Are you a Scuba Diver - Fancy a brew?

Not wanting to take away anything from any other guest - But this has to be my best episode yet! Chris Lemons the star of the Netflix film 'Last Breath' Chris reveals loads of details about how the film came about, how it was made, what happened before, during and after the incident. He also tells about the impact it has had on himself his family and his colleagues. The documentary uses genuine footage and audio recorded at the time of the accident on the divers' radios and body cameras, supplemented with interviews of several of the individuals involved, as well as some reconstructed footage, to tell the story of the accident. Chris Lemons, along with his colleagues Duncan Allcock and David Yuasa, was carrying out repairs 100m below the surface of the North Sea, supported by the support vessel Bibby Topaz. The vessel's dynamic positioning system, supplied by Kongsberg Maritime, failed.  This caused the vessel to drift in rough seas, dragging the divers away from the area they were working and eventually snapping the umbilical tether that provided Lemons with heliox to breathe, as well as hot water to heat his suit, power for his light, and a radio link to the surface. He was left with only five minutes of breathable gas contained in the cylinders he wore on his back. For reasons that are unclear to Lemons and his colleagues, but attributed in part to the cold water and have been breathing air with high partial pressure of oxygen, Lemons survived for around 30 minutes while he was located by a remote underwater vehicle and then by Yuasa, who was able to pull him back onboard the diving bell.

In this episode I share a brew with Tony Seddon. What a lovely guy he was to have a chat with. Thanks for the recommendation from previous guest Craig Eley. We chat about the Cave Diving Group (CDG) what it takes to be a robust sump diver or caver that dives and his business Starless River.  Sole UK importers for some European brands such as MTDE. The Starless River traveling shop visits the main caving areas of the UK and Ireland – we post our whereabouts every weekend here on the front page https://starlessriver.com/shop/ . Come and try on suits and harnesses for fit and comfort. The Starless River landline is 01748 811438 Tony's mobile is 07896 463971 The Cave Diving Group is the representative body for Cave Divers in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Its function is to educate and support cavers for recreational and exploratory operations in British sump conditions. Let me know what you think!

Wreck and Cave was started in 2005 by Rich Walker, he is a full-time instructor with Global Underwater Explorers. Before that he was a scientist studying how blood flows around the body. Rich's knowledge of physiology and physics gives him a unique position as a diving instructor. https://www.wreckandcave.co.uk/ Rich has been diving since 1991. He is a wreck diver and spends most of his spare time diving the wrecks around the UK. More recently he has become fascinated by the wartime wrecks around the Norwegian coast.  You'll usually see Rich heading to Norway at least once a year. Rich Walker only teaches courses from Global Underwater Explorers. GUE classes cover buoyancy, trim, equipment configuration, nitrox, oxygen, trimix, helium, decompression, teamwork and a host of other important topics. The quality of the GUE curriculum produces competent, confident and comfortable divers.  This is exactly what diving should be all about! Rich offers GUE training in the UK and worldwide. He teaches Recreational, Fundamentals, DPV and Tech 1 & 2 classes. He has taught over 100 Fundamentals classes and 50 Tech 1 classes. Rich is also an instructor evaluator and takes a significant role in developing new instructors for GUE.   He runs instructor training courses and instructor evaluations around the world. He sits on the Board of Advisors for Global Underwater Explorers. GUE was formed by Jarrod Jablonski and gained early prominence in association with the success of its well-known Woodville Karst Plain Project (WKPP), which now has the status of a nonprofit affiliate of GUE. Jablonski, the president of GUE, promoted the ideas of "Hogarthian" gear configuration and the "Doing It Right" (DIR) system of diving to a global audience. Following the WKPP's introduction in 1995 of a standardised approach to gear configuration and diving procedures, there was a significant reduction in diving incidents within the Woodville Karst Plain cave system. The standardised approach is the basis of the diver training program of GUE, marking an important difference from the programs of other diver training organisations. GUE also focuses on protecting the maritime environment. The most popular GUE course is GUE Fundamentals, which is designed to introduce the GUE system to non-GUE divers and is the pathway to technical courses. Further courses are offered in recreational, technical, and cave diving, as well as instructor courses. 

