John Marquess

About Me

A bit about myself

Okay. So I'm a bit of a dive-bore. This wee bit of the Internet is about my cronnies and I's, diving expolits and misadventures. All the places you'll see featured on this website are places I've been in the water. Hopefully, you'll get some tips or a weblink to info on diving you're looking for amongst my ramblings. The following is a quick summary of my diving. If you're thinking of taking up diving, read on and let this be a lesson to you - don't you can't afford a diving addiction!!

The warm-water holiday diver

After completing my PADI OW and AOW in mid-1997 in the warm waters of Cyprus I was completely hooked on diving. I'd describe myself as a fairly 'typical' diver. A thirty-something with no kids, a desk-job and a reasonable disposable income. So, having done the beach holiday thing in my 20s and so looking to spend my "quality time" (never liked that term) and holidays doing something a little different...... and if you can also learn a new skill and meet lots of new people - even better!

Not content to stick with holiday warm-water diving, once back in the UK I decided to start to amass my own equipment and consolidate my training and dip gently into the more demanding UK diving. My long-suffering girlfriend also decided to take up diving and learned in the UK completing her Open Water dives in the cold of a November weekend in Stoney Cove. The instructors were very happy for me to bimble along during her course and I picked up more instruction along the way. I also realised that I knew little to nothing about diving, especially for the cold UK waters and so embarked on getting more experience.

Every-time Girlfriend mentioned a holiday destination or weekend away somewhere, she was now getting the standard line "Can I bring my dive-kit?" With two dive-holidays in 1998 to Hurghada in the Red Sea and Malta, and various UK weekends to various places as far apart as deepest Cornwall and Scapa Flow in Scotland, I started to practice all the skills I'd learned. A couple of defining moments during this time:

My first little dive-incident (a sharp lesson)
When I finally mastered the neutral buoyancy thing - and my air consumption improved dramatically (funny that!)
the first time I "led" a dive without a more experienced diver leading the group (scary stuff or what!

The 'Christmas-tree' season

1998 was also spent reading anything I could get my hands on about diving and speaking to anyone and everyone I could about it - I was starting to become a dive-bore. I also trudged around dive-shows and numerable dive-shops and clubs in my area. Later in the year when I finally joined the 20th century and got a home PC I discovered the UKRS (uk.rec.scuba) newsgroup, and so added another source to my dive education. Although I lurk on the newsgroup I do post the odd time, basically, "share what you know, learn what you don't" sort of thing. And I've certainly learned quite a bit just by listening. The plastic was also getting a good hammering as I built up my kit.

I also considered switching to a club environment and flirted with a few local BSAC or SAA clubs. But after visiting a number of local clubs I decided to stick with diving with a few regular cronies of mine. By this stage I'd been diving for about 20 months and with some 70 dives under my weightbelt, I now had all my equipment including dry-suit, l2L tank and 3L pony and felt conformable with its use. As for the Christmas tree, that's what I was like with all the gear I'd be carrying on a dive!

In preparation for a trip to Scapa Flow my cronies and I did a nitrox course. Rather than pick an agency to do the course, we picked an instructor and happened to do the TDI's advance nitrox course. I'm now a nitrox convert!

So courses I've done so far:

Date	Course	Location	# Dives completed at the time
August 97	PADI Open Water	Cyprus	0
Sept 97	PADI Advanced OW	Cyprus	6
April 99	PADI Medic First Aid (MFA)	UK	70
April 99	PADI Oxygen administrator	UK	70
May 99	PADI Rescue diver course	UK	70
Aug 99	TDI Advanced Nitrox	UK	86
Sept 2000			150
July 2003	Things have been a little quiet onthe diving as had other things on the go! But hopefully my diving will get moving again - and so might the website!		200+

What Next - DIR or ARSE*?

So now I'm into nitrox and one of those eejits that runs around blabbing on about "....pp02's".
And I've finally joined the twin-set gang. That's twin-10's, manifolded with isolating valve, with a Diverite wing, backplate and breathing a long hose. So I'm going 'techie', suppose I'll have to get an all black drysuit to complete the outfit!
But I know your thinking, will I go DIR or ARSE? We'll have to wait and see!

(* Doing-It-Right / Always the Right Stuff for the Environment)

......to be continued

This document maintained by webmaster@aquaworld.freeserve.co.uk.
Page last updated 16 July 2003.