You could say we live for our adventures, and consequently, our adventures are the fountain of motivation for our training.

I enjoy training to a large extent, which I understand is not the case for everyone. I get it. However, if you don’t enjoy exercising, you will need to make some solid decisions about your training goals, such as what you want to achieve physically. Clearly identify these, as they will be your emotional drivers to push ahead when your motivation is low. Without training, your quality of life will be less than it could be.

For anything but local diving, diving accident insurance is a must. I use and recommend DAN Dive Accident Insurance World, or if based in Australia. Simply put, if you need advice or evacuation from these remote regions, you want prompt, qualified service and extraction on hand if needed.

These dives have been filmed with a Panasonic GH5, using 7-14 and 60mm lenses, *2 BigBlue VL18000 lights and a camera monitor. Drone shots are captured with a DJI Mavic 3.

This page serves as a starting point for some of the scuba diving adventures I have experienced. The information for each adventure varies, but may include;

• Planning information if you want to do the same or a similar adventure
• Provide a visual feast of the surroundings that you will experience on the adventure (often in combination with YouTube videos)
• Explain the ups and downs, and what I would do differently if going again (perhaps saving you the same pain/errors/mistakes)

Australia

Esperance Jetty

Built in 1935 to provide a deep-water service hub for vessels moving imports and exports for the region. The wooden jetty had a commercial role until 1970 and then became a recreational attraction for swimming and fishing. In 1988, a severe storm collapsed a section, leaving the most distal portion isolated. Originally 640m, the jetty was later demolished and replaced in 2021 with a purpose-built 415m jetty that includes a dive platform at the end.

Stairs down to the dive platform are wide with good nonslip tread and handrails. The platform is split-level, enabling you to sit in full gear before the 1.5m step into the water. A solid stainless ladder provides your means of egress. The rungs are narrow, and wearing solid sole booties is recommended. An easy out-and-back, due east/west dive follows the original jetty stumps to the ‘cathedral’ which marks the turn around point, about 200m from the dive platform.

Cape Le Grand National Park – Lucky Bay

Lucky Bay may be famous for its white-sand beaches and kangaroos on the shoreline, but beneath the surface lies an equally thrilling adventure. Diving here feels like unlocking a secret chapter of Australia’s wild coast. Granite reefs rise dramatically from the ocean floor, kelp forests sway in the current, and curious sea lions sometimes swoop in to check you out. The water is bracingly cool and often clear, the marine life hardy and abundant, dragons being the main attraction, but also giant Australian cuttlefish, and the occasional dolphin pod passing by. It’s raw, rugged, and exhilarating, a true wilderness dive where the Southern Ocean keeps you on your toes.

Exmouth – Cape Range National Park/Ningaloo Reef

The Army Jetty, officially the Exmouth Navy Pier, is a world-renowned, shallow shore dive (albeit off a jetty) in the Ningaloo Reef. It is a popular site due to the incredible marine life, including grey nurse sharks, turtles, and a humongous cod, which thrive due to the pier’s long history as an untouched military facility. Access is exclusive to licensed dive operators and requires strict adherence to military base protocols, including ID checks. Generally, you book for a ‘double dive’ and this is only possible at slack tide. In our case, the visibility was poor on the first dive and the second was cancelled due to almost zero visibility. The plan is to go back again because it is such an amazing and unique dive.

Another well-known dive, in this case a snorkel, is the Turquoise Bay drift dive. We like to get in on the early tide change to beat the crowds that build up later in the day. Keep an eye out for turtles, reef sharks, stingrays, clownfish and octopus.

There are several other snorkel opportunities if you have access to a paddleboard or kayak. You can tie off on a designated mooring, like at the Osprey Sanctuary Zone kayak trail and snorkel in water 5-7m in depth. Not many people do this, and what you see feels that much more ‘wild’ than on the closer-to-shore drift dives.

Rowley Shoals

Remote, wild, and utterly pristine, the Rowley Shoals feel like nature’s best-kept secret, with only a few hundred divers visiting each year. Three massive atoll-like reefs rise from the Indian Ocean, hundreds of kilometres offshore from Broome, creating a diving playground few ever get to experience. Walls drop off into endless blue, lagoons shimmer with coral gardens, and the sheer abundance of life: giant trevally, potato cod, reef sharks, and manta rays cruising past, reminds you this is wilderness diving at its finest. With only a handful of liveaboards venturing here each year, diving Rowley Shoals is a rare, heart-thumping privilege, where every descent feels like a first discovery.

I dived with friends on the MV Odyssey booked through Odyssey Expeditions, and would highly recommend it to other divers. The boat diver limit is 20 (but we had around 14), cabins are twin shared, no en-suite, but spacious. You could travel as a snorkeler if not inclined to diving, and the crew were very accommodating in arranging appropriate snorkel experiences.

Note that the Rowley Shoals is remote diving at its best, but does come with its limitations, for example, no dive store for 200km!  Onboard the MV Odyssey, provided tanks, weights & weight belts and has a considerable range of spare parts on board. The food was extensive and impressive. This is warm water diving, so a 3 to 5 mm suit should be adequate as the water temperature is approximately 25- 27 degrees Celsius.

Indonesia

Raja Ampat

If adventure had a postcard, it would be Piaynemo. Dropping beneath the turquoise surface here is like entering another planet—one bursting with life and colour. Coral walls blaze with neon brilliance, reef sharks patrol with quiet authority, and clouds of technicolour fish swarm so thick you’ll feel like you’re inside a living kaleidoscope. Every dive is an expedition into the unknown, where manta rays glide like ancient aircraft and rare critters lurk in the coral’s secret corners. This is the wild frontier of diving—raw, untamed, and utterly unforgettable.

I have dived from the liveaboard Carpe Diem twice, a Komodo trip and a Raja Ampat trip, and booked for a third trip in 2027. So you can safely say I highly recommend the boat (a beautiful wooden, sailing/motorised vessel), their selection of dive sites and the people in charge. This includes the cook who always has a wide smile, a wider range of traditional karaoke singing and the widest range of amazing dishes!

For me, liveaboards are the balance between day-to-day comfort and access to great diving. When diving three to four times a day, pushing a 14kg camera rig, downloading SD cards, charging batteries, eating and resting, having someone else do the driving, cooking, navigation and organising dive gear is a genuine luxury. The crew of the Carpe Diem have done this magnificently, and with only a maximum of eight divers onboard, no dive site is crowded.

Bimu and Komodo Regions