Expedition – Western Ecology Tour The UK's marine environments are under more pressure than ever before. From the visible plastic pollution littering our beaches down to the invisible damage done by discarded fishing gear and intensive or sometimes illegal fishing practices that damage the sea bed. We need a better understanding and awareness of the issues and actions to protect the seas we all love and depend on. I've assembled an expert group of divers and marine biologists for an expedition to assess the marine environments around the UK coast and to support the vital work that scientists are doing to protect them for future generations. Here you can see everything to do with the expedition: Who is involved? Where we're going? Who we're supporting? Who is sponsoring us? Help us raise funds through crowdfunding at our JustGiving page.

In this week's episode, I chat with my friend Caroline Robertson-Brown from Frogfish Photography. She's the deputy editor of Scubaverse, and author of 4 diving books, an ambassador for Mares and diving in the Bahamas as well as an educator in the community about sharks and plastic waste.

Talking to Julie Hartup about growing up in a conservative Mormon family in Utah, before ditching everything for a life in Guam studying the Mantas of Micronesia and working on Episode 4 of the BBC's Perfect Planet series. Julie obtained her degree in Zoology from Brigham Young University and was a research diver and teaching assistant for their marine biology program held at Hopkins Marine Station in Monterey California. She completed several internships at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Water Quality, Visitor Presentations, and Tuna Research Center.  After moving to Guam in 2007 with her husband Dr. Jason Hartup and four children. Julie began working on her master’s degree at the University of Guam. She came across a new undocumented feeding behavior of the reef manta ray, targeting reef fish spawning aggregations to feed off fish eggs. Julie trained in the Maldives with the international NGO Manta Trust Founder Guy Steven, and later became Manta Trust Project leader for the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marianas Islands.  Julie is also a board member and scientist for Hawaii Association for Marine Education and Research. Currently, she has expanded her area of study on manta rays throughout Micronesia such as Northern Marianas, Yap, Outer islands of Yap-Ulithi, Pohnpei, and the Marshall Islands. Starting in 2015, Julie Hartup along with fellow scientist Jennifer Cruce created Micronesian Conservation Coalition with extensive help and assistance from Whitney Blandford and Carlotta Leon Guerrero, co-founder, and Director of Ayuda Foundation.

Talking to Mick Stewart, a multi-agency recreational and military commercial diver who works alongside less abled divers to allow them to have just as great a time in the water as anyone!

Talking to Fiona Crouch from Natural England she talks about her life of working in Marine Conservation from New Zealand to Plymouth. She also discusses the projects of reseeding the SeaGrass beds around the UK which sheads light onto compliments our Expedition Wester Ecology Tour coming up in June.

Talking to Kristen Fassolas aka the Scuba Fitness Coach about the pitfalls of fitness training, how to motivate yourself to start and ways to improve your fitness to dive. 

In this episode I speak to Octavia Whates - She's a massive ocean advocate with infectious enthusiasm about what goes on along her local coastline.

Talking to the popular face of ocean advocacy on Instagram Charlie Young. Known by many names, she's working hard to influence girls to enter careers in science, diving, adventure and media. She advertises herself as a Waterwomen, Conservationist, Wildlife Presenter & Adventurer and she's passionate about protecting our oceans, so makes for an awesome guest on this week's podcast.

Talking to Ollie Putnam,he’s been diving all over the world working as an instructor and on a variety of conservation projects. Getting into filming underwater along the way Ollie is now an HSE media diver with credits on Discovery and BBC. He trained with and now works alongside previous guest David Diley as a camera operator and safety diver. He has also gone on to work on a team with other guests Jake Davies and Lloyd Jones in producing the Wales Best of the West series soon to be released on YouTube.  

Talking to Becca Dodds - Group Business Development Manager at Analox Group. Their story began in 1981 in a little office above a charity shop in Guisborough, North Yorkshire.  Alan Harbottle and his small team had a big vision, to provide affordable gas analysers for all markets who needed them. Fast forward almost 4 decades and that vision still stands, now with a bigger team and a substantially larger office! When Analox began, they couldn’t have dreamt of how the company would evolve. They have been involved in some amazing projects throughout their history. It is truly incredible and something which fills the whole team with pride every day.

