For some, being a dive guide might seem the ultimate job. Being paid to dive every day! Here are some facts about the job:

Aussie Diver, a regular writer on this blog, told us a few weeks ago about a dive being canceled as there were loads of “Bronzies” in the water at the dive site. So I decided I should research this creature so we all know what it was he was talking about.

The Bronze whaler grows to about 3.25 meters and fully grown, weighs in at a hefty 300 KG. They are found in The Atlantic, The Pacific, The Mediterranean and The Gulf of California. They don’t often wander inshore, and are migratory, travelling north in Spring and back south in autumn.

I recently “road tested” the AV2, along with Medical Mick, and I have to tell you, it’s fantastic fun! The AV2 is not like a conventional scooter that pulls you along, you effectively “ride” it.

Once in the water, you place the Tornado upright on the sand, with the prop side down. You then “sit” on the black plastic section and grip the throttle in your hand. By gently increasing the throttle you are slowly lifted off the sea bed and start to hover. The hard bit, much like the Harrier jump jet, is the transition from hovering to forward flight. To do that you need to lean forward and allow the unit to start pushing you. Once you’ve mastered that part of it and have a bit of speed up, you can stretch out, relax and enjoy the ride, as the unit, now firmly between your legs, pushes you along.

Divers in Lanzarote have been waiting years for the opportunity to dive the waters of La Graciosa, which is the spectacular island off the north coast of Lanzarote. It has been protected for some time, but is known to be somewhere where you might catch a glimpse of with Hammerheads and also to offer some great drift diving due to the strong currents in the straight between the islands known as El Río. The island has tow villages, and miles and miles of golden sandy beaches

Badlies Cave is so called because a bunch of us, who are all lacking in the hair department, actually discovered the cave! It’s at Charco del Palo, which is a small village near Mala on the coast of Lanzarote. As you drive into the village, take the first turning on the right, and then the third on your left. This is a dead end so park at the bottom of the road.

From here you can see the beach area, which is where you’ll be entering the water – this is the first fun part! You can only do this dive at high tide, as the exit from the beach has a narrow channel which only exists at high tide. If the waves are running, it can be quite hard to get out against them, but coming back is hilarious. More on that later.

All divers experience fear, and probably more often than they’d care to admit. From the sickening moment when you’re gear catches on something in a wreck to a full blown problem with a buddy, any of us who have dived a fair bit will have been through these situations.

Then there’s the fear that you experience when you first start to dive. Will you use your air too fast? Will I remember to do all the things I’m supposed to do? Where’s my buddy gone? On any dive, you have to be able to multi task, and in the early days this just doesn’t come naturally.

The Dive Flag, or to use it’s full name “The hand held emergency location pinpointer” is one of those products that someone should have come up with years ago, and one which every diver simply must have.

If you’ve ever surfaced from a boat dive, in even a gentle swell, you’ll know that sickening feeling when you can’t see the boat. Equally, you’ll know how hard it can be to spot a surfaced diver, even with an SMB, from a boat.

Poseidon, mythical Greek God of the Sea, also of Earthquakes. I would like to think he was a good old boy and prevented them, however he was also known as The Earth shaker!

But do you know what? I reckon both those titles could apply to the Mk 3 Extreme deep.

To most swimmers, jellyfish are horrible things to be avoided, but to divers, protected from stings in our wetsuits, jellyfish are a thing of beauty as the glide through the water.

Most of the articles that I write have a bit of humour in them, this really does not, it is the most serious diving accident I have been involved in, and if I was honest I have probably have not got over it, so in a way this is a bit indulgent, and possibly a way of getting rid of demons.

It is important to understand the level of trust my buddy and I have in each other, for a number of years she and I were partners on the Regional Crime Squad, in fact we were partners on the firearms unit within that squad, our kit bag bore the label Distemper and Makeshift, (you will work it out).