There are a lot more (and much better) underwater pics on the Phi Phi page and of cavern diving in the Yuacatan here.

A lot of people from my generation seem to have got an interest in scuba from the TV shows of Jacques Costeau, but I think my interest came earlier from watching Marine Boy, a cartoon no one else seems to remember. I'm still waiting for the development of Oxygum and rocket boots!

I learnt to dive with Sea Saba on the island of Saba in the Dutch Antilles. The island is an extinct volcano and still has some volcanic activity (or maybe that means it's dormant), it's a nice feeling to be sat on the seabed in warm water and have the sand below you even warmer!

The island is the highest place in the whole of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (not difficult you might think), and if you climb all 872m to the top you can get a certificate from the tourist office.

It's a pity I didn't get any pictures from Saba, because it was incredible. The next times I went diving were in Gozo and in Taormina, Sicily. These photos are from Sicily. They're not that good but that's all I got out of my first attempt. I used a Vivitar CruiseCam which was remarkably cheap for a non-disposable UW camera and was OK down to about 30m. In Thailand I used a Minolta Dimage Xg, and in Mexico a Canon A610.

I didn't see much marine life in Sicily, just a few small octopuses, moray eels and the smallest lobster I've ever seen (I thought it was a shrimp). I suppose everything else had been eaten.

In Belgium I trained with Poseidon Dive Club in Leuven, and sometimes went diving at Opprebais. It might just be a flooded quarry, but I've seen bigger fish, and more of them there than in the mediterranean.

Now I am a member of North London Scuba, which also has an alternative site, we organise trips most weekends during the season. Usually to the South coast (Portland and Swanage), but also to other sites in the UK. The club also organises two or three overseas trips a year in conjuncion with Dive Force.

In 2004 we went to Thailand, and dived around Phi Phi Island. I managed to get some better pics, they're up here.

In 2006 we went to Mexico and dived some of the Cenotes around Tulum - not many fish but the Caves were something else!