Have you got your tickets yet? It’s just over a month to go until DIVE 2018 – the UK’s biggest event for scuba divers, taking place at the NEC in Birmingham on 27 and 28 October 2018.

What a line-up of guests the DIVER Group is assembling for DIVE 2018! Highlights include:

On the DIVER Stage

• David Jones (& DIVE 2018 Panel, Sunday)
  PLASTICS’ POLLUTION: WHAT CAN DIVERS DO?
  Long before Blue Planet 2 hit our screens, A Plastic Ocean was described by Sir David Attenborough as “the most important film of our time”. David Jones, the man behind the camera, has been advocating for action on plastics since 2009. What does he have to say now that we’re all listening? Hear him on Saturday, or attend his forum on this hot topic on Sunday.
• Monty Halls
  MY FAMILY AND THE GALAPAGOS
  If you enjoyed Monty Halls’ recent Channel 4 three-parter My Family and the Galapagos, with its impressive underwater content, here’s your chance to get the deep background from the man himself. President of the Galapagos Conservation Trust, Monty took his wife Tam and daughters Isla and Molly along to spend three months in what he describes as his “favourite place on Earth”, getting involved tagging whale sharks and bullhead sharks along the way.

Dive Show favourite Monty Halls will be talking about his hit Galapagos TV series

• Paul Rose
  MORE PRISTINE SEAS
  Paul is one of the Dive Show’s regular star turns, because his talks are always entertaining and he dives the parts of the underwater world most of us can only dream about. This year he received the Royal Geographical Society’s Founder’s Medal, one of the highest honours of its kind in the world, for his scientific expeditions and enhancing public understanding – which he will continue to do at DIVE 2018.
• THE DIVER AWARDS (Saturday)
  Don’t miss the 21st DIVER Magazine Awards in which the prized 2018 trophies will be presented to scuba diving’s favourite suppliers and operators, as voted on by UK divers.

Paul Rose is one of the Dive Show’s regular star turns

On the CENTRE Stage

• Nick & Caroline Robertson-Brown
  WILD DIVES
  Described by great white shark specialist Rodney Fox as “fellow adventurists”, Scubaverse’s Nick & Caroline have spent the year looking for wild dives to include a book due out early next year. Defining “wild dive” proved a challenge, they say, but their adventures included many shark dives, a search for an elusive nudibranch and a submarine ride (on top – not inside!).
• Ellen Cuylaerts
  DEEPER CONNECTION
  The Belgian photographer based in the Cayman Islands says her objective is to “bridge a deeper connection” between humanity and nature, and to capture how it feels to be behind the camera at special moments. “I try to shoot from the heart”, she says. She travels the world recording animals and the challenges they’re facing. Find out more about her special brand of photography at DIVE 2018.
• 

  Photographer and documentary film-maker Doug Allan

  Doug Allan (Sunday)
  THE IMPORTANCE OF AN IMAGE
  Described by Sir David Attenborough as “the toughest in the business”, multi-BAFTA and Emmy-winning wildlife cameraman Doug worked as a pearl-diver, diving instructor, commercial diver and biologist before becoming diving officer on an Antarctic research station in 1976. Ten years later he became a photographer and documentary film-maker, specialising in polar wildlife. Now he invites us to dive beneath the surface of conservation images and short films, critiquing their styles, considering their uses and their impacts. How can one image make all the difference while another leaves us indifferent? And can an image ever be too shocking?

• Richard Smith
  CRITTER-HUNTING: FIND YOUR OWN CRITTERS!
  Richard, underwater photographer, marine biologist and part of the team that recently identified Japapigu, the seventh-known pygmy seahorse, knows that macro enthusiasts and photographers lean heavily on local dive-guides to track down their tiny quarry. In the world of the critter the sharp-eyed are king, but should we all be able to spot our own critters? Are these the short-cuts to success?

Plus, The TekDeck, coordinated by Mark Powell, who is assisted by nine other well-known technical divers. Closed-circuit rebreathers loom large, of course, with presentations on four individual models as well as a panel discussion on Saturday afternoon – which might help if you’re not sure which direction to take.

Admission to DIVE 2018 costs £14.50 on the day – but just £9.50 if you book online in advance. Children under 14 with an adult go free, and there are special offers for recently-qualified BSAC divers and BSAC Instructors.

Don’t delay – order your DIVE 2018 tickets here today!