The gentleman to the left is Lee Cunningham who held the record for the deepest week dive on the MV Yolana at 205 meters of sea water, so if anyone was going to get anyone to teach you to tech dive this has to be a good place to start.

I remember him saying on day one - your gas (you have mixed gases in tech diving) is your gas - my gas is my gas, I will help you but you can’t have my gas. very different to PADI buddy system.

On one dive we jumped before the main group and at 30 meters I gave the signal to switch gas as we had planed from travel gas to bottom phase gas (different mixes) but instead of gas - all I got was sea water, I was puking up and trying to take out my DV so I didn’t fill it will food waste, switch back gases and then take in air. We took the DV apart and found the diaphragm had buckled - straightened out we continued the dive - I thought I had done pretty well - not to panic and to stay calm. Lee went through the debrief we did after every dive starting with we jumped at 0 nine fifty hours did surface drills and descended as per depth plan at the correct meters per minuet, and at 30 meters during the switch gas phase we ran into a problem which we sorted out, however you broke depth by 5 meters - I nearly bloody drowned! For Lee control was everything, I was happy just to still be here.

We were drilled and redrilled, blind fold masks along lines at depth with no dive gear to find a dive set, rescue from the bottom, deploying SMB’s, calculating pile stops, marking up side slates, depth timers, everything redundant and backed up minimising the chance of something going wrong and then being able to do something about it if it did. We dived through cracks in the ocean floor at 45m and a vast subterranean caves bellow, cruised around on DPV’s (diver propelled vehicles) and dived iconic wrecks such as the Thistlegorm.

We learned to dive in 1984 BSAC 3rd class as it was back then, and one of our favourite things to see in UK waters has to be the cuttlefish with its zebra stripe and red pulses. Some of our favourite shore dives are in Egypt too such as the chimney straight off the shore and out at bottom at 30 meters round to the blue hole at Dahab.

One day we will tell the “conspiracy” story of the Thistlegorm - the emptied hold, The British Government and Jacques-Yves Cousteau role in it all.

This is the team - we learned to ski with, and what fun it was too. Over the years we have had many ski lessons and each country has different technique and style - for the French its was use the edges - For the Italians it was Tak-Tak Stand up be brave - for the Austrians it was speed is everything. if you crashed it was not enough speed or too much speed, so there you have it skiing is easy - Stand up be brave, use the edges and the right speed at the right time - easy uh!

In Austria I would always be given”children” to take up in the chair lifts - probably as by this time I was skiing solo, and you just had to Shepard them off the other end - most of the could ski better then me. One particular time I was given a child and I lowered the bar for them to hang onto - I turned to do something with my ski and they had disappeared! I looked down and he was hanging by his hood from the footrest by this time we were 3 or 5 meters up. I leaned down and grabbed him just as the lift juddered to a halt. A crowd of lift employees and onlookers gathered below and the guested for me to lower him down, he was a big lad for his age. Using all my strength one handedly whilst hanging onto the lift with other one and afraid I was going to fall out too I managed to lift him off the peg and then lowered him as far as I could and then with cries below of drop him down to us - I did just that - not that I had much say in the matter - they could him and none the worse for his adventure he skiing off back into the que.

Later on I really got into snow blading - essentially short skies and with fold away poles for the steeper stuff so I could mark the turns, I could get down anything skiing many of the black runs at Couchaval and le Thorens, but best of all I liked it without ski poles - it was a real sense of freedom. One of my outstanding memories is being first up the lift at Bride de Bains on powder snow with deep purple Hi way star on my headphones carving my way down - a heady mixture.

Other outstanding skiing moments were completing the Sella Ronda on the Dolomites an outstanding day of good skiing and stunning scenery, which unfortunately ended in tears and a broken rib for me after I fell on my ski pole after we had finished it.

These are the jumper sellers on the lane near Toompea Hill in Tallin Estonia - it was very much a country in transformation when we first went there, with Soviet buildings starting to be demolished and Estonian culture and style being plugged back in. Even then you could see it was a culture all of its own and the wealth and fashion that was there and waiting to emerge like a beautiful butterfly - the rebirth of a nation. Fantastic restaurants and history that stretched back over hundreds if not thousands of years awaits you.

Toompea castle is a medieval castle on Toompea hill in the central part of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia and it around here that many of the shops and restaurants are situated. We went to one called the Peppersack, which was fun. Based in a 15th century merchants house, and a very wealthy one too based on the size of it; touristy - yes - fun yes - food good what more do you want?

We came back to Estonia 20 years later and the transformation was complete, but it had lost a little bit of its charm in doing so, and the prices of everything had shot through the roof, and if anything it had all become a little too clean cut. I guess that’s why we rarely go beck, but I am glad on this occasion we did.

In addition to the capital we also took a tour out to rest of the country with Explore one of the UK based travel adventure companies.. We visited amongst other places Saaremaa and Mutu Islands with marsh beds wildlife galore including Honey Buzzards - with tiny heads and big bodies! Windmills and strong cloudy ales which tasted lovey - but packed a punch! Great time to have a tour guide taxi.

Tartu the university city is a great place to parade around in and enjoy the atmosphere. There is even the quirky area called the soup kitchen with each street named after a soup ingredient - Potato Street - meet Bean Street.

One if the most noticeable changes in our twenty odd year absence has the emergence of a confident - colourful and determined nation - long may it reign.

Sri Lanka - has some of the finest temples you will see anywhere, and some of the most stunning scenery.

Who cannot fail to be impressed with Dambulla caves and the life of Gautama Buddha.

Sri Lanka has has a troubled recent history and our heart goes out to all peoples who have suffered from it. We hope that in winning a war they haven’t lost a nation? I am sure that they will bounce back and take inspiration from a country like Estonia whom we have watched emerging from the past as a stronger and even more vibrant nation ready to take on new challenges, and once again embrace cultural diversity.

One thing I really noticed on our visit to Polonnaruwa temple apart from the floor burning your feet, (from the hot sun) is the Khmer Cambodian influence and similarities between this and Thailand Buddhist sites.. By seeing things in person you start to see and feel so much more, that by just reading about it, or looking at pictures. It was already a world Heritage site by the time we visited and it really is worthy of that title.

Another must do is Singra Rock a hilltop fortress with rickety steps and “killer” bees but worth a climb to the top for the view alone.

Whilst all this is impressive the stars of the show are the elephants and watching them bathe and have fun the river was worth the journey alone, they are such majestic creatures, let’s hope we can continue to make room for them in our world.

At the elephant house I remember one baby elephant breaking into the milk store and stealing milk only to be chased away by the keeper with broom, it was squealing with delight, and it was obviously a game they played before!

The last word goes to the tiny nation of the Maldives - go there whilst you still can - it is an amazing place, but don’t leave it too long - time and tide wait for no one.