Most of us probably haven’t really studied narcosis since we were rooky divers, aside from the usual “narked” jokes we all make about mermaids and dolphins. So it seems like a good time to cover the subject in an easy to understand format.

I’ve recently carried out a little informal survey with many divers, and there seems to be no obvious indicator as to when or why it should occur. It just sometimes happens, but most often doesn’t.

Let’s answer some basic questions about Nitrogen Narcosis:

What is it?

You know what its like, the phone rings and someone says fancy diving, but today I said no thanks not in the mood.

What a week, the weather has been the number one topic in Australia and probably most of you European based people have seen the news coming out of South Australia with the massive fires that are raging across the state, what has been a little overshadowed is the flooding in North Queensland which in its way has been as devastating as the fires but luckily without the loss of life.

But a story that has struck me deeply this week is the death of a 5 year old boy.

This was the big day - the day we were to dive the world renowned Thistlegorm, but first we headed for another wreck, The Kingston. She was an 80 meter long steamer which went down in 1881 on the delightfully named Shag Rock.

We dive pretty much every weekend, and this weekend we headed out to do a dive that we may have done 100 times before - swimming out along the coral "finger" that runs due East of Charco del Palo.

The usual suspects were along for the trip, Crisis Chris, Medical Mick, Bilious Brian, Shivering Steve, Mark the accountant and yours truly. We'd decided to follow the finger at 15 Meters depth, so that when we reached the big drop off, we could get maximum time as we went deep.

.......I did most of my diving with my friend Brian, an old hand, who has been diving for ever, and has forgotten more skills than I've learned.

Now Brian is a great collector when he’s diving and regularly brings up stuff from the sea bed, and his house is a treasure trove of cannon balls and the like.

I don't dive, haven't even tried it, I tell myself I don't think I could cope with the ear pain which I think I would suffer with as when flying or in cold winds and that's enough of an excuse for now. Maybe one day I will be persuaded to stop snorkelling, which I love and head under water to join the boys and fish.

So what have I got to say about diving then? Only that its changed my life! There's something about the boys, its so much more than just diving buddies, the circle grows to include the wifes and girlfriends and a new social life is born.

Australian Shark Shame.

WWWF-Australia have just published figures that more than 500tonnes of shark product was exported over the last 13months, including 230tonnes of shark fins. This represents the slaughter of over 10,000 sharks by the most conservative estimates and does not include the number of sharks caught for the domestic market.

Six AM and we were heading to the check dive site in calm sea and already the temperature was up to 25 degrees. We assembled for the dive briefing, and were told that the main purpose was to check our weight for the salty water and get used to the conditions. With four dives a day available, we all elected to use Nitrox in order to keep our decompression times to a minimum and to help prevent fatigue. This would be my first time using enriched air in anger, as I had passed my PADI course shortly before the trip.

I was lucky enough to be invited by a UK dive club last year to join them on a liveaboard trip to The Red Sea. Termed a “wrecker’s tour” we would be diving most of the best known shipwrecks in the northern part of the sea, based on Tornado Marine Fleet's flag vessel Whirlwind.

Here's a lighthearted look at some different types of diver:

The Kit Junkie
This is the type of diver who is much more focussed on the kit than the diving. This diver will take 15 minutes during a buddy briefing explaining the changes in his kit configuration. You’ll see him regularly dismantling his regs, or deeply engrossed in his computer handbook.

The Old Stager