News
Miss Scuba UK on Bridging the Gender Gap in Commercial & Recreational Diving
Having worked in the offshore industry alongside commercial divers for over a decade, Hayley Adlam dived into the world of Miss Scuba UK after seeing a noticeable gender gap not only within the recreational diving world (only 39% of registered PADI divers are women (2021)) but more notably, within the commercial dive sector where a minute proportion of women are represented.
Hayley, as a part of this year’s Miss Scuba UK team duo, aims to inspire other women to not only try scuba diving, but also show that there are plenty of opportunities within the commercial diving sector for all genders through sharing her knowledge and experience of the offshore world.
“During my time operating on offshore wind farm construction and subsea telecommunications vessels, there was a noticeable lack of women in the commercial dive teams working on our projects. I was inspired by the ethos of the Miss Scuba UK foundation whereby one of the primary aims is to encourage other women to take the plunge beneath the waves”.
As such, Hayley, a qualified BSAC & more recently SSI diver, reached out to the organisation in 2019 and has been actively involved in supporting the UK dive industry whilst encouraging other women to try scuba diving ever since.
As an advocate for women’s opportunities within the offshore sector, Hayley’s volunteer work as an active Mentor and supporter of the US organisation ‘Women Offshore’, helps to bridge the gender gap within the offshore industry too. Specifically for maritime, marine science and offshore construction, on an international basis, having mentored women in both Nigeria and Pakistan, both of whom are now actively engaged within the offshore industry.
“Through Miss Scuba UK, I now have the opportunity to combine three of my primary passions in life – scuba diving, marine conservation and marine engineering. I hope to inspire women to not only try SCUBA diving but also to see that there is a whole world of opportunity to explore through delving deeper into their dive practice and perhaps even taking the plunge into the world of offshore construction or marine science as a commercial diver.”
Director Jill Faulkner highlights the importance of the organisation: “Several of the women who have been involved within Miss Scuba UK who hadn’t dived in the past are now qualified divers, with some enjoying their diving experience so much that they have forged a new career path due to the qualifications acquired through Miss Scuba UK.”
Miss Scuba UK has close ties with British owned resort Roots Red Sea in Egypt and Deep Blue Diving in Fuerteventura, where many training and recreational dives have taken place with the organisation, in collaboration with Doncaster based SSI centre Bespoke Diving Adventures.
However, the organisation also undertakes several UK based dive trips each year allowing individuals to complete dry suit, wreck diving and nitrox diver qualifications, to name a few. Another goal during Hayley’s year in this role is to help to raise the profile of British diving; “We have some fantastic dive sites around the UK, including the opportunity to get up close and personal with some of our most charismatic UK pinnipeds, the grey seals of both Lundy and the Farne isles, to the infamous wrecks of the Orkney Isles, in addition to numerous beautiful coastal dive sites. I would love to showcase the UK underwater world for the fascinating and diverse dive opportunities it possesses”.
Miss Scuba UK aims to create a safe space for women to explore the opportunities that learning to SCUBA dive has to offer and as an organisation, and has well and truly fulfilled this mission over the past 8 years. After a four year break due to COVID-19 it is now a case of continuing this work and engaging more women to take the plunge.
Hayley will represent the UK at Miss Scuba International in November 2023 at the Smart Resort, Mabul Island and Sipidan Island in Malaysia. Miss Scuba International is a two week long international meeting of like-minded individuals with a passion for our oceans. The programme includes a series of marine conservation projects, educational outreach programmes, climate change conferences, brand sponsored photoshoots and plenty of SCUBA diving in the beautiful waters of Malaysia.
If you would be interested in taking part in Miss Scuba UK in 2024 or if you would like to collaborate with or sponsor the programme, please get in touch via email (missscubauk@gmail.com), Facebook @Miss Scuba United Kingdom, or Instagram @missscuba_uk or @hydro_hayles.
Fire on Monroe Bravo is the latest book in the Jack Collier series by Fred Lockwood. Our story begins with our lead characters, Jack and Sandro, owners of Marine Salvage & Investigation Company, arriving on the Monroe Bravo Oil & Gas Platform in the North Sea. Having secured a contract for their vessel the MV Stavanger to act as support ship to the platform for TransGlobal Oil, our protagonists are on a celebratory visit.
However almost as soon as they arrive a series of explosions rock the platform, causing huge damage, loss of life and the very real danger of a massive human, ecological and financial disaster.
As the danger mounts for both our heroes and the surviving workers, Jack and Sandro will have to escape the inferno, all while trying to save the platform and the men still trapped unable to help themselves.
