Diving
I took up diving in 2005 while on exchange in Malta. I started with the PADI Open Water course and followed that with the Advanced Open Water course. Skipping ahead to the summer of 2006 I was invited to dive with Lisburn Sub-Aqua on the Bangor in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland. As I had no experience diving in a drysuit I could only use a wetsuit. Needless to say I was rather cold. I didn't dive again until I was invited to dive with Lisburn Sub-Aqua again on their trip to Oban to dive with Puffin Dive Centre. This time I would be better prepared and booked a dry suit course with Splashsports in Glasgow. The course went well and a few weeks later I was in Oban for the weekends diving. A rhib ride out to four wrecks together with a short shore dive and I was hooked and I've been diving on and off since, as health and other commitments allow. In Oct 2008 I went with fellow members of Allander Divers to Orkney to dive the German High Seas fleet which was scuttled at Scapa Flow (see the Scapa Flow Video). More recently, in March 2010, I spent a week diving in Sabah, Malaysia around the islands of Sipadan, Mabul and Kapalai together with my wife's Aunt and two of her Cousins. This was my first introduction to real tropical diving in 29 degree Celcius waters with 30m+ visibility. Iain, a fellow diver I met through Allander Divers, leant me an INON 165 fisheye lens for the trip and I added an EPOQUE ES150 Alpha strobe to my photographic setup.
Kit
I currently dive manifolded twin 10L cylinders mounted via SDS quick-release to a Custom Divers TDB wing, MK17 Scubapro 1st Stages with Scubapro S555 & R395 2nd stage regulators. I regularly take my Fujifilm F31fd compact digital camera diving and leave the lighting up to my main torch, either the Darkbuster (21W) or UK D4R.
Photos
I have integrated this page with my flickr account so you can view my diving photos by clicking on the sets below. I also keep track of my dives online and these can be found in the Diving Log Book.
Links
My photos on flickrMy Diving Log Book
Conger Alley - Scottish diving forums
Allander Divers SAA 786 - SAA Diving club
Lisburn Sub-Aqua - BSAC Diving club
Splashsports - Dive shop based in Partick, Glasgow (also Dundee and Hamilton), air/nitrox fills, scuba & watersports equipment, diving training etc.
Aquatron - Dive shop based in the south side of Glasgow.
Puffin Dive Centre - Based just outside Oban for diving the Sound of Mull
AQUALAND GRAPH v2.1 (for Win 98/98SE/Me/2000/XP) - Download software for my Citizen dive watch.
