Nick Leigh - PADI MSDT 480349

I started my diving career in monsoon rain and heavy seas in Thailand 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 Asia to Australia and discovered a whole new range of diving experiences in different environments and locations. 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 students 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 when I was just a traveller.

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 and with my previous skills in IT coming to light, has allowed me to develop www.oceancare.org.au and maintain a website to help promote and educate people about the Marine Debris issue.