently joined Lisburn Sub Aqua Club in 2016/17. Lack of transport has led me to hang up my fins recently, but I hope to return to the water ASAP.

Favourite dive site:

Outer Lees - Strangford – It's like descending into a secret garden – sponges and spiny starfish galore – so beautiful!

Best diving experience:

On a boat trip around the North Coast whilst on the hunt for basking sharks (unfortunately they were washing their hair that day, but we did spot a sunfish!), we stopped off at a small series of islands for a quick snorkel. The water was fairly deep, and there was a very large kelp forest just below. We soon realised that the area was occupied by a group of grey seals, who seemed to have great fun tailing us, and then zooming off whenever we turned to face them. My only trepidation arose when I looked down to see a ridiculously large bull seal staring back at me from under the kelp. Needless to say, I wasn't doing any duck dives to get a closer look.

Worst diving experience:

Another snorkelling one – we were running a children's snorkelling event off Portandoo Harbour, Portrush. Upon hitting the open water, the currents were a lot stronger than we bargained for, and the stress of battling them to get our young charges back to dry land was not an experience I would wish to repeat.

Most embarrassing (diving) moment:

During my first open water dive, I got myself in a bit of a tizzy when my regulator hose got caught on my dive leader's BCD, which led to a mild underwater panic attack. (Cringe.)

Favourite marine wildlife:

I seem to have a penchant for creatures that are unfairly maligned, so naturally I was drawn to sharks from an early age! If I had to choose a favourite, the smallspotted catshark wins on cute factor alone!

Favourite post dive 'cake':

Whosoever offers me a cream bun will have my heart. But my primary concern will always be the shade of my tea. Pallid offerings need not apply.

Best bit about being involved with Seasearch?

Working with like-minded folk who are passionate about marine habitats, and being able to have a real, lasting, positive impact on the future of our seas.

Diving background:

I learnt in a very cold quarry in Wales a long time ago. We had to scrape ice off the inside of the car windscreen, not just the outside! I must like being cold as this is where I do most of my dives, in cold UK waters especially in the Isle of Man. Although occasionally I’ll travel to warmer climates like Egypt, when travel allows.

Favourite dive site:

This is a tough one but I would have to pick somewhere in the Isle of Man, maybe the Burroo? Anywhere around the Calf of Man would do.

Best diving experience:

I feel I should say the Isle of Man again but that would be a lie. Socorro Islands diving with manta rays, listening to a humpback calling off in the distance.

Worst diving experience:

Nothing really stands out so I would have to probably go with a Boxing Day dive where I got up early to find there was zero vis and realised quickly that I should have stayed in bed!

Most embarrassing (diving) moment:

My buddy not doing up my dry suit properly (and me not checking) before jumping in on my Surveyor course with Charlotte! It was a very quick dive! Spent the rest of the day shivering and spilling my tea all over myself!

Favourite marine wildlife:

Again this is a real tough one, not sure I can pick one species, they are all amazing in their own way, including seaweeds.

Favourite post-dive ‘cake’: 

Any, all cake is my favourite. Especially if I can have a second piece. Oh except coffee cake, ugh!

Best bit about being involved with Seasearch? 

Meeting great people who are enthusiastic about the marine life and learning new things about the species I’m seeing.

Diving background:

I learnt to dive in the UK in 2001. About ten years later I worked abroad in Mexico and then Fiji as an instructor and base manager on a conservation base before returning to the UK to study marine biology.

Favourite dive site:

I'm generally really fond of a house reef as I love to have a potter about in the shallows. Cozumel in Mexico was also great fun whizzing around in the currents and trying to avoid the massive parrotfish. But more recently the Menai Strait - the site just under the Menai bridge offers beautiful, colourful diving with plenty to see…I'll never get bored of diving there! 😊

Best diving experience:

Savusavu in Fiji – I saw the school of resident scalloped hammerhead sharks.

