Don’t Call Them Cute: Queen of Mantas gets tough on saving a threatened marine species

She’s sassy, determined and passionate. But those are the attributes we already knew about Dr Andrea Marshall – or the ‘Queen of Mantas’ as she is also known. If it’s possible, Dr Andrea has become even more focussed on protecting manta rays and encouraging others to contribute to their conservation since she started her work in Mozambique in 2003. You could see a clear shift of focus in this ambitious scientist as she gave a talk at the Dive Show in Birmingham (30^th – 31^st October 2010). Since she last spoke to the British public at the London dive show in March she’s been travelling the globe to further research manta rays. Those few months have changed her perspective and how she talks about these creatures that motivate and inspire her every day.

Showing the crowd pictures of slaughtered manta rays on beaches and at markets, she said she was “incensed” at how people are treating them; they are being killed for their alleged miracle properties, which are then used in Chinese medicine. She spoke of times of near emotional breakdown when she saw dead mantas on the Mozambique coast where she lives and works. She knew these mantas as she recognised the markings on their ventral surface: in fact, she has named all 750 of the manta rays currently under study, adding with a smile that “there’s not much else to do in Mozambique”.

Dr Andrea Marshall does more than record data and write up studies on manta rays; she is encouraging others to become conservationists and get involved in what she terms “citizen science”. Divers in particular have a great deal of power to help her cause. She says that just taking photographs on diving trips could help scientists learn more about manta rays and she hopes a database will be set up soon to make this sharing of information a simple task. She says: “We need an ocean revolution. The important thing is that you get involved. This is about global education, not just research.”

Incredibly, Andrea and her team are researching a potential third species of manta ray in the Atlantic Ocean, following her discovery of the giant manta ray in 2008. This could provide further implications for their evolution and ecology – and could change the focus of Dr Marshall’s manta education again.

I spoke to the Manta Queen about the woman behind the science, how we can all get involved in conservation and more marine documentaries in the making. But she would only give me an interview on the condition I signed her ‘save the mantas’ petition. See what I was saying about her meaning business?

 

You mentioned how this talk is very different from the one you gave at the London Dive Show in March. What’s happened in that time?

 

I spent a lot of my time talking to communities around the world, from schoolchildren in Mozambique to scientists and professors at scientific conferences. I’m finding that the talks I give are not as effective as I want them to be – and the reason they’re not effective is because people are so enamoured with the animals, they are not necessarily seeing what needs to happen to make a change. I’m trying to make my talks more focussed on harder conservation issues so that people walk away thinking, “What the hell can I do to change this?”, not “Wow, manta rays are cute”.

You talked about ‘citizen science’ in your presentation. How can people get involved?

 

People have such an incredible power to get involved and I think they don’t realise that they do. Just taking photos on dive trips when people travel around the world is data for scientists – and there are millions of divers diving every day. But even people just demanding change from some of the countries that they are diving in, actually have a bigger voice than the entire scientific community put together. I want people to know that they have the power to change things if they want to.

You’re known as the ‘Queen of Mantas’. Did you give yourself that title?

 

I did NOT give myself the title of ‘Queen of Mantas’. It was the BBC’s idea to name that documentary and it has unfortunately caught on… and there’s nothing I can do about it!

Are there any openings for princes and princesses of Mantas?

 

There are definitely openings for princes and princesses of Mantas. We also have whale shark scientists at our research centre, who study the plankton that whale sharks eat. We’re looking at a new documentary entitled, ‘Whale Shark Warrior and the Prince of Plankton’.

When you gave everything up to go to Mozambique, did you think you’d still be doing this, seven years later?

When you start out as a scientist, you’re interested in the science; in getting papers, marks, university and a professorship. But the longer I have spent in this business, the more I have realised that it is up to us to fix it. No-one else can. It’s not about me making a paper and lodging it in the university for someone else to read one day. If we want to be conservationists, we have to be activists. We actually have to do something now. I never expected in my wildest imaginations that I would be this active in manta conservation when I first started. I liked mantas – but now it’s my entire life.

