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MY PASSION: Mastering technique of diving leads to conservation role
Kelly Taylor, a solicitor at York-based law firm Langleys, talks about her passion for scuba diving.
I began diving when I did a "try dive" in Majorca in 2003. Before you are let loose, you have to sit on the bottom of the ocean with an instructor and carry out a few basic tasks, including letting water into your mask and then clearing it and removing your regulator and replacing it.
My husband found these things very simple but, I did not. So although the dive was exciting, the difficulties that I had at the beginning made me vow I would never do it again.
In 2004, I got married in Sri Lanka, and then went on honeymoon to the Maldives. Before we went, my husband said the Maldives was one of the best places to dive, so he wanted to do it again.
As I had enjoyed the actual diving in Majorca, it was just the skills I had a problem with, I decided to do a referral course. This allows you do all the difficult bits with an instructor in a swimming pool before you go, and then, when you get on holiday, all you have to do is the fun bit.
While in the Maldives, where the water was a blissful 30C and, therefore, no wetsuit were required, we saw amazing things, such as manta rays, turtles and reef sharks. From this point on, I was smitten.
I have since been diving all over the world, including Mexico, the Bahamas and Egypt. Each place has its own amazing underwater world to be explored.
Eighteen months ago, my husband and I booked a holiday to the Galapagos Islands (which will happen in October 2008) and as this was going to be challenging diving, my husband managed to persuade me to start diving in the cold waters of the UK to prepare myself.
He managed to successfully persuade me that if I could dive in the UK, I would be fine anywhere in the world. I have been diving in the UK for about a year now and although it is never easy and always cold, there are amazing things to
be seen.
I feel very privileged to be a diver and I see some of the most amazing things.
Unfortunately, there is a downside and this is that I see the damage that man is doing to the underwater world.
This is devastating to me, and the thought that some of the amazing creatures which I have seen will not be there for my children or grandchildren to see is deeply upsetting.
I decided that I wanted to do something that would make a difference and would give a little back to the underwater world and, therefore, support many organisations, such as the Marine Conservation Society and the Shark Trust.
More actively, I recently started a Seasearch course so that I can be a Seasearch observer and conduct surveys while diving, which will assist with marine conservation.
The main aim of Seasearch is to map out the various types of seabed found around the UK and record what lives in each differing area.
Seasearch can then use the data to establish where the richest sites for marine life are and, indeed, where the problem areas are which need protection.
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Tuesday 22 May 2012
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