Worst diving experience:

My first attempt at the navigation dive of my advanced dive certification at Horsea Island in 4 degree water with approx 20cm vis. Fun, fun, fun!

Most embarrassing (diving) moment:

Getting stuck in my wetsuit in the car park (couldn't get it off my shoulder!) after I'd sent everyone off to the pub to start filling in the forms…oops

Favourite marine wildlife:

I'm a big fan of the weed…the seaweeds that is! All of the different species and colours caught in the sunlight is one of my favourite underwater landscapes.

Favourite post dive ‘cake’:

Any cake, all cake, cake!

Best bit about being involved with Seasearch?

Aside from being able to contribute to data collection to help protect our seas, it has to be meeting new volunteers who are full of enthusiasm…also when everyone surfaces from a Seasearch event with smiles on their faces because they've had a great dive or seen something awesome.

Diving background:

I learnt to dive at university whilst I was studying for a BSc in Marine Biology. I quickly did my Seasearch Observer course and progressed through to Seasearch Surveyor. I have been diving since 1998, mostly in West Wales, as well as across the UK, once the opportunity arises. I have also dived overseas in Thailand, Mexico, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean.

Favourite dive site:

I might have to say Martin's Haven…I love the fact you can just go - no boat needed. Extremely diverse and beautiful dive site, you can turn a corner and find a lobster, or a pink-sea fan, a seal might come say hello or you might have an amazing encounter with an octopus.

Best diving experience:

Hard to say really, but I absolutely loved going on a Whale Shark Conservation project back in 2005. It was an incredible expedition to research genetic connections between different populations of whale sharks. We snorkelled with the whale sharks and also got to dive incredible dive sites in the Sea of Cortez.

Worst diving experience:

Durham Heritage Coast - Seasearch dive. Probably the first and only time I had the thought “Why on earth are you doing this?” Pitch black conditions couldn't see my own hand. I was very thankful when we hit the bottom and my buddy grabbed my hand and signalled for us to ascend.

Most embarrassing (diving) moment:

There have been many I am sure, but definitely I recall a dive in West Wales where I couldn't even get on the boat – I think we were trying to board Skalmey at Martin's Haven. I tried three or four times and couldn't get on board. Being vertically challenged is not the easiest! I had to be very un-ceremonially man-handled on-board!

Favourite marine wildlife:

This is the most impossible question!!! I love finding nudibranchs, any will do - I am always equally excited. I do have a soft spot for whale sharks though. A real micro/macro moment.

Favourite post-dive ‘cake’

I am gluten-free, apart from that I am not fussy, any gf cake will do. Favs are lemon polenta cake or chocolate brownies.

Best bit about being involved with Seasearch? 

Love the people! We come together because we have a passion for marine life, and I just love seeing people learn about marine wildlife. Equally I love those who are so knowledgeable and happy to share this knowledge and teach me more and more.

Diving background:

I trained with PADI (in the UK) up to dive master but dive with BSAC Swansea club. I first trained in Sheffield at various quarries and then went on to train in Plymouth, Holyhead and Orkney. I started volunteering for Seasearch in 2012 in north Wales and migrated to south Wales from 2017 after living abroad, where I have been an active Seasearcher. I have been a member of the Natural Resources Wales national scientific dive team since 2015, after training as a scientific diver with Heriot Watt University. I am an advanced commercial powerboat handler (with yachtmaster/day skipper theory) and HSE Dive Supervisor and trained first aider. I have a keen interest in underwater photography.

In 2017, I took a sabbatical from my day job (Marine Monitoring Ecologist) to travel and work around the world. Part of this involved lugging my 18kg of underwater photography kit around to do photography and design work at different underwater locations. I have published a local Divers guide to marine life of Sagres, Portugal funded by the local council. I have dived in UK, Ireland, Portugal, France, Italy, Spain, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Hawaii, California and New Zealand but I am most in love with UK diving!

