Remote Diving: Exploring Off the Beaten Track with Don Silcock

Don Silcock kicks off a brand new collection specializing in a number of the extra distant diving locations he has visited, and the challenges related to organising a dive journey to these locations

When the editor of Scuba Diver requested if I’d like to put in writing a collection about distant diving and the bizarre locations I’ve visited, my first response was doubt. Who would wish to learn my ramblings about distant locations and the challenges of diving there?

But flattery is a robust factor, and earlier than lengthy, I agreed. After a lot back-and-forth we settled on the title Off the Beaten Track – a good description of what I’ve tried to do all through my diving life.

But, as the primary deadline loomed, I wrestled with tips on how to start as I didn’t wish to sound like yet one more self-styled ‘adventurer’ the diving world appears to encourage.

Then it struck me: the easiest way was to inform these tales by means of the lens of my very own unlikely journey – one I hope may encourage others to chase their very own.

The Middle East…

I grew up within the Sixties and Seventies within the working-class, industrial heartland of northwest England. Back then, life appeared pre-ordained: you labored within the native petrochemical plant, went to the pub on Thursday (payday), and the soccer match on Saturday.

That wasn’t for me. As quickly as I completed my apprenticeship, I left – first for a job on a petrochemical plant in Libya, meant to final one 12 months. Fourteen years, three different nations, a spouse, and two youngsters later, it was time to maneuver on. Those years actually modified me. They broadened my horizons, uncovered me to a much-bigger world, and, most significantly, gave me the means to embrace scuba diving and underwater pictures. By the time I left for Australia in 1991, I used to be a BSAC Advanced Instructor, owned two Nikonos cameras, had logged a number of liveaboard journeys, and printed my first few articles.

The fortunate nation!

One of my fundamental motivations in emigrating to Australia was to open a dive store. But in these days, it appeared each avenue nook already had one, and no one had heard of BSAC!

So, I modified course and joined a US expertise firm, which launched me into almost twenty years of journey and work throughout Southeast Asia, Japan, and China.

Living and dealing there gave me a deeper appreciation of its cultures and opened my eyes to the unimaginable diving scattered all through the area.

What started as informal curiosity quickly turned a burning want to expertise all of it. And that want has led me to some distant and extraordinary dive websites.

Time to get severe about distant diving

Time is an unimaginable commodity – one which, when you find yourself younger, appears to stretch out endlessly earlier than you. But as you age, turns into more and more valuable because the years flash by.

By the time I received into my 60s the conclusion dawned that if I used to be ever to grow to be a ‘serious’ underwater photographer I had higher make a transfer! So, I launched into what would finally grow to be my third profession and to try this meant ending my well-paid second one…

On 1 May 2019, 25 years to the day that I joined, I stated goodbye to every little thing I had established with the US firm. The subsequent ten months exceeded all my expectations after which I realized what a pandemic was, and life floor to a halt…

Post-pandemic

Like most of us, the pandemic induced numerous soul-searching about what I might obtain on this new section of my life, and my conclusion was that I simply needed to double-down and get on with it.

Fortune, as they are saying, favours the daring and it was a number of the tasks I kicked off in these unsure months that actually launched my third profession. Specifically, final 12 months I turned the operations supervisor for Papua Diving’s Raja Ampat SEACAM Centre at their prestigious Sorido Bay resort on Cape Kri within the Dampier Strait.

Then just a few months later, I used to be appointed as a full ambassador for SEACAM – becoming a member of the very ranks of a number of the underwater photographers who’ve lengthy impressed me.

Why Your Next Adventure Should Be Off the Beaten Track

Underwater pictures is difficult however immensely rewarding – if you happen to can grasp it. The key’s to seize photos that inform, or at the least trace at, a compelling story.

That’s why journey is so essential. My journey from a petrochemical plant in northwest England to the place I’m now’s the direct results of numerous journeys and dives all over the world. If I can do it, the one factor stopping you… is you.

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