The disaster sets the scene for the unfolding story lines following the fate of the platform and our main characters, the police investigation into a suspected terrorist act and the actions of TransGlobal Oil as they attempt to navigate the pubic outcry and financial repercussions.
In his eighth book, Fire on Monroe Bravo, Fred Lockwood delivers an explosive thriller, with plenty of above and in-water drama, and our heroes fighting for survival, what more can you ask for?
We thoroughly recommend this read and look forward to the next in the series. For more information about his book series, you can check out the reviews of his previous books here on Scubaverse.
- Title: Fire On Monroe Bravo
- Author: Fred Lockwood
- ISBN: 979-8325324536
Available in a paperback version and for Kindle from Amazon and book stores.
In June we were incredibly fortunate to be invited to dive in Alonissos, a small Greek Island in the Sporades island chain located in the North Aegean Sea. While I have long been a big fan of the Greek Islands as a great holiday destination, I had not had the opportunity to do any diving on previous visits and Mike and I were extremely excited to see what Alonissos had to offer both above and below the surface!
The Sporades are easily accessible via the airport in Skiathos (the first island in the chain), which is served by Jet2 flights from all major UK airports from May through October. Numerous ferries and charter boats make island hopping from Skiathos Town a breeze. After an hour boat ride, the picturesque port of Patitiri was a wonderful introduction to Alonissos, where we were met by our gracious hosts Kostas of Albedo Travel and Dias of Alonissos Triton Dive Center. Mike and I were delighted to be staying at the Paradise Hotel, aptly named for its stunning views over the sea and great location for walking to the waterfront.
Alonissos is beautifully situated in the National Marine Park of Alonissos and the Northern Sporades, the largest marine protected area in Europe. The surrounding seas offer fabulous marine life, including incredibly rare species such as the Mediterranean monk seal. They boast deep walls covered in gorgonians and sponges, stunning topography with caverns, swimthroughs and pinnacles, and the first accessible ancient shipwreck from 500BC!
In locations where historical sites have been reported, the waters are largely restricted, but with collaboration between government, underwater archeologists and dive centres, incredible underwater museums are being created for a truly unique diving experience. Alonissos is home to the first of these, the Ancient Shipwreck of Peristera Accessible Underwater Archeological Site. The chance to dive into history (along with reports of healthy reef life and amazing underwater topography) meant Mike and I were keen to get in the water.
Our introduction to the diving around Alonissos was at the Agios Georgios Pinnacles, in the channel between Alonissos and Skopelos. This fantastic site was named “The Chimney,’ and proved to have a huge amount to see. We got to a decent depth here (over 25m), and marvelled at a colourful reef wall with a wonderful swim through whose rocky walls were absolutely covered with life. As well as brilliant topography there was no shortage of macro life here. We saw numerous nudibranchs, five different species in total. The second dive at Mourtias reef nearby was a shallower dive along a nice wall with lots of crevices. Several moray eels and grouper called this site home. We enjoyed looking in the crevices for lobster and smaller benthic life, such as cup corals and tunicates.
Our itinerary allowed us two dives a day with afternoons left to explore the island with our hire car and evenings to enjoy the famous Greek hospitality. This proved to be a lovely mix of in-water and land based diversions.
The next days diving to the Gorgonian Gardens and Triton’s Cave was to be even better! These two stunning sites are nothing short of fabulous. The Gorgonian Gardens was a deep wall near to the Agios Georgios islands. The ever-present currents in this deep channel meant that the sea life was amazing … the namesake Gorgonian sea fans dotted the wall at a depth of 30 to 50 meters, getting ever larger the deeper we went. Above 30m was by no means less beautiful, with sponges, corals, scorpionfish, moray eels and some rare and colourful nudibranchs.
The second shallower dive of the day was to Triton’s Cave or the Cavern of Skopelos, on the east side of that island. The spectacular rock formations had wild striations both above and below the water making a truly epic topography. The cavern entrance was at 14m, and big enough for a buddy pair, winding up to 6m and passing two beautiful windows out into the blue. Emerging from the cavern, the light at the shallower depths and the incredible rock formations made for a fantastic gentle swimming safety stop and we all surfaced by the boat with massive grins.
Check out our next blog :Alonissos: The complete diving destination (Part 2)” to hear about our amazing dive on the 2500 year old Peristera Wreck!
Thanks to:
Alonissos Triton Dive Center https://bestdivingingreece.com/
Albedo Travel https://alonissosholidays.com/activities/
Paradise Hotel https://paradise-hotel.gr/
Alonissos Municipality https://alonissos.gr/en/
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