dive plan

A Test Of Offshore Mettle

The following article was written for – and published in –  ‘Professional Diver Journal’ in 1996. ——————– Out in Australia’s Bass Strait oil fields the last diver of the day shift completes his surface decompression schedule and climbs from the… Read More ›

The ‘Polly-Gaff’ Gas Analyser

Technology has enjoyed considerable advances since the Polly-Gaff’ Gas Analyser was first announced – almost thirty years ago, in the May 1997 pages of Scuba Diver Magazine —————– The inherent problem with gas analysers is their frailty.  While primary diving… Read More ›

‘Margaret’ and Me

In the early ‘seventies the heavy demand for divers to work on the North Sea gas and oil platforms exceeded supply.  Wages were high.  So was the diver mortality rate. Confronted by a harsh environment and difficulties not previously encountered… Read More ›

Vale Michael Menduno

On the 3rd October 2025, Michael Menduno – one of modern diving’s most enigmatic personalities – died following a stroke.  Despite a public persona as the person whose name will, forever, be synonymous with the advent of ‘Technical Diving’ (as… Read More ›

Selling Diving

Tarnished by an image that’s become associated with the high-pressure techniques of a used-car sales-person or the indifference of a poorly trained ‘phone-blower’, selling is often considered to be nothing more than a stop-gap vocation for people who happen to… Read More ›

A Message From M2

From 1996 – when, following the collapse of his beloved, aquaCORP Magazine, Michael turned his back on the diving industry – until his eventual return at the OZTeK2011 event, Michael Menduno and I remained firm friends maintaining regular communications with… Read More ›