Diver of the Week: Jane Mitchell

Our Star Diver this week is Jane Mitchell. Unfortunately this will be our last Diver of the Week - hope you’ve enjoyed the series.

Dive Qualifications: Initially I would have said just being a petite brunette with good breath holding ability, own kit, teeth and transport was enough to get you by in diving and in some clubs that might be the case. However, I do think a good sense of humour is also vital. I realised that if I was prepared to keep appearing in public with no make up and mucus membrane sliding down my face I was going to have to take the Advanced HTPT Theory paper. Actual qualifications at present are: SD, SI, ADI, and MFI

Day Job: Well yes, I’ve got one. I’ve got to pay for some new kit every so often and then there is the life insurance of course. However, there are savings to be made on smart weekend clothing, make-up and hairdos, as all are completely unnecessary for a lady diver.

Why I took up diving: To be perfectly honest, when I was younger I was looking for a sport that was very dangerous, very expensive and featured very few women. Sub aqua diving seemed to fit the bill in at least two respects. Unfortunately in those days it wasn’t too expensive as we needed very little kit and most of it you could make at home. Also, being short sighted, I found the fact that everything appeared 25 per cent larger underwater was an added bonus.

What I love about it: The good news is that lots more dive kit (and manuals) seems to be required these days before you can throw yourself in the water and it really is expensive. Actually I love diving on so many different levels. In real life I am chronically shy and find making small talk difficult. Diving however has opened a whole new world of possibilities for social interaction. Take ‘The Dive’ for example: how deep, how long, how cold and why? And then ‘The Kit’: how much, where from and what for? Magic.

Best Dive: Any dive I survive is a favourite in my logbook. Seriously though, there was one dive that does stand out for me. It was on an offshore reef in the Med and involved a spiritual encounter with three mammoth tuna, 1000 barracuda and a young French dive guide…

Worst Dive: Reflex nightclub on the SSAC Christmas Do a few years ago. It was definitely a case of Nitrogen Narcosis for me that night. I was well out of my depth but luckily I had some good dive buddies who came to my rescue. This was a perfect example of the benefits of good club training and never going solo whether it’s diving, drinking or dancing.

Dive Hero: Anyone that is happy to buddy up with me is OK in my book and I have found a little ‘hero worship’ goes a long way.

Favourite bit of kit: I’m with Andrea on this one and it’s my prescription dive mask. The security and comfort it brings knowing that, on surfacing, I’ll be able to see the boat. It might not be my boat but it doesn’t do to be too picky in this game.

Interests outside diving: Being a loving wife, mother and homemaker – although they do complain that I think about diving a little too much for a woman of my age.

What’s next: I might look into Tech diving as those blokes have got to be really strong to carry all that kit and as most of them are bonkers (due to the gas mixes and all that pressure), I’d probably stand a better chance of meeting Mr D.I.R. (for buddy diving and small talk only). Steve, if you’re reading this, I’m only joking because, as we all know, divers are all jokers or really funny people – or was it just strange? Anyway, something like that. Best people in the world I say.

Diver of the Week: Jim Pilsbury

Our Star Diver this week is instructor Jim Pilsbury, whose favourite underwater habitats include the tropical waters around the islands of the South Pacific.  

Dive qualifications: I’ve been an Open Water Instructor since 2000.

Why I took up diving: In 1992 I was backpacking around Australia and I did a try dive on the Great Barrier Reef. I enjoyed it so much that I then did a four-day dive course there in Cairns, and gained a NAUI open water qualification. I joined SSAC in 1995 to be able to do more diving safely and regularly.

What I love about it: Being able to swim amongst beautiful fish and  corals and to see other marine life and wrecks up close – something that non divers never get to experience, especially in warm, clear tropical waters!!

Best dive: My best dives were on a wreck off the coast of Raratonga in the South Pacific, with crystal clear 40 metres plus visibility, and a return visit to do a liveaboard on the Great Barrier Reef as an experienced diver when I could appreciate the reefs without an instructor giving me grief!

Worst dive: My worst dive was in Tenerife. I’d only done 12 dives then and had not dived for 18 months since first qualifying. My air consumption was awful, my buoyancy was very poor and I had forgotten most of the basics. It was a horrible experience and it was then that I decided to join a club and improve my skills if I wanted to enjoy diving. This is why I always remind students to practice, practice, practice! It’s only easy when you’ve practised the skills.

Favourite dive site: I have several! Any dive site in the Perhentian Islands in Malaysia is impressive with good viz, lots of corals, sharks, turtles and swim-throughs. The big coral bommies off Tioman Island, Malaysia are always good and seeing Pygmy seahorses on the wreck of the SS Liberty off Tulamben in Bali was fascinating.

