I do not think I need to explain why the last two years have been a rollercoaster, which is why I will not be doing that in this blog. But with what has been going on I thought I would take the time to summarize 2021 as a year after the wobbly year that 2020 was.

At the beginning of 2021 I promised myself that I would do more, I would go diving more (outside of work) and I would work harder on my photography. 2021 has seen some truly incredible adventures and trips and I have ticked a few things off my bucket list to say the least, so here is 2021 rounded up to its greatest highlights.

At the very beginning of 2021 I was invited on the Western Ecology Tour with Andy Clark, during this trip I ticked off some pretty big things. Not only was I able to dive more and practice my photography but I finally went to the Highlands of Scotland, a place that my Grandad and I always said we would go. A place that felt truly magical, not only this but the diving was just as breath-taking and magical as the dramatic landscape above. On the expedition I also met some truly incredible people, who made the trip the best that it could possibly be and I also managed to tick a few photography subjects off my list, from Scorpionfish, and mating Spider Crabs in North Wales, to Catsharks in Pembrokeshire.

In September I was able to tick something else off my list, swimming in the blue with Blue Sharks in the Celtic Deep with of course, The Celtic Deep Team. Swimming with Blues in the UK wasn’t the only tick off my list, but also getting my Fiancé in the water with a Shark in open water was the other. Myself and my Fiancé were thankful to swim with Whale Sharks back in 2018, where they merely gave us a passing glance as their huge form swam past us in the warm Mexican waters, but I really wanted her to experience an animal that’s as curious about us as we are about them, so getting her in the water was incredible. Not only this but she also saw her first whale which made the whole trip worth it.

The final tick off my list was finally getting to the Farne Islands Nature Reserve, the trip was incredible. The stories I had heard coming from the Farne Islands were always those of incredible interactions with Grey Seals, who love to play and frolic in the shallow waters in the Autumn. I was buddied with Yo-Han, and we had incredible interactions with Seals, and I even had my DSMB run into a bit of trouble when a young seal decided to try and make my DSMB theirs truly forever more, which resulted in a very disappointed look from me when it pulled me through my safety stop.

Alongside all of this I have also come to the end of this year being much more confident in my photography and feel like I have a much better understanding and direction in where I want my work to go in the future. This also went hand in hand with the growth in my confidence as a Diver after having some time out of Open Water.

What I can say is that after the uncertainty of the last two years, the latter of the two has been an eye-opening experience, an adventure, and a year where I have felt so much more confident in what I want to do and where to go, it’s definitely been a year with more highs than lows and has made me very excited for what the next year has to offer.