Do you have a ‘manta mantra’ that gets you up out of bed in the morning? (She didn’t even flinch at that rhyming piece of alliterative genius…).

 

To be able to get up every day and see these animals that actually look like they’re smiling at you when you look at them underwater is what pulls me out of bed every day. The fact that we see mantas slaughtered on the beach all the time can be really depressing, but then you go on a dive and have an encounter with one and you realise it’s all worth it. They literally get me out of bed every morning.

If you had one shot to give everyone on Earth one message, what would it be?

 

This is our planet and we have the ability to change it for the positive. People may think that we can’t but we can – if we want to.

If you want to show your support for Dr Andrea Marshall’s conservation efforts, visit marinemegafauna.org

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Online dive dating? Meeting the DiveBunnie…

Since I set up The Adventure Girl’s Guide, I have gained lovely comments and heaps of advice from other travel enthusiasts, outdoors lovers, adventure junkies and both dive experts and novices alike. A hefty chuck of my blog has been focussed on scuba diving as I make my journey through the underwater world – and of course, wanting to write about it for publications.

But I’ve not only gained helpful tips, I’ve started to make firm connections with people passionate about similar things to me – the internet and social media has done more than just provide a platform to chat about what excites us or to share ideas to help us make decisions. For me, it’s now crossing into the real world; meeting interesting new people is one of the things I wanted to achieve from claiming my own little piece of the web, because, after all, who knows where that leads?

It was because of my tap, tap, tapping away at my laptop that I met the DiveBunnie, aka Clare Wilders, online. It sounds like I signed up to some Dive Date site – especially when I mentioned on the phone to my boyfriend that I had “met this really interesting, lovely girl online… she’s a dive instructor in Sharm and could be good to know if we go diving in the Red Sea”… Well it turned out that meeting each other through dive forums and checking out each other’s sites led to just that.

On a dive trip to the Red Sea at the end of August we made plans to meet up in person. Clare is a lovely wee whippet of a lass – you can see from the picture that my head looks like the size of an enlarged watermelon next to her – but don’t let her diminutive frame fool you. She’s a reputed dive instructor with Ocean College, been awarded Lady Diver of the month by Lady Diver magazine and she’s made a life out of diving in Sharm-el-Sheikh with her husband, who she met there (and who guided me on the SS Thistlegorm – darling geezer!).

Her website, divebunnie.com, is branded as ‘the website for diving women’ and she sells all sorts of merchandise. A dive goddess AND a businesswoman. I think I have someone to follow here. She said I was the second ever Divebunnie to come out to dive with Ocean College: I was sworn in to the club with a cute Divebunnie vest top. Awesome! My babbling is now earning me threads.

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Paul Rose brings the Oceans home

Explorer and professional diver Paul Rose took some time out from underwater discovery to tell us all about the next series of Oceans – and he’s on a mission to get Brits diving too.

Following the success of the eight part BBC series in 2008, Paul animatedly revealed at this year’s Dive Show in Birmingham (30^th-31^st October 2010) that he’ll be hitting our screens again in March 2011 with a brand new serving of maritime wonders.

But this time he hasn’t been sunning himself in exotic locations like the Indian Ocean or collecting air miles for venturing all the way to the Arctic Ocean. This series is all about our waters: Britain’s seas. In his affable Essex lilt, he described how the series will cover the whole compass to show Britain’s ‘Wild North’, ‘Energy of the East’, ‘Crowded South’ and the ‘Giants of the West’.

The intrepid presenter admitted that the title of the next series hasn’t been decided yet, but hinted that we could be seeing ‘Britain’s Secret Seas’ in our telly guide soon.

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I caught up with Paul during his book-signing of ‘Oceans’ after the talk (harangue is more accurate – he has a determined fan base!) to find out more.

What’s been your highlight of filming the new series of Oceans (Britain’s Secret Seas…)?