Talking to Sara Banderby, she’s a cave and mine diver based in Sweden. Using her JJ-CCR and a variety of open circuit kit she tells me a variety of techniques she uses to improve her diving in cold waters often close to freezing.   

Talking to Brian Davies, he’s been diving for over 40 years, and most recently he coined the phrase “Scuba Tuber” with his live chats and videos on YouTube.  

Talking to Craig Eley, he’s been diving for 15 years, completing almost 2000 logged dives and is a newly crowned member of the CDG. He started down the usual PADI path taking it up to divemaster. He worked as a Dive Master for a few years in exchange for access to boats and trips etc.    

Talking to Hugh Miller an underwater cameraman with a post-grad background in marine biology. He worked as a camera assistant for several years on productions such as Planet Earth, Oceans and Life before then shooting sequences for Life, and subsequently Frozen Planet, Desert Seas (Nat Geo), Africa and Wild Arabia. 

Talking to Chris Knight, a professional under and above the water photographer based in Windsor (UK). Although he did study it in college, photography mostly remained a hobby for years. However, through his love of the sea and the animals that live there, Chris increased his skills through his new-found passion for underwater photography.

Talking to Rosie Bancroft, an advanced open water diver with SSI. She’s just quit her job at Manchester University to go and complete the dive master internship in Nusa Penida, Bali in a few weeks. 

Talking to Stephan Whelan 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.

Welcome to this second season of the fancy a brew podcast. If you didn’t know me already I’m a BSAC Advanced Diver and Open Water Instructor, TDI CCR MOD1 and HSE Professional Scuba Diver. During the early lockdown periods of 2020 I was inspired to talk to fellow divers that might inspire me to take the plunge into different types of diving related subjects. My interests lie in technical expeditionary diving, shark research and conservation and underwater photography so don’t be too surprised that they’re regular features on the show.This is the second season of the podcast and a chance to meet more variety of divers from around the world that might influence you to venture to new horizons that you otherwise might not have known existed.Over a brew my guests and I chat as we would on the back of a boat or during a surface interval about what makes them do what they do, how they realised their dream and most importantly – how they keep warm underwater!Hopefully these long form interviews come across as light hearted and fun conversations between two divers that have known each other for some time.I pride myself on the research and post production value of each episode which hopefully will keep listeners interested as much as the interesting conversation.Starting the 1st February 2021 season two begins with each episode released on a Monday on all the usual podcast apps. For more information and to keep up to date with releases follow us on Instagram where we run regular competitions supported by our sponsor Northern Diver InternationalThanks for listening, don’t forget to subscribe and consider giving us a 58 review and I’ll see you on the next one!

Talking to James Rogers, the head man at RAID UK LTDOver a brew we talk about how RAID has become one of the mainstream dive agencies leading the way in e-learning and offer training covering 150 different courses free.

Talking to Donovan Lewis, a Marine Vertebrate Zoologist at Blue Planet Aquarium and Underwater Photographer and Blogger with Scubaverse.Over a brew we chat about what it takes to look after so many exotic marine animals and how he blogs and photographs them.

Talking to Dr Rich Walker, from Ghost fishing UK, the well known charity that helps remove lost fishing gear that can often lead to unintentionally catching and killing marine life. Over a brew Rich explains how the charity has struggled for funding this year and is launching a scheme to help give them a healthy boost to allow them to continue into 2021 with their heads above water!Can you help, follow this link https://www.ghostfishing.co.uk/

Talking to Mike Bolton, the legendary treasure hunter, salvager, shark diver and underwater cinematographer better known as the Silent Hunter.Over a brew we chat about Mikes work as diving outside of the cage with some awesomely scary sharks.And to  add some context to some of the conversation, this is the second recording of this episode after some horrific sound issues on the first. So mike was gracious enough to give me another opportunity to get his story, he’s a top bloke.

Talking to Nur Tucker, awarded the most promising British Underwater Photographer of the year 2020!Over a brew we chat about all thing’s underwater photography, from settings, equipment, competitions and techniques.

Talking to Ross McLaren one half of the popular 'Outdoors Ross & Rachel' persona on Instagram and Facebook.Over a brew we chat about working for the BBC on 'The Social' and how Scuba Diving effects his Mental Health.Grab yourself a brew and listen to this interesting story. 

