News

April 2011

After a break of nearly one year, I have tasted tropical water again in March-April 2011 with a trip to North Sulawesi, Indonesia. I spent a week in Lembeh, split between Divers Lodge and Lembeh Cottages, and then headed to Kima Bajo to dive in the Bunaken National Park with Eco Divers.

Images from the trip are available in the new gallery.

1 April 2010

Images from my recent Maldives trip have been used on the cover of Narked Diver, the magazine for sport divers who don't take themselves too seriously.

The magazine features an article about Jamie who gets thrown straight at the deep end after joining a 2-week liveaboard in the Northern atolls. In this issue of Narked Diver, you can also read about the discovery of the spreadeagle ray and get new tips on natural buoyancy skills.

I'd like to thank all the participants for making this trip memorable.

Images from the Maldives trip are available in the gallery.

February 2010

We were delighted to welcome the Queen on an informal visit to Lifeboat Pier in central London, where the crew of RNLI Tower Lifeboat is based. Her Majesty spent a lot of time talking to the crews of the four Thames stations, as well as RNLI staff and fundraisers.

Images from the Royal visit are available in the new gallery.

January 2010

The Pilot of Plastic Oceans is available online, filmed and edited by John McIntyre. The documentary will highlight the risk posed by the amount of plastic we throw away, which ends up as tiny particles in the oceans and up the food chain back into our plates.

The movie can be viewed on www.plasticoceans.com

September 2009

Lifeboat crew members from Tower RNLI lifeboat station in central London had a phenomenally busy Saturday when they were involved in rescuing a total of 106 people who were participating in a rowing race on the River Thames.

The majority of people assisted were either in the water after their ‘dragon boat’ had already sunk or capsized, or were in danger of sinking and being plunged into the icy depths of the river.

You can read the full press release on the RNLI website.

Images and text ©RNLI

August 2009

Who said the Med was dead ? Steve Warren, from Ocean Optics gave me the opportunity to spend a few days in the company of pilot whales in the Mediterranean. It was an unforgettable off-the-beaten-track experience and I never imagined that snorkelling could be so much fun !

Images from this trip are available in the new gallery.

June 2009

I travelled to the town of Funchal on the island of Madeira to dive the wreck of the Bowbelle, the dredger that was involved in a collision with the pleasure boat Marchioness in August 1989, in with 51 young people lost their lives.

Read the article here or see images in the new gallery.

May 2009

Having discussed the possibility of a seal photography trip with Alex Mustard for a while, I called Clive Pearson at Clovelly Charters to see if he coud accommodate a few snappers for a couple of days. Staying at Millcombe House on Lundy, Alex & I were joined by Eleonora Manca, Dan Bolt and Dan Hopkins. The trip was quite productive and the grey seals were extremely playful !

Images from this trip are available in the gallery.

April 2009

I had the priviledge to be able to take part in a joint RNLI / Royal Navy SAR exercise on the Thames with Gravesend and Tower Pier lifeboat crews. After meeting-up for a briefing at Lifeboat pier with the helicopter crew, we headed towards Dagenham to practise winching with the Sea King.

Images from this exercise are available in the gallery.

March 2009

BSoUP Prints Competition at the London International Dive Show

Congratulations to Marc Montocchio for winning the Best of the Show at the BSoUP-Diver Prints competition.

Traditionally, this competition had been running in tandem with the British Splash-In Championships but this year, we decided to give it more exposure by exhibiting the images at LIDS on 28-29 March 2009 and asking the show visitors to choose the category winners. A jury comprised of BAFTA-winning cameraman Peter Scoones, Diver publisher Nigel Eaton, London Sea Life Centre’s Jamie Oliver and Alison Rider of Oonasdivers chose Montocchio’s image of a hunting sailfish from among several shortlisted outstanding entries.

Many thanks to all our sponsors and everyone who made this event happen, especially Martha Tressler. Details about the competition can be found here.

Sailfish ©Marc Montocchio

December 2008

I don't often enter competitions anymore so I was really thrilled to win the presigious BSoUP Open Portfolio this month.

This portfolio contains a mix of images from Layang Layang, Sipadan, Si Amil, Maratua, Kakaban and Sharm el Sheikh.

More information on this portfolio is available on the BSoUP website.

December 2008

I've recently returned from an great trip with friends to Borneo.

After a week diving around Sipadan, Mabul, Kapalai and Siamil by liveaboard, we took the public ferry from Tawau in Sabah (Malaysia) to Tarakan in East Kalimantan (Indonesia) where we spent the night. Tarakan isn't a tourist destination, and the people out there were just the friendliest people ever.

From Tarakan, we travelled 3 1/2 hours by speedboat to Maratua island and spent a week there, diving around Maratua, Sangalaki and Kakaban. Although it was the monsoon season, we had some great encounters. Images from this trip are available in the gallery.

November 2008

Dive: The Ultimate Guide

The new Dive: The Ultimate Guide is out and available on Amazon. It contains new destinations and chapters, including one on Layang Layang, which my friend Gill McDonald asked me to write.

I only managed to have a quick look at this second edition at the Birmingham Dive Show and so far, I haven't managed to secure my own copy, but it's very exciting to be involved in my second book project after the Dive Red Sea book.

Although Monty Halls is still the main writer in Dive: The Ultimate Guide, several new authors and underwater photographers have contributed to this guide, including Gill herself.

September 2008 - The Thames medals story

Over the last couple of days, there has been a lot of press coverage of the medals we recovered from the Thames on 20th September. Since this story has generated a large amount of interest, I thought I ought to share some information about the events.