Dive hero: My dive heroes are club members Geoff Hunt and Pete Forbes who took me through my initial training and encouraged me to progress, and former club member Richard Paddock who honed my skills to reach instructor standard.

Favourite bit of kit: My Apex regs which have never let me down and my compass, because it’s always a good idea to know which is the way back!

Interests outside diving: I like travelling to see new countries, I also like walking in the countryside and I have just retired from my other sport, Karate, which I enjoyed for over 30 years and I achieved the grade of 1st Dan, Black Belt in 1985.

What’s next? I hope to do more diving  in warm, clear, tropical waters of South Asia. I’ve never dived off Borneo or Sulawesi so would love to dive there!

Diver of the Week: Clare Soltysiak

Our Star Diver this week is the lovely Mrs Solty, whose favourite dives have been with marbled rays in the beautiful reefs of the Maldives.

Dive Qualifications: Sports Diver.

Day Job: I’m a nurse.

Why I took up diving: After one of our family holidays when my husband Paul and my son Robert went on a try dive, we decided we all wanted to give it a go! So we went back and learned as a family, and loved it! After that, I bought Paul a year’s membership to Shrewsbury Sub Aqua Club and from there his interest really grew. He was off diving a lot of the time and it was a case of ’if you can’t beat them, join them’!

What I love about it: I really enjoy the fact that it’s something Paul and I can do together. He wanted me to take the Sports Diver course so that I had enough knowledge to be able to rescue him – very selfish, really! I also love the holidays – Troy’s in particular, which are amazing.

Best dive: Ah, that’s easy. We went to the Maldives on our 25th wedding anniversary and were diving with large marbled rays, which were absolutely beautiful. Seeing them as we came down off the top of the Atula was incredible!

Worst dive: It was on a liveaboard trip to the Elphinstone Reef, and Paul and I were swept into a strong current. In the confusion, I thought I’d had a rapid ascent but luckily when I checked my computer I’d only gone up a metre or so. It was a very scary experience though.

Favourite dive site: The St John’s Caves we visited on the Deep South Liveaboad last year. It was an incredible place – there was no one else around, just beautiful sunlight streaming through the caves.

Favourite bit of kit: I love my BCD because it’s padded around the shoulders so very comfortable to wear, plus it has an integrated weight belt which makes things much easier.

Dive Hero: My husband!

What’s next? I’d really like to go back to the Maldives and do another liveaboard soon. It’s all abroad, I’m afraid. I’ve never fancied UK diving!

Diver of the Week: Derek Keeping

Our esteemed Diver of the Week this week is Shrewsbury Sub Aqua Club’s most experienced technical diver, Derek Keeping.

Dive qualifications: BSAC First Class Diver and Advanced Instructor. NSS CDS Full Cave Diver.

Day job: On those rare days when I do work I’m a Technical Support Manager for a software company, and no I won’t fix your computer.

Why I took up diving: Same as a lot of people really. I grew up watching Jacques Cousteau and thinking how cool it was. I’m really envious of the younger students in our club. I had to wait until I was 27 before an opportunity to learn came along.

What I love about it: It has changed over the years. I enjoy teaching new divers, and learning new things myself. But when it comes down to it I just love the feeling of being in the water.

Best dive: Sitting at about 20 metres just above a drop-off in Fiji. The water was so clear I was able to watch the sun set through it. Lots of marine life changing over for the night shift, and a big shark checking me out, but not too closely!

Worst dive: Getting stuck in a small room in a cave in a total silt out. We’d had to squeeze through a passage just high enough to get through with tanks on our backs. We found it was a dead end and then my buddy stirred things up on the way out. When I tried to leave I couldn’t get the right angle to fit through the opening and couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. About as close to panic as I’ve ever come. Fortunately the training kicked in and I was able to sort myself out change my position and squeeze through.

Favourite dive site: It’s hard to pick just one. So I won’t. In Bermuda, I really liked diving Elbow Beach. You swim out to the reef line and then drop down to swim through an arch at about 10 metres. Usually two or three large grouper lounging in the shade. Then down to about 15 metres and a wandering dive through narrow channels and small caves in the coral reef. At the end pop through to the inside of the reef, then a long swim at 5 meters back to the beach. If you do it in July or August the temperature is about 30C and you don’t even need a wetsuit. In the UK, I’d say my favourite so far is the James Egan Lane - if the light is right swimming through the skeleton of the ship almost feels like you’re in a sunken cathedral. And it’s shallow enough you can have a nice long wander around it.

Dive Hero: Sheck Exley.

Favourite bit of kit: Probably my Apeks regs. They’ve been with me for about 15 years and still work perfectly. Don’t see any reason to change.