Talking to Mark Wynne, the face behind the poular YouTube channel 'Blue Horizon Diving'Over a brew we chat about his life in Bermuda, working as a diving instructor, developing a YouTube channel and the variety of training agencies available.Grab yourself a brew and listen to this interesting story. 

Talking to Beth and Elliot aka the Backpack Divers, she's aMarine Biologist and he's a Naval Clearance Diver.Over a brew they explain what they do for a living then tell me about their plans for the future to travel and dive the world with a crew of friends and guests aboard their own yacht.Grab yourself a brew and listen to this interesting story. From their website:Beth: Beth is originally from a small coastal town not far from Scotland's capital. At 18 she moved to Glasgow for university and graduated in 2019 with a 1st Class BSc Honours degree in Marine and Freshwater Biology. Beth learnt to dive aged 10 in the tropical waters of Antigua, Zanzibar and the BVIs - gaining her PADI Divemaster in Egypt in 2018. Her love for diving allows her to pursue her passion for educating others on the conservation and protection of oceans and the underwater world. Elliot: Born in Wolverhampton, UK and now residing in Scotland, Elliott is a diving enthusiast. He began diving aged 12 with his local BSAC club, learning in the cold waters surrounding the UK.  At the age of 19 he left home to join the Royal Navy as a Mine Clearance Diver where he is still currently serving. Progressing through his civilian and military diving career he's gained experience in many different aspects of diving as well as in a variety of challenging environments.

Talking to Jake, Lloyd and Ollie, the boys behind the new Underwater Wales series coming to YouTube in the very near future!Over a brew we talk about the equipment, the wildlife and fun times they’ve had this summer, filming their series to highlight the diving and marine environment of north and south Wales in both the English and Welsh languages.Grab yourself a brew and listen to this interesting story. 

Talking to Olivier Van Overbeek Raid Uk’s Training Director and Owner of Dive Life in Manchester.Over a brew Oli and I discuss commercial and instructor aspects of the diving industry in todays tough economic climate!Grab yourself a brew and listen to this interesting story. 

Talking to Steve Davis the New Zealand based host of the Speaking Sidemount podcast.Over a brew Steve tells me about his love for wreck and cave diving, his choice of his choice of KISS Sidewinder Rebreather and a bunch of skills and tips to help me with my progression.Grab yourself a brew and listen to this interesting story. 

Talking to Josh Richards a cave diver from down under!Over a brew Josh tells me about how when not locked down due to Covid restrictions, he dives his Sidemount rebreather in the freshwater caves of Mount Gambia and he’s planning on moving to MarsGrab yourself a brew and listen to this interesting story. 

Talking to Rick Stanley from Ocean Quest Adventures out in New Foundland that is steeped in marine life and history.Over a brew Rick tells me about the adventures to be had with his dive centre  either diving the ship wrecks of World War 2 in Conception Bay or the Bell Island mines then on safari to see the Humpback whales and Icebergs.Grab yourself a brew and listen to this interesting story. 

Talking to Dr Lauren Smith and her dive buddy Chris Rickard about an important scientific discovery they’ve made and need your help to protect it!Grab yourself a brew and listen to this interesting story. 

Talking to Robbie Schmittner the explorer of the Mexican Cenotes and adventurer who is responsible for some of the most notable contributions to cave exploration over the last 20 years.Over a brew Robbie talks me through Sidemount diving in the flooded caves of the Yucatan peninsula and his Xunaan Ha all girl expedition to explore the Holbox fracture.Grab yourself a brew and listen to this interesting story.

Talking to Craig and Jim from the Dive Line Podcast about their recent river clean-up work.Over a brew they give me advice on the planning, preparation and diving involved in what on the surface sounds like an easy  task, but can be quite an undertaking when you get into planning the dive and diving the plan.Grab yourself a brew and listen to this interesting story. 

This week I'll be talking to David Kennard from Neptune’s Army of Rubbish Cleaners from Pembrokeshire, Wales aka NARC.Over a brew David tells me about how NARC was formed and the kind of work they do. Most importantly I ask about how they get people involved and what they do with what they collect.Grab yourself a brew and listen to this interesting story. 

