UPDATED:9/02/2008 - NEWS & TOURS & ADULT SECTION PAGES
Bob tells the story:
I
never met my grandfather, but I know he spent a lifetime in the Royal
Navy. No one else in my family was remotely connected to the sea so I
have to assume that my own passion must have been inherited from him.
Having been brought up in London my own early experiences were limited
to the few one week family holidays spent at Hastings on the south coast
of England. Memories are still strong of the excitement of the first glimpse
of the sea, and of the fascinating fishes that were displayed for sale,
some still flapping and wriggling, as the fishing fleet unloaded.
In an attempt to get on the water I joined a canoe club where I diligently
practiced the art of the Eskimo roll. Since this entailed spending a lot
of time upside down in a capsized canoe, I became quite good at holding
my breath and became familiar with wearing a mask to protect my eyes.
I eventually joined the club members on an expedition to canoe down a
wild Welsh river. It was November, and, since none of us had any money,
we pooled cars and were camping. After proceeding a short distance down
the cursed river I hit a rock, smashed my canoe, and sank. The water was
icy cold, but shallow, so I managed to drag myself to shore. Because of
the car pool I could not go home. We camped, my air bed leaked, it was
freezing. I spent the night huddled around the remains of a bonfire, dreaming
of life in a tropical paradise.
The next summer, in 1968, I sailed for the Bahamas. The liner Oriana anchored
off the harbour and I was taken ashore in a launch over the clear blue
water. That afternoon I walked along one of the sparkling white beaches
and planted my feet in the tropical sea. The water was hot and transparent,
and dozens of colourful fishes darted about my toes. The warm humid air
charged my body with energy. A week later a new friend introduced me to
Scuba diving. He explained the various skills, and I performed them easily.
Slipping beneath the surface, I had found a new home.
In 1973, after qualifying as a Scuba Instructor, I moved to Papua New
Guinea. Here I set out to systematically explore its incredible underwater
paradise, and to learn what I could about the amazing marine life that
surrounded me on every dive. It was, and still is, a marvellous adventure
which I have been blessed to share with my wife Dinah, a wonderfully talented
natural diver whose laughter has added joy to these years. Many reefs
we explored were not even charted let alone dived, and on all of them
we were confronted by the challenge of understanding, photographing and
identifying our marine life discoveries.
In the early 1980's we built a 20 metre live-aboard dive boat, the Telita,
to enable diving adventurers from around the world to join us. We were
able cruise to the most remote of Papua New Guinea's islands and reefs.
Our guests, who included some of the world's most famous divers, always
surfaced full of excitement and wonder at what they had seen.
In 1996 we sold our PNG diving company, including MV Telita, and concentrated
on publishing books on diving in PNG and identification of Coral Sea marine
life. Now, from our base in Cairns, we lead adventure dive tours to PNG
in association with our colleague and friend Craig de Wit on board MV
Golden Dawn and in 2007 aboard FeBrina. Dinah and I are looking forward
to many future years of diving adventures in PNG with diving friends,
new and old.