It was being able to bring the simplicity of UK diving to life. A lot of people may think it’s murky, deep or technical but actually it’s within reach of everybody. It’s very accessible and you only need basic training and not much gear to have a lot of fun as a diver in British waters. If you don’t fancy diving, you can snorkel. We had some fantastic snorkelling experiences with basking sharks for example. Families can have an absolute blast doing this in only chest-deep water. So to bring that to life on television to millions of people is a real highlight for me.

You talked about pushing hard the ‘simple easy diving’ and how you wanted to make people watching the new series to get up off the sofa and get in British waters.

There’s so much to experience! As a new diver there’s a sense of just being underwater and breathing underwater. When I first started diving I just loved that feeling and I didn’t care if I couldn’t see anything. But there is so much to see: you can watch fish in their environment and see all the colours of the sea come to life. In just three metres of water you can have an absolute ball off the British coast. If you venture a bit further, you can see wrecks that are a significant part of history.

In the last series you discovered a new species (of amphipod). Did you discover anything new this time?

No new species this time but we did uncover hugely surprising stories – it was full of surprises for the team, so it will be jam-packed full of surprises for the viewers. You’ll find out about protecting wildlife on Garvey Island and how dolphins end up stranded on the beach.

You’ve got a bigger CV than most will ever achieve (his job titles include polar guide, professional diver and instructor, mountaineer, yacht skipper, expedition leader…). Are you ready to kick back and take up backgammon now?

Oh no I’m going to keep at it because it’s something I can do. I think if you find something you can do, just keep going. I’ll keep diving and I’ll keep exploring. Working in the Polar Regions is a big part of my life and I’m now going down for my 13^th season in the Antarctic; I’ve done nine in the Arctic. When I’m not doing those, the diving seems to take up a big chunk!

How can everybody grab a slice of the explorative action?

I work with an organisation called Earthwatch and it really benefits from ‘people science’. If you have an interest in global issues or the environment, you can work with the world’s finest scientists as a non-scientist and be a bona fide part of the scientific community. It’s really exciting and you can make a difference.

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Paul’s off to the much colder shores of the Antarctic on a science expedition this month until January 2011. If you want to find out what he’s up to next, visit paulrose.org

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Labyrinthitis – The (mis)Adventure Girl

Joy of joys! The room has finally stopped spinning and I can get back to sharing tales of travel and adventure with you. Sorry for the interval on the blog; I was suffering from Labyrinthitis following a diving trip to the Red Sea at the beginning of September. I know, it sounds like a medieval disease of torture doesn’t it? Well it sort of felt like it was – I spent weeks dizzy and spinning like a spinny thing on wheels because it’s a virus that affects your inner ear, the Labyrinth. There’s nothing you can do other than wait for the virus to clear and maybe take travel sickness drugs to combat the dizziness. At least it wasn’t DCI (Decompression Illness or ‘The Bends’), which is what I spent a few agonising hours fretting about following numerous calls to NHS Direct and hyperbaric chambers around the country.

So, now I’m not feeling and looking green and ready to take on the world again, it got me thinking about the injuries/illnesses of adventure sports and what would be enough to put you off. After weeks of feeling awful, a few people asked me if it would put me off diving. No way! But when is enough? What would stop you from getting stuck in to that exhilarating activity that you love? Or has it happened to you – have you now hung up your fins, skis, carabiners or parachute because of an unfortunate experience? Share your misadventures and how you coped with The Adventure Girl’s Guide.

Getting goodies for the writing gig

It’s starting to pay off. Writing for my blog and offering to write for other websites has taken me one step closer to achieving the dream and filling my coffers. Ok so I haven’t been paid anything yet, but I have received my first freebies for my travel scribblings. The Adventure Girl’s Guide’s regular readers might remember my Glamping tales, which was then picked up by camping and outdoors website, Campr. In return for using my experiences on their site, I was promised some camping goodies.

I think I was possibly more excited about what I’d receive in the post than getting some moolah. Maybe. Well I sat by the letterbox for a while, waiting for my outdoors treats to plop onto the doormat. My photojournalist coach, Brendan, even wrote a post about the perils of being a freelance writer and how it’s not so uncommon to get let down after being made promises.

