Miscellaneous Blogs
Book Review: The Diver’s Tale by Nick Lyon
In the spirit of the quoted acclaims – A brilliant book and thank you Nick for making it not too thick and having large writing.
This book could be re-titled ‘Everything you wanted to know about diving but were afraid to ask’. As I started reading my mind immediately jumped to the Monty Python song ‘Always look on the bright side of life…da dada dadadadada’.
Having known Nick for a few years now I was expecting a book that would be informative, emotive, honest and funny. It didn’t disappoint. For those of us who have been diving for quite a few years now, it evoked great memories of our own experiences, whilst for those who are relatively new to diving it will entice you to make your own adventures.
The Diver’s Tale cuts to the essence of diving, the rough and the smooth, the charm, the adventure, the romance, the pitfalls and the tragedies. It looks at the hard truths, the sheer fun and a few of the scary bits too.
There is a delightful honesty to this book as Nick takes us on a random journey through his diving days from the very beginning in the 80’s to today, and in doing so, highlights the true definition of the British Diver who was typically in the past the man who had his shed at the bottom of the garden and could make everything from wire coat hangers to rocket engines but who now is happily joined by the entire family.
He writes about equipment, medical science, boats, on board toilets, dive companions, weather. He describes beautifully the difference between a dive holiday and dive expedition and it’s not what you would expect. He covers hotels, B&B’s and self catering with the pros and cons of each. He looks at conservation, salvage and the perils of underwater photography and many other aspects of getting wet.
The story concludes with the loss of his great friend Paul in a rebreather accident just off the beach. It is a sad part to a wonderful tale but brings forth a great feeling of humanity and love.
About Nick (in his own words…)
I was passionate about the sea from an early age, inspired by the films of Cousteau. I was a keen snorkeller from the age of 7 and had my first dive aged 18 in 1981. I have over 4,000 logged dives and hold qualifications from several agencies, primarily BSAC where I’m an instructor trainer. I was a columnist for Scuba Magazine for 7 years and still write for them. I’m about to relocate to Orkney with Julie (also a diver) to Skipper the dive boat Valkyrie.
The Diver’s Tale is available now in paperback & ebook | RRP £12.99 | Available from Divedup.com, online and from retailers. ISBN 978-1-909455-24-5 | 174 pages | 234 x 156 mm
I owe you all an update on the dream dive locker build out! We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to build my dream dive locker/scuba classroom/office. In this installment, I’m going to answer your questions and comments from the first video in this series.
Scuba diving is my passion and to have a dedicated space for all my dive gear, as well as a hang out spot for my students, is a dream come true.
Let me know your color choice! 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5!
Thanks for watching!
D.S.D.O!
James
Subscribe here: http://bit.ly/DiversReady
Next in a new series of podcasts shared by our friends Gemma and Ian aka The BiG Scuba Podcast…
Ian and Gemma chat to Stephan Whelan. Stephan is the Founder and Publisher of DeeperBlue.com. His passion for the underwater world started at 8 years-old with a try-dive in a hotel pool on holiday that soon formulated into a lifelong love affair with the oceans and led him to become one of the leading figures in the diving media industry.
Stephan got bitten by the diving bug early in life. His first scuba experience was a try-dive when he was eight years old on a family holiday in Europe, and from that moment, he was addicted. He learned to dive properly with BSAC (British Sub Aqua Club) as soon as he could at school and then did his BSAC Assistant Instructor when he turned 16. By the time he was heading to university in 1996, he was hooked on teaching and diving as much as he could.
By the time he started studying at university, he decided to have a go at flexing his web-design skills by publishing some of the stories he had built up about various ‘challenging’ students and dives he had encountered, and so deeperblue.net (as it was known then) was created. He published numerous personal stories until 1998 when other writers began enquiring about contributing to the site with their tales, and it was at this moment he decided to make it more like a magazine format and began asking for volunteer helpers. He got a couple of editors on board, and plenty of writers began contributing.
DeeperBlue.com (or DB as it’s become to be known) is now one of the most-popular diving websites in the world and has grown to publish over 9,000 articles covering all sorts of topics like Freediving, Scuba Diving, Ocean Advocacy, and Diving Travel all the while keeping over half-a-million passionate divers from the diving community connected every month through the forums, large social media following, mobile app, and recently launched podcast.
WEB: deeperblue.com
FB: facebook.com/deeperbluedotcom
IG: instagram.com/deeperbluegram
Twitter: twitter.com/deeperblue
YouTube: youtube.com/deeperbluevideo
App: deeperblue.com/app/
Podcast: deeperblue.com/podcast/
Find more podcast episodes and information at www.thebigscuba.com and on most social platforms @thebigscuba
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This is the perfect start to your 2021 diving season… and at an incredible lead-in price of just £885 per person.
Jump on board the latest addition to the Emperor fleet and enjoy diving the famous sites of the Red Sea with this fantastic special offer. This itinerary takes in the wonderful South & St Johns from 26 February – 05 March 2021.
Subject to availability – limited flight seats at this price so don't delay!
Call Diverse Travel on 01473 852002 or email info@diversetravel.co.uk to book your spot!
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