Star Sport star

Star Sport star

I’m a Sydney boy through and through, having grown up on the north side and now residing in the east. I was never a sportsperson at school. Team sport never appealed to me, which is probably why the serenity of diving appeals to me.
Although I learnt to scuba dive when I was 16, it wasn’t until 2001 that I really got into it and I joined SUBS — Sydney Underwater Bushwalking Society. SUBS offered a hassle-free diving environment which appealed to me. I’ve also come to learn what great times these divers have.
I guess it may have been watching too much Flipper, Jacques Cousteau or Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea at a young age which initially got me interested in getting below the waves. From these TV beginnings, I’ve dived all over the world — Malaysia, the Caribbean, Indonesia, Africa and the Great Barrier Reef.
SUBS also exposed me to the Diving for Life group (DFL). My first DFL trip was in 2004 to Fiji, and since then I’ve been to Belize, Curacao and Phi Phi Island in Thailand. It is the DFL trips and the DFL family that make up my best memories of diving, well above water.
Below the water, it would have to have been the time we came across a pod of dolphins outside Sydney heads. It is an amazing feeling to see these and other majestic animals, like manta rays, in their natural environment.
I’ve been interested in Diving for Life as it is a way of enjoying my sport and giving back to the community. SUBS has raised approximately $US20,000 by participating in the DFL trips.
This money is distributed back into the community via health-related charities such as the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation.
In 2009 I was elected to the board of DFL for two years. Hopefully I can get more and more Australian gay and lesbian divers involved with DFL.
Being a diver doesn’t mean you have regular sports competitions or lucky socks.
But being a gear-intensive sport, there is always another piece of new equipment to buy — a better regulator, another wetsuit or drysuit, new fins.
To me, diving is about weightlessness, floating through the water and investigating what life is about. And SUBS is about having a laugh and making some good friends with a common interest.
For details of SUBS’ diving around Sydney and NSW in 2010, visit the club’s website at www.gaydive.org.au or email [email protected]
SUBS is open to gay men, lesbians and their friends who are qualified SCUBA divers or snorkellers.

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