Memory's of how & why i became a diver!

Blue Hole Gozo.

Memory’s from when I was young boy till today and how diving became my life..

I all ways remember sitting at my grans house in summer in marsascala Malta at young age watching my uncle prepare for diving, and watching him go down and return hour later with amazing stories of big fish and photos to prove it! So as I grew older I found my nose stuck in books about diving reading Padi Open Water book when I was 9 years old, I suffered from dyslexia a lot of what I read didn’t stay in nor did I understand it, but I was always keen to learn and I have always been a good swimmer.

10 yrs old i Zabbar Malta.

In my teens I swam for my school and then found myself running for long time for schools and clubs and then the ARMY came along,17 years old and I changed for better or worse! 19 and I am out and working in Security were I then headed to Malta. I loved it even more now the sea at the bottom of the road the local church community, and helped out there on Sundays giving my experience as runner and swimmer , and I met people from the area some I knew from my childhood, till one day I waked into I dive shop in poala, DIVE MED Malta, and I bought my first mask snorkel and fins that I still have today and started Free Diving, at first 2 meters 4 meters till one days I was down on the wreck swimming along the wreck of tug  St Michael in marsascala(21 meters)….

End of my 1st wkend home.

I was ready for the next step so i walked into Dive Med and the owner Manuel who has become a dear friend who has taught me so much over the years is the guy I hold responsible for what I have become today! That was back in April 2002 and I haven’t looked back, I took it in my stride with work I got transferred to Italy that didn’t stop me I started diving again in Genova were I meet amazing people and done my Deep Spec on the MV Haven the bridge of the super tanker is at 34/5 meters the propeller is at 90 meters to give u the size of this ship! Then I wanted to go deeper!

3 weeks later my dreams are shattered I am on my way back to Uk I start diving in my home town Brighton Uk, get myself some more speciality’s and moved up to rescue in 2004, and got some fantastic dives in on the English Channel on the war wreck heading out to France in the fog in the middle of the night for surprise attacks, tanks & jeeps lay across the sea bed in some areas and then blank nothing for ages swimming around then you find the wreck mass built Liberty ships and barges but the vis wasn’t as good as Italy or Malta, but then once again I get call from the office and I am being transferred to Malta for 6 weeks… well my bags were packed dive gear security pass and suit 1 pair of shoes and 5 shorts  and I was gone!

Marine Security.

Malta 2005 I met up with family and friends and worked and dived that was it for me for 6 weeks, then I left my job and started working and living in Malta full time till I done my Dive Master in 2007 and that’s when I knew I wanted to teach! So then my Technical training started in early Feb 2008 followed by my IDC (Instructor Development Course) in March, know I think I was in Hot water if I remember correctly, but with an CD like we had at Dive Wise (Allan Whitehead) I spotted our weak points and drummed into our skulls what was what and then came the IE(Instructor Exam) 3 days of intense exam and teaching in front of the top Examiners in the Padi industry, was I nervous was I scared well if I say no I am lying was so scared I needed 10 coffees before I left my house that morning….. And for what I passed with average of 93%...... time to celebrate.  As time got on dive built up my mum died of brain cancer so I decided to do something about it and put in a bid to raise money for cancer research but how was I going to do this?

Day before IDC

Malta 2009 my event was to Break the Guinness World Record for the longest dive for Cancer Research, the record was 24 hours so week after week seen the dives getting longer and longer, till on day in September I dropped my head under the water and stayed down and didn’t come up till the record was broken 25 hours 10 min later I left the bottom with 2 hours of deco ahead… but I broke the record and done a bit of fund raising were we raised 900 pounds not a lot but it helps….

Over the next couple of years, I found myself in and out of teaching as security work was always in the back ground… so realised I wasn’t my happiest so I got back in the water again for charity and broke the longest cold water dive of 11hours 41min to 12 hours 34 min in 2012 and then again in 2013 for the warm water record and moved it to 50 hours…. I found myself in the water if not training teaching or just diving so I decided that it I gave up everything and devoted my time and energy into diving, but why its not the best paid job!  But it’s the memories of seeing people breath under water for the first time and they look at you with surprise and happiness and that becomes over whelming some times for them, taking people on wreck for the first time and hearing them under water…….

Cold water record

Longest warm water record.