I thought this would be just something I’d put down to experience and am expecting many more disappointments to come in the competitive market that is the travel journalism world. But here’s where I learned about the true power of social media. Experts, columnists and commentators talk about harnessing the power of social media endlessly – I see tweets about the subject every day. And lo and behold, after I shared Brendan’s link online about my latest hurdles in getting published, look who responded…

Hi Brendan James from Campr here. Just wanted to say Karli’s camping pack is going in the post on Monday! It did get forgotten and I’m really sorry about that. She wrote a great article and it deserves far more than a few camping bits. Happy to do anything we can to help her along the way!

I'm sorted if I ever get locked out the house now

Ah har! You have a little whine to the World Wide Web and you see results. And true to his word, the goodies arrived a couple of days later. Hopping with all the excitement of a child opening their stocking on Christmas morning (I still do that, no need to pretend I’m not a child really), I tore open my parcel to discover a survival sack, tent pegs, a disposable hand warmer and a multifunctional camping tool – a bit like a beginner’s Swiss Army knife. It was a great feeling to know that something I’d put effort in to write had been enjoyed and was being rewarded.

I’m getting nearer to receiving some cash for my articles – I wonder what I’ll do with it…

Lonely Planet progress and publishing plotting for Diver

If you’re familiar with my blog you’ll know that I’ve been making steps to getting published in travel, scuba diving and adventure related publications. My photojournalist coach, Brendan O’Brien, has been nudging me in directions that could help me get off the ground. Well, I took on some assignments from him, which you can read about on Brendan’s site.

My first steps with Lonely Planet were a couple of entries to their readers’ section, where the magazine gives punters a chance to get their tales and photographs in print. Not a bad way of getting noticed – they must get thousands of emails from people crashing straight in there and asking to be a freelance contributor. Well they’ll probably get one from me eventually, but this could be a way of getting my name in print faster. And hopefully they’ll remember my name for the future.

I sent in my pitch to review a hotel – if you inspire them enough, they’ll pay for you to stay in a hotel for up to £150 a night and send in your experiences for a one page spread. I also sent in my bid for featuring in their ‘Postcards’ section. This is a chance to send in an eye-catching photograph along with a few words to tell the tale behind it. Well… within just one day, I received an email back from an Editorial Assistant at Lonely Planet. Here’s what he said:

Dear Karli,

Thank you for getting in touch – it’s great to hear from you and to see your photograph from Bali. Everyone on my desk was very curious about these ***!

We are always looking for contributions from readers for our Postcards section so the art team will be sure to get in contact if we are able to use your photograph in an upcoming issue.

We will also let you know if we are able to send you to write a review of the ***.

In the meantime, why not join our Lonely Planet Magazine reader panel? It’s a great way of keeping in touch with us and telling us what features you’d like to see in the magazine. Simply log on to panel.bbcmagazines.com and fill in the short survey.

Sorry about censoring the details, but if it makes it to the magazine I want to keep my ideas a surprise! If I’m still expectantly checking my emails in six months, I think I can safely put them on here…

But the fact that I received an email back within a day, in fact at all, from Lonely Planet was huge encouragement. My coach said it was ‘nice going’ and I must have given them something to pique their interest.

I’m also really pleased that the back scratching is going both ways with Brendan. He emailed me to say thanks for getting him back in the game, so to speak:

Hi Karli,

Just wanted to thank you for providing the catalyst for getting back into running workshops and keeping my blog updated.

SPICE are keen to do a day long workshop sometime in the future. Out of the evening I was also approached by a chap from a photographic society to run a magazine photography workshop as well as a journalist who runs seminars on feature and news writing who wants to form a partnership with me.

Well that does make me smile. I’m really pleased Brendan’s career is getting a kick up the bum too. I just hope I can provide a spectacular finale to his coaching series on his site by actually getting published somewhere.