Talking to Jassen Jackman an extreme cold water diver, I learn more about diving in the Canadian North!Over a brew Jassen discusses the variety of fresh water, cold water dive sites he has access to, what configurations he uses to overcome the cold and how diving doesn’t have to stop just because the water gets cold! Grab yourself a brew and listen to his interesting story. 

This week I'm talking to talking to Dr Alice Horton an Anthropogenic Contaminants Scientist at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton about the effects of micro plastics in our waters.Over a brew Alice tells me about how she investigates the accumulation, behaviour and ecological effects of microplastics in the aquatic environment.Grab yourself a brew and listen to her interesting story. 

Talking to Marc Payne an abalone diver and shark conservationist about his encounters with Great White Sharks Over a brew Marc tells me about his close encounters with Great White Sharks whilst he dives for Abalone for a living in South Western Australia and how he has found undiscovered wrecks and settlements from way back when!Grab yourself a brew and listen to this interesting story. 

Talking to Andy Reid about his work with Fins Attached, a non profit organisation that conducts research, to promote conservation and provide education for the protection of marine ecosystems. Over a brew Andy tells me about his conservation passions and tagging sharks as part of a Joint Services Sub-Aqua Diving Expedition to some of the best know dive site around the world.Grab yourself a brew and listen to this interesting story.

Talking to Jim Elliot founder of Diveheart, a non-profit organisation the seeks to help less able bodied individuals get in the water and dive. Over a brew Jim tells me how he left his career in the media industry—to become a full-time volunteer and teach individuals with disabilities how to scuba dive. Five years later, in 2001, he founded Diveheart!Grab yourself a brew and listen to this inspiring story. 

Talking to Nick Caldwell about travel and medical insurance cover for divers.Over a brew Nick tells me how often he see’s divers under or not insured at all on their travel insurance and how his company Westfield have a bespoke policy that caters specifically for divers travelling to diving destinations on diving holidays.Grab yourself a brew and listen to this interesting story. 

Talking to Dominic Robinson about his love for deep technical wreck diving.Over a brew Dom tells me about his work for the JSSADC, as BSAC’s chief technical examiner and his love for researching and diving deep wrecks.Grab yourself a brew and listen to this interesting story. 

Talking to Jake Davies a Marine Biologist and Videographer from Wales. Over a brew Jake talks to me about his passion to make videos about the Welsh coastal marine environment in the Welsh language. We also cover the HSE Professional Scuba Diver course, Rebreathers, his work being featured on the BBC's One Show and Discovery Shark Week.Grab yourself a brew and listen to this interesting story.

Talking to Derek Marshall about his life changing Decompression injury.Over a brew Derek tells me how a relatively easy dive up in Scapa Flow ended in disaster and him being put in the chamber.We start our brew by discussing his fantastic beard, and my envy of it. Then move on to how Derek progressed as a diver to the point he was on the build up to diving a twinset with his regular buddy in Scapa Flow before he noticed he wasn't feeling right. This was later found out to be a bend linked to a PFO.

Talking to Lanny Vogel about his amazing dive centre in Mexico called Underworld Tulum.Over a brew Lanny tells me how after a life in the Royal Navy he and wife Claire sold everything to follow their dream to run a dive centre that teaches cave and cavern diving in the Mexican cenotes.Grab yourself a brew and listen to this interesting chat.

Talking to Phil Short about his epic adventures as an underground and underwater explorer.Over a brew I ask speak to Phil about his long extreme times spent underground, the planning and preparation that goes into these expeditions  and most importantly the reasons why.Grab yourself a brew and listen to this interesting chat.

In this episode I'll be talking to wreck junkie Aron Arngrimsson from The Dirty Dozen Expeditions about Truk Lagoon, Bikini Atoll and beyond.Over a brew we chat about how Aron developed the idea of The Dirty Dozen Expeditions, the exotic locations he goes to and how COVID-19 has effected him. He also talks about his educational trips to exclusion zone around Chernobyl.Grab yourself a brew and listen to his interesting story.

Talking to Kieran Hatton asking him everything someone looking to get themselves a CCR would like to know.Over a brew I get as much knowledge from Kieron about my chosen unit the JJ-CCR as possible and in as layman terms as possible he answers all the questions I put to him to allow me to make an informed choice on both instructor and unit.Grab yourself a brew and listen to this interesting chat.