Andrew & I had been invited by the Social Secretary of the Arun Yacht Club (AYC) to give a talk on diving last year. They see us going down river and thought it would be interesting to know why we dive, what we see etc. For various reasons this had been postponed but Saturday 18th January saw us loading up the car with dive kit, safety aids and computers and setting up a display of dive equipment and books in the AYC bar. We then gave an illustrated interactive talk, ‘The Amazing World Beneath Your Keels’, to about 50 members including a number of their young cadets. It seemed to be well received, with plenty of questions both during and after the talk. We got some of the cadets kitted up (they were amazed at how heavy a set of scuba kit is!) and demonstrated smbs, flags and other safety equipment whilst showing photos and video of what we get up to and what is underwater.
As usual, most were amazed at how much, and the variety of life, that they sailed over just a few miles out of Littlehampton. Hopefully this will have encouraged some to ‘have a go’ when they have the opportunity in the future.