My next port of call to achieving this is DIVER magazine. It’s time for me to write up all my experiences with dry suits and submit them for the Deep Breath column, which is a space for readers to write about diving experiences, analysis, opinions and lessons to learn. Now that I’m getting my head down on preparing for my bid to be included in these well-respected pages, I dug up some interesting nuggets of information.

I’m a member of the Yorkshire Diver’s forum, as you may remember from my ‘Get wet or go dry?’ dilemma. Reading back through some of the comments at the time, I worked out that no other than the Technical Editor of DIVER magazine, John Bantin, had been contributing his pearls of wisdom too. In one of his posts he said he’d read my blog. I’ve only just realised that a senior member of the editorial team of DIVER has been reading my articles. It’s fantastic that I’m getting my blog read by people in the right places. But oh shame of shame, after he posted a picture of himself in a dry suit (telling me how good they can look if they’re your size), I replied with ‘FIT’. I told a 50-odd year old respected dive photojournalist and editor that he was fit. There goes my career…

But I’m burying that blunder and cracking on with getting my name in print. Ooh the cheek.

Getting my name in print in Lonely Planet

Anyone wanting to get published in travel magazines might be interested to follow my story to doing just this – to see just how achievable it can be. She says. You might remember previous posts about my photjournalist coach, Brendan, setting me tasks to get my name in print. Well here’s how I’m getting on with breaking into Lonely Planet magazine as featured on Brendiver’s World.

Seeing my stories in black and white in those shiny travel magazines seemed to be a long, long way off when I first decided I really wanted to give travel/adventure journalism a shot. But Brendan is showing me how to take baby steps to achieving this goal. To start with, he tasked me with finding opportunities that Lonely Planet is serving up to readers. And lo, in May’s edition of Lonely Planet the generous editors are asking readers for their contributions – could this be my way in? If they like the first snippet of what I can write, and then maybe the second, will they start to notice that I’m somebody they could trust to actually write up a feature piece for them?

Beavering away at the research

Well, I’m not getting ahead of myself. Let’s get back to those baby steps. On the first page the editor of Lonely Planet magazine himself, Peter Grunert, is asking for inspiration on where the most beautiful places on earth are from – yes – the readers! So right there, an opportunity and email address for me to write up my experiences of beautiful lands. I’ve already got a few ideas rolling around in my head, but you’ll have to wait and see what actually gets submitted for now.

Then flick a couple of pages and you find the ‘Share with us’ section. There’s the chance to review a hotel (and they’ll pay for a stay of up to £150) if you can convince them a particular hotel is worth checking out. They also offer readers the print space to talk about their memorable holidays – their first, best and worst. Now I generally always enjoy my travels, but the worst sprang to my mind in a flash. Hands down, it was a week in Prestatyn, Wales with the family when I was 10. The beds were flea-ridden and I came home covered in bites. You should only bear those kinds of scars if you’ve been somewhere exotic!

Then there’s the ‘Postcards’ section. This part of the magazine offers the chance to send in your pictures and the stories behind them. Excellent! The pictures featured don’t have to be necessarily taken with a really expensive camera from what I can see, but they all provide good angles to write a story from. The words sometimes tell you a different story from what you’d assume by just looking at the photograph on its own. Again, I think I’ve got a few cracking photographs from recent travels that could provide a springboard to tell a good story. But like the photos, it needs to be a snapshot. The accompanying stories can’t be more than 100 words from the entries I’ve read.

Delving further into the magazine leads me to another chance to get involved in this travel publication. The Lonely Planet team are giving readers a say in the first ever Lonely Planet awards. Following the online link takes me to where I can give my input on what’s the greatest wildlife encounter? What’s the greatest outdoor activity? The page reads: “These are the first travel awards to focus on the experiences that inspire us all to travel, from those you’ve had to those you dream of having.” I’d love to have my say and just by taking part I could win a trip to Thailand and Cambodia. I never win random online draws and competitions, but I like the idea that by getting involved, my name’s at least in the hat!

Going online gives you more chances to get involved in some way with Lonely Planet – there’s a competition to win more goodies by submitting your favourite travel photo. I’m finding that once you actually start looking, there are more ways than you think to get your toe in the travel magazine door.