Favourite dive site:

The Smalls Island around 20 miles west offshore from the Pembrokeshire coast for scenery and exhilaration; or long shallow shore dives at low water spring tides around the Gower Peninsula (when the visibility is good) for time, tranquillity and calm where deeper habitats can be experienced without much depth below sea level.

Best diving experience:

A night dive at the Poor Knight Islands, New Zealand, with vivid bioluminescence on the reef which was bursting with life.

Worst diving experience:

< 0.5m visibility diving over an American slipper limpet bed in Milford Haven amongst boat moorings whilst being hungry and desperate for the loo.

Most embarrassing (diving) moment:

Following the opposite bearing to the one instructed on my first day out with the (extremely experienced) Skomer Team at work when using a new compass after teaching someone to follow a bearing use a compass. I will never live this down.

Favourite marine wildlife:

I would love to see an anglerfish underwater. These are incredible powerful and elusive animals.

Favourite post-dive ‘cake’

Carrot!

Best bit about being involved with Seasearch? 

The incredible people and opportunities to learn and help other people learn. I learn something new on every trip.

Diving background:

Coming from a family of swimmers in Devon and qualifying as a lifeguard as soon as I was old enough, I jumped on the offer to learn to dive at 17 with a local BSAC club. Scroll forward a number of years (cough) to 2011 and I had a degree in Ecology and was a newly qualified Dive Leader joining a Seasearch Observer course on a ship in Scarborough harbour.

When my Observer forms needed an extra sheet of A4 to record specides for almost every dive, it was suggested that I take the Surveyor Course which took me full circle back down to dive in Devon. Although I'm not the most prolific diver, from that point on I've completed records for nearly every seawater dive to date.

Favourite dive site:

The beauty of Isle of Whithorn is definitely up there, alongside the dives I've done around the Isle of Man.

Best diving experience:

Where a great dive was finished by a safety stop accompanied by guillemots diving in all around us.

Worst diving experience:

This is definitely all the lugging around involved with diving! I'm not talking the regular shuttling of everything from harbour walls to boats here, I'm recalling the epics. I clearly remember a dive where the drysuit needed to be kept on to lug all our kit off a boat and wade ashore when the boat couldn't get near a slipway and another on the Yorkshire coast involved using a long and really steep set of steps to enter and exit the water. I'm just not hardcore!

Most embarrassing (diving) moment:

That would be the classic forgetting to get zipped up before hopping in! The skipper and mate helped me swiftly back onto the boat and held me upside down by my feet to get any water that hadn't made it past my waist out quickly! There is photographic evidence of this somewhere! The day ended better though, with a dry in the sun and ice-cream following by a successful, if chilly, final dive!

Favourite marine wildlife:

How do you choose? The little cuttlefish, the photogenic range of sea slugs, or perhaps our skates and rays that cruise through the water and entrust their mermaid's purses containing the next generation to a site.

Favourite post-dive ‘cake’: 

I'm not fussy! Always pleased to get a drink of something without caffeine in after a dive though!

Best bit about being involved with Seasearch? 

I love sharing the knowledge and love of our underwater life! I've dived with over 40 other divers/fellow Seasearchers, including former co-ordinators, to train six cohorts in the North East and North West so far and showing what makes Seasearch so addictive!

Diving background: BSAC Sport diver since 1998, Seasearch diver since 2005. I had watched Jacques Cousteau in black and white with my Dad when I was tiny, but never thought I'd be able to experience the underwater world myself – not a thing you aspire to in a small town next to a very brown sea. Rob encouraged me to think bigger and I was hooked when we saw a lone tennis shoe in the featureless mud of our first open water dive! 

Favourite dive site: Overstrand in Norfolk – a basin which the tides flush through at high speed, enabling all kinds of weird and freaky tiny things to get a foothold!

 Best diving experience: Having a manta ray use the top of my head as a tummy scratcher when we were accidentally separated from a dive group and just peering over the top of a rock wall – surprisingly non-traumatic!

