The Marathon des Sables no less! This blog is a heady mix of sheer determination, inspiration and a little bit of craziness, but hopefully, no sand in your shoe. Thanks to Laura Pearson for an insight into preparing for one of THE endurance events on the planet. Yayyy go Team Pearson!!!!

An insight into a freediving career from the lovely Georgina down at Aquacity with great photos from Daan! Made all the more special by the fact George is British Freediving Association UK Women’s Champion 2023. Thanks guys for the blog.

Thankyou to Laura Walton who runs Fit to Dive, who provide psychological input geared especially for divers. Laura is a Psychologist (and keen diver!) who specialises in working with divers to promote mental, emotional and physical wellbeing in the context of diving. Read on…

Thank you to Daan and George for coming to see Aquamarine Medicals for their HSE Diving Medicals. Daan and George both hold national records in freediving and together they run Aquacity Freediving, based in Porthkerris. Enjoy their stunning photos and words on exploring the underwater world on a single breath. We hope their enthusiasm for freediving comes through and after reading you just want to jump in the sea.

Thank you to Georgie Bull for coming to see Aquamarine Medicals for her HSE Diving Medical and writing this blog for us. Georgie is the British and Irish Underwater Photography Champion 2020 and is currently doing a degree in Marine Biology and Coastal Ecology at Plymouth University.

Thanks to Neil Harvey for coming to Aquamarine Medicals for his ENG1 medical and writing his blog ‘Only Wind and Water’. Neil was a circumnavigator during the Clipper Round the World Race 2017-2018, on board ‘Dare to Lead’. In this year with not much chance for adventure – worth a read of Neil’s transglobal exploits!

Thank you to John Osborne for coming to see Aquamarine Medicals for his HSE Diving Medical and writing this blog for us. John’s blog shows his perspective on one of the most unique jobs in the world. Making a conscious decision to pursue a progressive career choice as a commercial diver, and becoming a saturation diver, can be a leap of faith. Literally! I should warn you in advance, I will digress on the odd occasion. An aspiring saturation diver must dive a minimum number of hours at a variety of depths within the air range (0-50M). Once the diver has achieved the pre-requisites, he/she then has the ‘minor’ hurdle of paying for and attending a course and then joining other new saturation divers in the pursuit of that first ‘lock out’! There’s an element of good fortune and timing involved in being in the right place at the right time to get into saturation diving. Upon getting the ‘first sat’, the new sat diver will be exposed to a whole different world, literally…!

Thank you to Peter French, from The Island Trust, for coming to see Aquamarine Medicals for his ENG1 Medical. The Island Trust is a charity that provides sailing activities for young people with special needs, disabilities and those experiencing hardship and deprivation. The Island Trust has many year’s experience of providing character-building sailing expeditions for youth groups, schools and colleges. Our highly trained professional sailing staff will ensure that your group’s residential or day sail is a valuable learning experience as well as an exciting and enjoyable voyage. We have extensive experience of working with groups of young people with special educational needs, moderate learning difficulties and challenging behaviour. We coach sailing to young people with both physical and mental disabilities, and our staff are adept in teaching those with visual and hearing impairment.

Aquamarine Medicals

As we start to see the divers again who were first through for HSE medicals when things opened up last year, this has prompted me to put pen to paper and reflect on the past 12 months. As a doctor, I have been fortunate to continue working. I am not sure how I would have coped with being confined to the house or being furloughed. It has been a tough year for everyone but there has been good stuff as well which I think is good to remember on the rainy days. I thought I would write this as looking back – lots of people have helped us, and where able, we have tried to help other people too. It sounds a bit naff, but keeping an eye out for other folk, rubbing along together in a socially distanced manner and helping others is what is going to help us all get through this.

Thank you to Tom for coming to see Aquamarine Medicals for his HSE Diving Medical and writing this blog about HSE dive training and studying at Plymouth University. The HSE SCUBA course is offered by Plymouth University as part of a degree course, and Plymouth is the only University to offer this as an option. Tom has been through the HSE SCUBA training and is now helping to teach on the course.

Thanks to Dan Smale, from the Marine Biological Association, for coming to see us for his HSE Diving Medical and writing ‘A cry for kelp’ for us. Dan is a marine biologist whose research focusses on understanding how key habitats such as kelp forests and seagrass meadows are affected by environmental changes, including ocean warming and invasive species. His team conduct diving-based fieldwork around the UK and elsewhere to collect valuable information on the ecology of inshore habitats. We hope you enjoy the blog and that Dan’s passion for marine ecosystems comes through!

Thanks to Kieran, from Diving in Depth, for writing this blog for us and coming to see us at Aquamarine Medicals for his HSE Diving Medical. A little bit about Kieran: Kieran is a professional technical diving instructor, with a particular interest in wreck diving and the stories that accompany those wrecks. Kieran has a focus on teaching closed circuit rebreathers (CCR) and open circuit (OC) technical courses, as well as leading trips and expeditions to locations throughout the world. We hope you enjoy this blog and ‘find your fins, and find some positives post Covid-19’.

Working on board ships is always great fun, you rapidly become part of the family. People spend months on board working so it’s important to respect the ship as your home.

Thanks to Warren ‘Sal’ Salliss from Commercial Diver Training for working with us at Aquamarine Medicals. We hope this blog gives you a real world insight into commercial dive training and medical problems that more commonly occur.

Links to organisations with resources to help the mental health of you and your colleagues – have a look and share.

Tim is the Master of the RRS James Clark Ross, a scientific research vessel for the British Antarctic Survey. In February 2021, the RRS James Clark Ross left Rothera Research Station for her last voyage for BAS. We hope you enjoy Tim’s stories and photographs that give us a glimpse into what it is like to work in one of the most unique and remote places on Earth.