The Adventure Girl gets noticed

It’s been a great first week for The Adventure Girl’s Guide – a huge thanks to everyone who’s reading and who’s subscribed. Since launching the blog to the world a week ago, the site’s had 500 hits and has attracted some fantastic followers on Twitter including ‘The Times Travel’ and leading luxury camping website ‘Go Glamping‘, who posted my article on their Twitter page.

The ‘Campr’ website has also got interested in what The Adventure Girl’s Guide has to offer and would like to run ‘Glamping it up in Yorkshire’ on their site. Here’s what James from Campr had to say: “If you would like to write anything else for Campr we’d love to feature your adventures! Anything Camping or outdoors related really.”

Result! So keep an eye out for that, I’ll let you know when more of my adventures get featured across the web. They’re sending me a camping essentials pack in the post to keep me stocked up for my next travels. It might not pay the rent, but that’s a good enough perk in my first week I reckon! York Yurts were really chuffed that I mentioned them and are going to feature my musings on their website – Sara the Yurt lady said she remembered us because of ‘the really romantic boyfriend’. Awww! You cringing yet Guy? The good start has also got a smiley face from my blogging coach, Brendan, who’s giving me tips on how to get published and break into the world of travel magazines.

Please keep checking out The Adventure Girl’s Guide and share your experiences too. Thanks for getting involved at the beginning of the journey; hope you still like what you read when the site gets thousands of followers (fingers crossed!). As ever, if you have anything you think would be great to try out and experience, post comments or message me. Always great to hear from you!

Happy travels!
Karli.

Going Green Sea Turtle MAD – Marsa Abu Dabbab

I’ve never seen a turtle. I can’t tell you how much I wanted to see a turtle on my last dives in Mexico. I had to listen to some chump go on and on about seeing a turtle THIS BIG as he opened his arms at full stretch with a smug glint in his eye. I saw some amazing marine life, but turtle spotting is still on my must-do list. So where am I likely to see these awe-inspiring animals? One place I’ve been told to go for top diving is the Red Sea (come visit my blog again to hear all about that when I’ve been!). And I’ve heard Marsa Abu Dabbab is the place to see some of the magnificent creatures I so long to discover – particularly Green Sea Turtles. Problem is, some bright spark thought it would be a good idea to “develop” the bay into a marina or port.

Resident of Marsa Abu Dabbab bay, courtesy of Diving Leisure Leeds

Now you may have read in an earlier post how I found that diving teaches you respect for all living things in our waters. At least, that’s what diving stirred up in me. So hearing the news that Concord Development for Tourism S.A.E had announced plans to bulldoze an endangered species out of their home for the sake of cramming in a few restaurants and bars really gave me cause for wrinkle cream.

As if the poor buggers didn’t have enough to contend with – they’re critically endangered already thanks to getting hunted for their meat and eggs; thanks to fishnet-caused drowning; and now a bay that’s home to these special animals is under threat. And for what? Another Hilton and another Marriott? That’s worth destroying natural beauty for alright – I do enjoy the superior quality of mints these hotels leave on your pillow in the turndown service. They might as well get McDonald’s selling turtle Mcnuggets while they’re at it.

Many more agree, particularly the diving community. The dive centre, Diving Leisure Leeds, is now campaigning to stop these plans and has launched the conservation project MAD Green Sea Turtles. It’s working with wildlife and underwater cameraman, Jeff Goodman, who I met at a talk about his time with the National Geographic channel. His videos show what we’d all be losing out on if this ecological slaughter goes ahead. In protecting this area of the Egyptian Red Sea, they’ll also be preventing the commercial developers from destroying the homes of Guitar Rays, Titan Trigger Fish, Blue Spotted Rays, Trunkfish and Dugongs.

Green Sea Turtles are part of an elite club of species so ancient, that they’ve seen dinosaurs walk the earth and become extinct. 150 million years on and humans could put an end to these spectacular animals in a whimper. If you want to help keep their story alive, sign the petition here.

