Scuba Diving — Underwater Adventures
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Lloyd (right) &
Partner with Jellyfish,
Anzac Day 2006, Blairgowrie Pier.
Photo: David Bryant, SeaPics. |
For Xmas 2004, my then partner, an experienced scuba diver,
gave me a trial dive with Dive Perfect in Hastings.
For Xmas 2005, she gave me a mask, fins and snorkel. And on Boxing Day,
she asked, "Do you want to go snorkeling?"
It eventually dawned on me that maybe, just maybe, she wanted me
to join her under the water. (I'm a bloke. It takes us a while to
pickup on these things!)
Finally getting the hint, in January 2006, I booked in to do
the PADI
Open Water course with Dive Perfect. And so, in
early February 2006, I began to learn about scuba diving.
In typical fashion, I decided to document here my scuba diving
equipment, experiences and underwater adventures.
Scuba Diving Logbook
You can also read how phpDivingLog
is being used to make my Diving Log 6.0 based diving
logbook available online for you to browse.
Scuba Diving Resources
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Lloyd doing deco above the USS Arkansas at Bikini Atoll
Photo: Bill Jakab.
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Since I took up diving in 2006, I've been trying to put together a collection of helpful resources for use
in recreational and technical diving.
Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for the accuracy of the
calculations and data below. Always verify against other sources.
Scuba Diving and Snorkelling Sites
I've also been trying to document the shore and boat diving and
snorkelling sites of Victoria. It's become my hobby, that I spend way
too much time on, but I've always looked on it as a community service.
Scuba Diving Community
Victorian Sub-Aqua Group
Mid 2006, I became aware of independent, non-profit, private diving clubs
when I was approached by the Victorian Sub-Aqua Group (VSAG), the world's
second oldest non-commercial scuba diving club.
I joined VSAG and built a new website for the club, www.vsag.org.au.
Victorian Artificial Reef Society
Some of the VSAG members are also heavily involved as volunteers
with the Victorian Artificial Reef Society (VARS) and I also
joined that organisation. VARS is the Victorian dive
community group behind the push to secure, prepare, sink and
dive the ex HMAS Canberra as an artificial reef dive site
for Victoria. Again, I ended up building a website for
VARS, and for the ex HMAS Canberra.
Bass Strait Aquatic Club
In April 2007, I also joined the UK British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC),
see www.bsac.com. I intended to join the Melbourne BSAC
branch and attended a few of their meetings.
I was then approached to assist in forming a new BSAC
branch based on the Mornington Peninsula. Thus the Bass Strait
Aquatic Club (BSAC branch # 2396) was formed, having its
inaugural club meeting and dive day on 21 July 2007. And
of course, I built a website for the club.
I enjoyed many new and wonderful underwater adventures
with the great people I met and dived with through these
dive clubs.
Scuba Diving Businesses
In 2006, I created a website and online dive shop for The S.C.U.B.A. Doctor,
a local dive shop in Rye, Victoria. For many years I provided advice and helped
the owners grow their online business to service divers Australia wide and internationally.
In August 2013, I purchased the importation, distribution and retail businesses
enabling Peter Fear to focus on cylinder testing and dive equipment servicing and repairs.
With the help of Hannah Smeeton, we grew The Scuba Doctor Australia into Australia's
second largest online dive shop, as well as a thriving local dive shop.
In January 2022, I sold the business and retired.
Last modified: 6:59 am Thursday 25 September 2025
Local time: 4:06 am Tuesday 14 October 2025
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