I started my diving career in monsoon rain and heavy seas in Thailand in October 2003 and fell in love with the underwater world and the amazing experience of being neutrally buoyant. After completing my Open Water course I was hooked and wanted to spend as much time underwater as I could, examining fish and corals, exploring dive sites and finding new areas to challenge myself in. I embarked on the challenge of becoming a Professional level diver with the Dive Master course in early 2004 which wet my appetite for diving further as I got to see student divers in training and help and encourage them to overcome problems in the water.

Soon after becoming a PADI Dive Master I was working full time at Planet Scuba in Koh Tao, Thailand, which became my home for several years. Through the training I received from the excellent Instructors and from the hands on task of being one of five full time Dive Masters running the dive shop logistics, I learnt a huge amount about diving and divers in a short space of time while clocking up dives at an alarming rate. Expanding my knowledge and understanding of diving I became a Nitrox diver and Gas Blender, spending long, hot and very sweaty afternoons filling Nitrox tanks and fixing scuba gear on the back deck of Planet Scuba while looking over the tropical waters of the Gulf of Thailand towards Nang Yuan Island where all the dive boats where moored up for the afternoon dives.

After more than a year and 1,500 dives as a Dive Master I was looking for a new challenge and became a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor, enabling me to teach people how to dive and allow me to share my knowledge and experience of diving with them. I worked at a number of dive shops in Thailand teaching courses and guiding certified divers enabling me to build my experience of different areas, conditions and operational procedures. In 2006 I moved from South East Asai to Australia and discovered a new range of diving experiences and found more thigns for me to learn about. Teaching the PADI system in a "5 Star" environment at Perth Diving Academy in Western Australia bought to light additional elements of the diving industry and increased my enjoyment of seeing studetns progressing through the course to become avid scuba divers. A move to the East Coast of Australia was destined to happen as the Great Barrier Reef was calling and I soon found work at Pro Dive on a live-aboard boat in the Whitsundays, spending 3 days and 3 nights on the GBR. Memories from this time include having truly phenominal experiences with my students and fellow crew members, seeing amazing marine life and facing the challenges of the environmental conditions at certain times.

Unfortunately Pro Dive Whitsundays closed down a few months after I joined them and I headed north to Cairns and Port Douglas, the mecca of scuba diving in Australia; where I had originally planned to do my scuba diving course on the Great Barrier Reef. Up in Port Douglas I was lucky enough to go out on Poseidon and found the most professional dive boat I had ever been on that offered me awesome diving on the Agincourt Reefs. Needless to say, the enticement of drift diving on the outside edge of the continetal shelf of Australia, lured me in and Poseidon and Port Douglas has become my home for the next few years.

Through my passion for diving I have discovered a love of the ocean and marine life that has lead me to become part of Tangaroa Blue Ocean Care Society. TBOCS is a non-profit organisation that is targeting marine debris and trying to source the issues and problems that can be solved to reduce the amount of debris that ends up in our oceans. Heidi Taylor, a good friend and fellow crew member onboard Poseidon, runs TBOCS and in 2007 asked me to help her with her website. My previous life came to the rescue and I have been the Webmaster of www.oceancare.org.au and www.tangaroablue.com since that day. Now TBOCS is becoming a main stream player in the environmental challenge with school projects around the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park area, professional surfer Dave Rastovich conducting beach clean ups on his journey down the east coast of Australia and even the Envirnoment Minister, Peter Garett, mentioning the work that TBOCS has done to promote the issue of marine debris in his opening speech at the Coastcare week in Sydney on the 7th December 2009.

There is a whole lot more to tell that can be found on the website as things get filled in so enjoy and have a look around.

Nick