When i was a kid, i used to sit, totally entranced, in front of the television watching the "undersea world of Jacques Cousteau". I was amazed at the fantastic experiences and life that J-Y and his crew had but believed that this was the sort of existence only available to the privileged few. A bit like being an Astronaut or explorer, I would only experience these things third hand.
Many years later, I decided, on a whim, to sell everything i owned and travel around the world. At some point on this journey i knew that i would be visiting Australia's Great Barrier reef. I wouldn't be satisfied seeing this through the bottom of a glass-bottomed boat so decided to visit a small dive shop that i had noticed hidden away down a side street in my local town. A brief chat with the owner and i allowed myself to be talked into signing up for an Open Water course.
After the usual skill sessions in the local municipal pool, the great day arrived and i found myself clad in tight fitting, ( and slightly smelly), neoprene staring down into the cold looking , green and murky water of the Royal Navy's former torpedo testing range at Horsea Island in Portsmouth on England's South Coast.
A few minutes later and i was under the surface, breathing and having the greatest time of my life! I have never looked back from that moment. As soon as the warm and fuzzy feeling of the post dive excitement is over, I am looking foreward to the next dive, be it supervising student divers in a cloud of silt or exploring a totally new site in crystal clear viz, i don't care! Just being underwater and breathing is such a fantastic honour that i frequently have to shake myself to prove that it is actually happening to me. I cannot articulate what, exactly, i find so mesmerising about the whole thing but I now define myself as a diver first and foremost and will remain so for the rest of my allotted time on this mortal coil.