 Worst diving experience: Getting caught in a serious down current and finding ourselves at 30m surrounded by a cloud of our own exhaled bubbles in the blue with no idea which way was up. Realised how serious it had been when we escaped and surfaced to find the dive guide crying.

Most embarrassing (diving) moment: Being very unwell in my wetsuit and having to ask Rob to go to the other end of the boat and shout 'Dolphin!' so I could sort it out. People are luckily very gullible.

Favourite marine wildlife: The Little cuttlefish – size of a bumblebee, heart of a lion! The ones off Norfolk often have ambitions to kill and eat divers and find our lack of cooperation very frustrating.

Favourite post dive ‘cake’: Anything with the word chocolate in the title, unless someone has tried to smuggle vegetables into it – what's wrong with you people?

Best bit about being involved with Seasearch? Finding an outlet for my weird need to catalogue everything and managing to infect others with it.

Diving background:

I knew I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was a teenager and my parents treated me to a holiday to do my PADI Open Water Diver certification. They wanted to go to the Maldives – I wasn’t complaining! I’ve done a lot of diving and travelling (including a Divemaster Internship in Cambodia!), but I also love seeing the wildlife the UK has to offer and have been doing more UK-based diving and snorkelling in recent years.

Favourite dive site:

The best dive site I’ve ever visited was the Bloody Bay Wall in the Cayman Islands – it was just teeming with fish and the water was so clear!

Best diving experience:

You just can’t beat the first time you put on dive gear and breathe underwater – I wish I could go back and re-live that moment!

Worst diving experience:

I’ve had a few ‘hairy’ moments when diving overseas, in particular I remember being abandoned by our boat in the middle of an uninhabited island atoll in Cambodia. The Captain had recalled us as a storm was brewing, but by the time we got to the surface, the boat was gone. Turns out he’d taken it around the other side of the small island to get it out of the swell and soon came to collect us – it was quite frightening at the time and the longest 10 minutes of my life. I never dive without a whistle now!

Most embarrassing (diving) moment:

Surfacing fin-first at high speed when I was trying out my new dry suit at Vobster Quay. Nothing breaks the tranquillity of the quarry side like someone breaking through the surface totally out of breath from trying to fight an accidental emergency ascent *facepalm*.

Favourite marine wildlife:

Cuttlefish and nudibranchs are a firm favourite, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I love an encounter with bigger creatures like turtles!

Favourite post-dive ‘cake’: 

It may be boring, but I LOVE a Victoria sponge – you can’t beat it. Honestly though, I’d eat anything, I’m a big fan of cake.

Best bit about being involved with Seasearch? 

The number one thing is the valuable contribution we’re making collectively to marine conservation in the UK and Ireland. However, more personally, I love meeting likeminded people and have met some fabulous volunteers and colleagues through Seasearch!

Diving background:

I learnt to dive in South Africa in 2013 and was hooked from that point on. Learning to dive was what pushed me onto the path of working within the marine conservation field. A whole new magnificent world opened up to me and I wanted to do anything I could to help protect it. I did my Divemaster qualification in Bali and have dived in lots of warm tropical places, but also love the underwater life and habitats that the UK has to offer. There’s nothing boring about UK seas!

Favourite dive site:

Probably a dive I did at Sipadan Island in Malaysian Borneo – amazing visibility and massive tornadoes of trevally and barracuda. Simply incredible.

Best diving experience:

This will sound very cheesy, but all the amazing people I have met through diving over the years, sharing excitement for the wildlife we saw on dives. I have made absolute friends for life who I met as dive buddies.

Worst diving experience:

Getting trapped in a down current during a wall dive in Bali. We had to claw our way up the reef to stop us being pulled into the abyss! It was pretty terrifying, but at least I lived to tell the tale.

Most embarrassing (diving) moment:

Getting out of the water at the end of a dive that I was leading, getting knocked over by a wave, dropping my fins, losing my mask and flailing around on my back until someone came to help me up! Not very dignified.