Scuba Girl Diaries – first steps to becoming a photojournalist

Here’s the next installment of my journey to becoming a published travel journalist. Mentor Brendan O’Brien had this to say:-

Budding photojournalist, Karli Drinkwater is about to embark on a journey to fulfil her ambition to become a recognised diving photojournalist.

She’s got the drive and enthusiasm, but like many in her situation, she’s not quite sure where to start. Getting your first by-line in any magazine often appears to be an insurmountable hurdle, which is why I’m featuring Karli’s journey on this blog, to show how achievable realising this dream can be.

Over the next few weeks I’ll be providing Karli with some ideas about where to start and in return Karli will provide this blog with a fly on the wall account of her journey.

Well, let’s hope this dream is achievable. Taking Brendan’s tips on board, here’s what I did next…

It’s Friday lunchtime and I’m literally elbowing trainspotters, planespotters and birdspotters out of the way. United in their passion and contentedly divided in their individual fascinations, this motley crew of fanatics could be auditioning for the part of Gollum in Lord of The Rings. Hunched over their respective ‘precious’, the captivated gentlemen revealed their primal side, guarding their territory like wild animals – not even moving for, ahem, a lady.

I was in WHSmith. Clearly British politeness was left at the door here. But I was a woman on a mission, so I ignored the tuts and grunts of one portly fellow with low-resting spectacles as he practically salivated over the sleek lines of a jet plane. The Sun‘s missing out on the latest Page Three sensation I think. I lunged for Diver, knocking rock climbing clowns to the left of me and snowboarding jokers to the right in the process. Clutching the glossy pages and breathing in their new page smell – I LOVE new book smell – I continued on my human ten pin bowling crusade to grab the latest Wanderlust and Lonely Planet. By the time I got to the counter I could finally stop holding my breath.

Now the heart rate’s back to normal and I’ve had a good look through the articles, I’ve got a better understanding of what each publication is all about and the content they go for. As well as getting a little too excited and adding to my ever-growing list of must-see places, my plotting to get a byline in those glossies has stepped up a notch.

Getting stuck into research

Brendan has suggested taking the ‘Serendipities’ route to breaking into the pages of Wanderlust – so I flicked to the back page to see what I have to contend with. The winning submissions that got printed this month have given me an idea of the style the editors must go for: quirky, colourful and witty. I’m thinking of a few of my travel tales that could be suitable for my stab at getting featured. Clearly my diving experiences in Mexico could be turned into a good read – especially since I’m at the beginning of my diving journey and so, hopefully, won’t alienate people who have never dived.

Diver magazine could take a little longer to become a voice of authority in – I’m thinking a few hundred logged dives longer. But there is still a way… Brendan asked how my Advanced Open Water weekend went and unfortunately, not very well was my reply. My dry suit didn’t fit properly and I got drenched in ‘damn son, that’s cold!’ water. Shivering and feeling a little bit down about the whole thing, I decided not to carry on with the rest of the weekend’s dives until I got kit that would fit. “It’s supposed to be fun, so don’t push yourself if you’re not happy,” someone said to me as I sat there feeling sorry for myself and like I’d failed at something I really enjoyed. Being the good dive journalist that Brendan is, he suggested that I could make something out of this experience for Diver.

The Deep Breath column on the back page would be a prime space for this. The current issue has a piece from an instructor about how students are often overweighted and he calls for a reform in dive teaching to produce better and safer novice divers. This would be a great space to write about how many others must have gone through what I did. How many people have experienced something similar and never gone underwater again? I can see how this could happen – it’s only because I’m stubborn and don’t want to give up that I’m going to try again. And at this point I’ll be honest, I’m not overly excited at the prospect. As well as the dry suit not fitting, my BCD was too large and my cylinder kept rolling around. Buoyancy felt totally out of my control, another diver also struggling with the alien new kit kicked my regulator out of my mouth… Nope, my first impression of UK inland diving wasn’t the best. So I’ll be working on crafting something for this page of Diver whilst I read over my AOW manual. Again.