Even today I am MSDT Tec Blending instructor and tec instructor and even recently I done group dive on ocean liner and to hear tec diver shouting at 60 meters ‘wow look how big the ship is’ with slight tone in the voice like the chip monks due to the depth and helium TMX we use, at that depth air is not good for divers but we save that for different story! Today I work freely between a number of school teaching any course from open water to technical, and a lot of school give me a call from time to time to book me for priv guiding or courses or vice versa I have big groups that book to come over and we all help out! And even though I have now been diving 14 years with around 5,000+ dives between 10 meters and 100 meters I still love doing Discover Scuba Diving programs the first breath under water…. The look of them before and after……

Then late 2015 i done a shark tank dive for 5 days to raise awarness of our Oceans and to educate people that we can live and swim in the ocean with sharks with out shark suit, eat and slept in the tank, raising money for Project Aware Sharks in peril, where we were joined by Shark Lab Malta that help release sharks back in to the see through conservation programs.

5 day shark tank dive.

Seasson 2016 is just under way if your coming out be sure to BOOK!

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ORP KUJAWIAK (L72) -95 METERS MALTA.

ORP Kujawiak was a British Type II Hunt Class destroyer, formerly named HMS Oakley.
Kujawiak was built at the company's High walker yard on the River Tyne. Her keel was laid down on 22 November 1939 and she was launched on 30 October 1940, and she had
Complement of 160, Armament:   6 × 102 mm guns (3 twin turrets), 4 × 40 mm anti-aircraft cannons, 2 to 4 20 mm anti-aircraft cannon, 6 depth charge throwers,

 Originally commissioned into the Royal Navy, she was renamed and commissioned into the Polish Navey in June 1941.
On 18 June 1941 Kujawiak came under attack by German aircraft whilst on passage from Tyne to scapa flow to work-up for operational service with ships of home fleet. Fire from the aircraft hit the 4-inch ready-use ammunition which exploded causing one fatal casualty. On 25 July she joined the 15th Destroyer Flotilla based at plymouth for local convoy escort and patrol duties.
Later that year on 23 October Kujawiak deployed with fellow Polish destroyer ORP Krakowiak for escort of inward Convoy SL89 during final stage of passage in irish sea from Freetown into Liverpool. On 22 December she sailed from Scapa Flow as part of Force J to carry out landings on the Lofone islands. Two days later on 27 December the destroyer sustained slight damage from a near miss during air attacks.

June 1942 Kujawiak was nominated for loan service with Home Fleet for escort of planned Malta Relief convoy (Operation Harpoon). On 6 June she joined military Convoy WS19S in the Northwest Approaches as part of Ocean Escort for passage to Gibraltar. On 12 June she joined Force X at Gibraltar for escort of convoy for passage to Malta through Sicilian Narrows. On 14 June the convoy came under heavy and sustained air attacks during which the cruiser Liverpool was damaged. The following day the air attacks continued and Kujawiak went into action with Italian warships attempting to intercept and attack the convoy. only then after this a few days later Kujawiak was sunk on 16 June 1942 after running into a mine near Malta while participating in Operation Harpoon. 13 Polish sailors died and 20 were wounded.

Presently..
On 22 September 2014 a team of Polish explorers and an American from the Wreck Expeditions Association discovered the resting place of Kujawiak, designated L72, off of Malta.
The expedition team consisted of Team Leader Peter Wytykowski, Expedition Leader Roman Zajder, Michał Szczepaniak, Robert Głuchowski, Bartek Grynda -an underwater technology and  (ROV) specialist-, Marcin Sadowski, Agata Radecka -whose grandmother's uncle was the commander of Kujawiak-, and Chris Kraska of the Ohio Maritime Archaeological Survey Team -whose father was a seaman on Kujawiak and survived her sinking. Using ROV footage and original blueprints from the Hunt Type II escort destroyer the team has ascertained that her only possible identity is Kujawiak.
The discovery has been shared with Maltese and Polish officials but the coordinates of the wreck are being kept secret for the time being. The Maltese government is awaiting the team's final report and has indicated the wreck site will be designated a historic site and a war grave.
The team returned to Malta in the summer of 2015 and made several dives on the wreck taking video footage. They also placed on the wreck a memorial plaque to the sailors who perished during her sinking.

Today diving is restricted as its a War Grave.