Interests outside diving: I have been known to attend a music festival or two.

What’s next? I really fancy a trip to the Bikini Atoll, but no-one is taking tours there at the moment. I also really fancy Truk, and may manage to organize a trip there someday.

Diver of the Week: Anne Trigg

She’s lived in war zones and has been held at gunpoint – in fact, our Star Diver this week is probably one of the most intrepid members of Shrewsbury Sub Aqua Club!

Dive qualifications: Ocean Diver. I’m (very slowly) working on my Sports Diver!

Day job: I’m now fully retired but I was previously a physiotherapist with my own practice.

Why I started diving: With retirement looming and a son having flown the nest, I wanted a new challenge and an adrenaline rush, so I decided on diving – even though I don’t really like being in the water!

What I love about it: That I can breath down there! And that there are so many surprising things about diving – I didn’t think I’d enjoy the wrecks but I really did. Fascinating to see what grows on them and how the sea is slowly turning them back to nature.

Best dive: It was on the MV Gelen last year, on Paul and Jane’s trip. I was the odd number so buddied with a fantastic guide called Sem. We saw some beautiful dolphins, and even though he must’ve seen them every day, his enthusiasm for seeing them again made it a tremendously fun dive. He even did a little dance!

Worst dive: It was my first dive holiday on a liveaboard. I’d only done 8 dives so wasn’t sure I was fully ready, and during one of the dives I was swept away in the current. I would have panicked if the guide hadn’t taken me up to the surface. But he didn’t come up straight away, it was getting quite dark and I couldn’t see the boat. I did wonder if I was going to be left alone at sea!

Favourite dive site: The wreck of the Thistlegorm. It was awe-inspiring.

Dive Hero: I don’t really have one.

Interests outside diving: Walking, birdwatching and family history research – at the moment I’m back to the 1700s!

What’s next? I’m not interested in going any deeper, but I would like to do more wrecks. If my son moves to Australia I’d love to dive the Ningaloo reef and the Great Barrier reef. And finish my Sports Diver, of course!

Diver of the Week: Geoff Hunt

A very special Star Diver this week! Geoff Hunt was one of the first members of Shrewsbury Sub Aqua Club, has been a member for 47 years and was the first BSAC Instructor in the branch. 

Dive qualifications: Advanced Diver and Club Instructor. I am the equivalent to an Advanced Diver because the qualification I took was called Second Class when I achieved it, and I took it with the area coach because the Shrewsbury club was not a branch of the BSAC then.

Day job: I was an Engineer for 20 years, and then a school teacher for 27 years. I’m now retired.

Why I took up diving: When I started in 1965 there weren’t many people doing it and it seem a new exciting sport to do. My friends and I had always been into water sports and were very active in slalom canoeing, when we spotted a Sub Aqua course being run by Shropshire Education Authority, so four of us enrolled on the next one. The rest, as they say, is history…

What I love about it: It’s hard to put a finger on exactly what made me love the sport so much but as I have been a member of the club for 47 years I suppose it must have appealed. It was a combination of things really - I’ve always liked water sports, then the equipment side of it appealed to the engineer in me. The excitement of not knowing what I will find on each dive, the slightly risky side of the sport. Then as I gained qualifications the teacher part of me got interested in being an instructor.

Best dive: My best dive was in New Zealand with my brother, in an area called the Bay Of Islands. You can hardly move for the fish life!

Worst dive: It has to be in a totally black River Severn just after Christmas, looking for a sunken car and body with a friend called Dave Price, who is no longer a member. This was done in the days when the police would call on our help because they didn’t have their own diving unit.

Favourite dive site: If by favorite dive site you mean the one I went to the most often then it would have to be on the Lynn Peninsular, but it’s not my best site  as mentioned above.

Diving Hero: I suppose my diving hero’s would have to Hans and Lotte Hass and Jacques-Yves Cousteau. They were the ones who were always on the TV in the 60s and 70s and stimulated an interest in diving in a lot of people of my age.

Favorite bit of kit? That’s an interesting question for someone who has been diving as long as I have! I started with very basic equipment. A DIY wet suit, twin hose valve, 40 Cu Ft tank, a dive knife, depth gauge and compass, and that was it! I was the first person in the club to have a life jacket and I am sure the rest thought I was a sissy! So any piece of equipment that improved on what I had became a favorite for short period of time.

Interests outside diving: I suppose my main interest outside diving seems to be DIY for my son and daughters homes and I also still do some mountaineering for which I was also an instructor, although what I can do is limited by bad knees these days.

What’s next? Diving wise, my future plans are to dive in warm places on holiday. I have no interest in getting into cold British waters any more!