Favourite marine wildlife:

Too difficult to choose, but up there are cuttlefish, octopus, frogfish, humpback whales, any kind of shark, nudibranchs, stalked jellyfish and many more.

Favourite post-dive ‘cake’

Anything vegan for me please!

Best bit about being involved with Seasearch? 

Contributing to help protect the UK marine environment, getting other people involved and sharing my passion for marine conservation with volunteers.

Diving background:

I learned to dive in 2010, in order to be able to get under my sailing boat to scrub the bottom.  To date and nearly a thousand dives later, I’ve still not scrubbed the boat’s bottom!  But I did go through to the professional levels of PADI, loving teaching others to dive and ending at Master Instructor.  And I’ve added Exploration rebreather diving to my technical qualifications, in additional to getting involved with Seasearch and a couple of wreck searching initiatives.

Favourite dive site:

Got to give two favourites – sorry!  At about 15m depth around St Abbs for the most wonderful marine life.  And the wrecks at around 75m depth, off the coast of Ireland at Malin Head.

Best diving experience:

It’s hard to choose one – probably my first foreign dive trip, which was to The Maldives, sticks in my mind the most.

Worst diving experience:

Well, so far I’ve come back from all of them, so they’ve all been fine!

Most embarrassing (diving) moment:

How to narrow this down …….  In my Divemaster Apprenticeship, jumping in without my fins on during a course?  Giant stride into Vobster in January without my suit zip being remotely closed?  Having just bought a twinset, deciding to try both it and a diver propelled vehicle at the first opportunity, which was at night from 22m – it lasted 2 seconds after which I went straight up, hit the surface and was found by my buddy back on the bottom from the light of my torch?  Getting disorientated in very poor viz and thinking the shadow ahead was our target – actually it was the bottom and I ploughed into it at full speed!  You choose!!

Favourite marine wildlife:

Seals, because of the playfulness of the interaction.

Favourite post-dive ‘cake’: 

Chocolate Brownie.

Best bit about being involved with Seasearch? 

Feeling I’ve contributed, even in just a tiny way, to care of our environment.

Role in Seasearch:

Dorset, Hampshire and Isle of Wight coordinator, data enterer (for those regions) and tutor

Diving background:

I learned to dive in 1979 so I could extend my intertidal studies into the subtidal. Diving has been my ‘tool of choice’ for research ever since.

Favourite dive site:

Anywhere in Dorset!

Best diving experience:

Anywhere in Dorset!

Worst diving experience:

Perhaps not ‘worst’ but ‘pointless’ – following the shot line down to a muddy seabed west of Anglesey in lots of surge and very little viz, arriving at the bottom with a crash and then my buddy landing on top of me! At that point we decided not to spend any more time trying to record in those conditions.

Most embarrassing (diving) moment:

Forgetting my snorkel on a snorkel survey – cue lots of breath-holding and a headache.

Favourite marine wildlife:

Seaweed

Favourite post dive ‘cake’:

Nigel (ex-Dorset volunteer) made a fabulous savoury “chicken cake” (for those of us without that much of a sweet tooth).

Best bit about being involved with Seasearch?

Being able to dive your local patch so frequently that you can build up a mental picture of anywhere and imagine what it's like just by looking at the chart or bathymetry.

Diving background: 

BSAC club diving and instructing, research diving, UW photography

Favourite dive sites: 

Isles of Scilly, also Devon in its great variety

Best diving experience: 

Many wall dives in the UK and tropics

Worst diving experience: 

Never had a bad dive?!

Most embarrassing (diving) moment: 

Conveniently forgotten

Favourite marine wildlife: 

Cnidarians, echinoderms, fish and marine mammals

Favourite post dive ‘cake’: 

Lemon drizzle

Best bit about being involved with Seasearch? 

Diving sites off the beaten fin track, with like-minded, enthusiastic people generously sharing their experience and expertise. Adding these sites, often un-dived previously, to our knowledge and understanding of our fabulous and fascinating habitats in the British Isles - even better if it leads to their protection. Encouraging others to enjoy our marine life in a new light and share their observations.