Last week, I had calls from Malcolm Miatt, Lifeboat Operations Manager at Teddington RNLI station where I work as a volunteer helmsman, and John Tough, the Deputy Launching Authority. John is also Commodore of the Dunkirk Little Ships Association, and his grandfather, Doug Tough was heavily involved in Operation Dynamo, which evacuated nearly 350,000 allied troops from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk in May-June 1940.

You can read the full story in the Articles section

August 2008

Spanning the 60th parallel, the Shetland islands enjoyed the sunniest month of August in the UK. This, together with great company made the week we spent on board MV Halton extremely enjoyable.

Unfortunately, the plankton-rich water did not allow us to experience the usual 25m visibility the islands are renown for, but the diving was superb nevertheless.

Images from this trip are available in the gallery.

June 2008

The annual pilgrimage to Sharm with friends from BSoUP went well. This year, our floating home for the week was was Tornado Marine Fleet's MY Whirlwind, operated by Tony Backhurst Scuba. Resident dive guides Shaun and Chrissie where often hijacked to be models.

Keen to play with the resident snappers (the Lutjanus bohar kind, not the Homo photographicus aquatiquem species) at Ras Mohammed, I had brought along my old Dolphin rebreather, to try and figure out whether the reduced amount of bubbles does indeed make a difference when it comes to getting closer to the action. I have to say the jury is still out on that one, especially as the schooling snapper weren't there in full force. But we had great time with the Giant Trevallies and more importantly, we had great fun.

Images from this trip are available in the gallery.

March/April 2008

Check-out my trip report from Layang Layang in the April 08 edition of Sport Diver UK.

Not many people know about this Malaysian resort. A tiny speck of land in the South China Sea, north west of the province of Sabah, it is often overshadowed by the more popular Sipadan in the south-east, famous for its big schools of barracuda and jacks, and for the sheer number of resident turtles.

Layang Layang Island Resort is surrounded by a shallow lagoon and most dives take place just outside it, often on steep walls or ledges, after a 10-min boat ride.

January 2008

Alex Mustard, Mark Webster & I will have a number of prints on display at the new Under the Sea exhibition held at the National Maritime Museum in Newquay from 28 January.

November 2007

I was elected Chairman the British Society of Underwater Photographers at the November AGM, replacing Martha Tressler who was standing down after three years.

BSoUP is a fantastic source of inspiration and a great way to meet fellow underwater photographers, some of whom recognised internationally.

I have just returned from Scapa Flow.

At the end of the First World War, the whole German High Seas fleet was interned at Scapa Flow, a British navy base in the Orkney islands north of Scotland. On 21 July 1919, unaware that the WWI armistice had been extended, and fearing a new start of hostilities, Admiral Ludwig von Reuter decided that the ships should not be seized by Britain. He sent the order to open the seacocks and sink the vessels. In all, 74 ships went down in one afternoon in what was the biggest mass-scutling in history.

Most of the vessels have now been salvaged for scrap metal, but some battleships can still be visited, such as the 24,000-tonnes Kronprinz Wilhelm and Markgraf. Several light cruisers (5,000 tonnes) like the Desden, Brummer, Karlsruhe and Coln also offer very interesting dives.

September 2007

You can read about my visit to Yucatan peninsula with Hidden Depths Dive Tours's Paul Hughes in this month's Sport Diver.

Paul had prepared a full-on programme to show me that the Mayan Region could offer world-class diving, and something totally different to the usual scuba holiday. During my stay, I would get a taste of cavern diving in the cenotes around Tulum and discover a much talked-about area, the Chinchorro Banks, way south near the Belize border.

July 2007

A British Isles section has been added to the site.

Over the years, I have grown very fond of UK diving which can offer world-class experiences. One of the main comments I hear is that diving in Britain is hard, dark, murky and difficult. Although conditions can sometimes be more challenging, I think green waters have a lot of photographic subjects to offer and that the persevering underwater photographer is often rewarded with images that stand-out from images taken in tropical waters.

July 2007

During the 2007 British Splash-in Championship, The Wildlife Trusts chose 4 images by BSoUP photographers Martha Tressler, Sally Sharrock, Trevor Rees and myself to promote the new Marine Bill Campain.

I fully support the Trusts in this enterprise which aims to designate more areas around the coast as no-take zones.

May 2007

My first DIVE Magazine front cover!

This image was taken between St Abbs and Coldingham in Scotland, in one of my favourite diving spots around the British isles.

St Abbs and the marine reserve are the scene ofto the annual Splash-In competition that takes place on the August Bank holiday weekend. Billy and Alison Aitchison at Rock House B&B were our hosts for the weekend and we were diving from Billy's charter vessel Alikai.

April 2007

Exciting news! My pufferfish picture will feature on the DAN Europe Membership card. It also made the front cover of the Mag!

I have been a member of DAN (Divers Alert Network) for a number of years now and would not want to travel overseas or even dive in home waters without knowing that they're always available, should I ever need their services after a diving accident.

They offer reasonably priced insurance coverwhich extends to non-diving activity and I cannot recommend them highly enough.

March 2007

DIVE RED SEA by my friends Simon Rogerson and John McIntyre has been launched. I'm really excited to see the book out after being asked to provide images for the project. Other photographers involved with the book were Alex Mustard, Charles Hood, Jane Morgan and Malcolm Nobbs.

DIVE RED SEA is now available in France under the title Plongées en mer Rouge

Cover shot © Alex Mustard

March 2007

My Great Escape won the Theme Portfolio competition at the BSoUP meeting in March. It is also generating an interesting discussion on whether this kind of Photoshop manipulation should be allowed when entering a portfolio of 6 images for competitions.