In 1996 I completed my PADI OWSI and IANTD Advanced Nitrox Instructor with a guy called Martin Smith. Martin ran a company called Deep Blue Diving Ltd and he specialised in Tech Training.

In 1997 I asked Martin if I could use his company name as I wanted to do the same as what he had done. As he wasn’t training divers at the time he agreed, and I used the name with his consent.

Martin was an inspiration and firmly put me on the track of Professional Tech Training, he showed me the first incarnation of George Irvines first video in 1997, nearly 9 years ago!

Deep Blue started in late 1997 with a really good friend called Mike Norwood who was also on my IANTD IDC with Martin in 1996. We concentrated solely on Tech Training and Exploration enjoying great diving adventures all over the UK and Europe.

We set up a dive centre in Cheshire and eventually moved down to Plymouth. Mike moved to the States at this time marrying a lovely girl called Di, we kept in touch and I was privileged to be an Usher at his wedding in Manhatten, sadly Mike died in a diving accident in December 2003.

Deep Blue relocated to Plymouth in 2002 and ran the successful Expedition Vessel Loyal Watcher. You can read all about our adventures on the Expedition page, these were the best times of my life, I will never forget the experiences and exploration I had onboard Loyal Watcher with my best mate ( and later to be Best Man ) Steve Wright.

Then along came the day boat ‘Seeker’ and two commercial RIB’s named KaraC and Searcher. A much bigger dive centre was started in Mount Batten , Plymouth in 2003 and a PADI 5 Star IDC Centre was born along with a prosperous retail side.

The down side of all this development was that I took my eye off the ball. I temporarily misplaced my original passion that drew me to this sport, exploration! I had become a Dive Centre manager in three years and that was not part of my plan.

In late 2004 I realised this and now have passed on the PADI OW training, retail, gas mixing and shuttle dive operation to other parties.

Seeker, Kara C and Searcher have all been sold, in particular Seeker has gone to the best boat handler in the South, Steve Wright, my companion of many years as the Skipper of Loyal Watcher. Without Steve Loyal Watcher would never have been the success it was, I thank you Steve.

I have replaced the older boat with a much newer one named ‘Endeavour’, you can read all about her within this site. (click here)

Endeavour is a purpose built Offshore dive platform and is unique in that she is the only dive boat to be totally self sufficient as she has 230v power, compressed air, gas booster system as well as Nitrox and Trimix onboard

Without the dive centre under my control I now have more time to research and explore ship wrecks and Caves and train others to do the same. I feel we have a unique position within the diving industry as not only do we take divers Offshore to explore wrecks but we explore them ourselves.

Not many other dive boat operators can offer this service and I feel it can make a difference to the enjoyment of what is a challenging and adventurous sport.Most of this year I have been filming wrecks that we have explored and eventually these you will be able to download from this website.

My focus for 2007 and beyond is to improve what I enjoy the most, deep
wreck and cave diving and to further improve my instructor capabilities. I have been very fortunate in my diving career to have dived the best wrecks with the best divers, and now I plan to enjoy diving even more.

In September 2007 I sold Endeavour, changed the company's name to Deep Blue Tech and moved to a new unit 1 mile from my house in South Brent, which is 20 miles from Plymouth. My plan is to concentrate solely on technical diver training and expeditions in particular Cave and Rebreather diving and also to offer consultancy support to Underwater TV and Film companies (please see Charter Section.)