Diving background:

I grew up right next to the beach and was rockpooling and snorkelling from a very early age. I learned to dive when I was 18, and went on to study marine biology, I travelled and dived in some exciting places and ended up working in public aquariums for 12 years before joining the Cornwall Wildlife Trust Marine team.  I am passionate about UK marine wildlife and I also love underwater photography and seaweeds!

Favourite dive site:

The Runnelstone

Best diving experience:

A dive off the back of Gull Rocks at Holywell bay in huge gullies and with stunning visibility.

Worst diving experience:

Cleaning out the ocean tank at Blue Reef Aquarium and stirring up a world of s*** (silt of course!)

Most embarrassing (diving) moment:

Forgetting to put my dive computer on my wrist.

Favourite marine wildlife:

Sea mats and Sea slaters!  Joking! It’s definitely all cephalopods!

Favourite post dive ‘cake’:

Banana loaf

Best bit about being involved with Seasearch?

Making great friends who share a passion for diving and marine life!

Diving background:

In my younger years I dived primarily around the Caribbean and Fiji (for marine conservation efforts – honest!). I then moved to Channel Island waters, where I spend more time snorkelling rather than diving.

Favourite dive site:

My favourite snorkel site is at Longis Bay, Alderney and my favourite dive site is The Supermarket, Fiji.

Best diving experience:

A truly awesome night dive in Tobago, it was only in 10 m deep, but watching octopus move about and fish sleep inside corals was so lovely and calming. It did feel like we were on another planet. We also came across some bioluminescent algae towards the end of the dive which was beautiful to watch (when we turned our torches off for a minute).

Worst diving experience:

Surfacing the water from an epic dive on Fiji (a lot of life out and about), only to realise there was a cyclone coming. It felt like an eternity trying to get back in the boat to then leave for safety. The boat was extremely bumpy on the way back and several people were very ill.

Most embarrassing (diving) moment:

Forgetting how to tie a simple knot at the end of a very difficult marine ecology survey (the rope had a buoy attached to mark a transect line) in front of several tired divers. My brain went blank and my fingers were just not doing as they were told. I got there in the end though – and the buoy didn’t float away! The divers still remind me of my terrible rope tying to this day.

Favourite marine wildlife:

It has always been sharks and Nautilus, but I have to say octopuses have a special place in my heart.

Favourite post dive ‘cake’:

Walnut and coffee, please.

Best bit about being involved with Seasearch?

Getting excited and jabbering about what we saw (marine species wise) after a dive/snorkel with others.

Diving background:

I'm a keen snorkeler but I'm currently working towards my PADI SCUBA qualifications.

Favourite dive site:

Roquaine bay.

Best diving experience:

Sitting in the middle of a huge shoal of bass.

Worst diving experience:

Thinking I could get my fins on with overhead swells breaking on my head.

Most embarrassing (diving) moment:

It's got to be pulling off my wetsuit and my trunks going with it. We've all been there right?

Favourite marine wildlife:

Turbot.

Favourite post dive ‘cake’:

Banana bread if you’re offering.

Best bit about being involved with Seasearch?

Definitely meeting other marine enthusiasts and having a good post survey natter.

Diving background:

PADI MSDT, BSAC Rebreather Diver, Underwater Photographer, Scuba Guide author.

Favourite dive site:

Magic Garden, Corbiére, SW Jersey

Best diving experience:

Taking part in the Seasearch Channels Islands Liveaboard survey

Worst diving experience:

Getting Decompression sickness and having to spend hours in the chamber!

Most embarrassing (diving) moment:

Not doing my drysuit zip up properly after a comfort stop!

Favourite marine wildlife:

Pink Sea Fans, Little Cuttle, Nudibranchs and Anemones

Favourite post dive ‘cake’:

Dundee Cake

Best bit about being involved with Seasearch?

The enjoyment while learning and contributing to Marine Conservation