Beneath the Surface: My Life in Scuba Diving

For more than two decades I’ve chased rusted hulls, airplane skeletons, and the quiet hum of deep water. Since my first try-dive in 2002 I’ve logged well over a thousand dives, and every entry still feels like page one.

The Training Trail

  • 2002 – 2005 PADI Open Water → Advanced Open Water
  • 2006 – 2019 Specialties in Deep, Wreck, Nitrox, and Dry-Suit
  • 2022 My decompression turn: PADI Tec 40 & Tec 45 (Tec 50 and Trimix are next on the slate.)

Each course unlocked a new corner of my favourite wrecks—sometimes literally an extra companionway on the Zenobia or a deeper penetration route on the Thistlegorm.

A Passport Stamped in Salt

  • Cyprus – MS Zenobia Annual pilgrimages draw me back to the 172-metre RO-RO ferry more than a hundred times, from the sun-lit starboard rail at 16 m down to the truck-stacked cargo deck at 42 m.
  • Egypt – Red Sea Repeat dives on the haunting Salem Express and the endlessly photogenic SS Thistlegorm.
  • Malta – Mediterranean Blue Gas-switch drills inside the Um El Faroud tanker and navigation practice around the Bristol Beaufighter plane wreck—a cinematic break from the usual reef-and-steel scenery.
  • Black Sea A handful of dives in brackish water that taught me humility and the value of tactile navigation.

The Toolkit

I dive a custom X-Deep wing with a steel back-plate, perfect for trim and weight distribution. Every regulator on my rig—back-gas and stage alike—is an Apeks Tec 3 work-horse that thrives in cold quarries, warm currents, and everything in between.

Lens, Light & Logbook

I’m a keen underwater photographer and videographer, forever critiquing the last frame and chasing the next. On my YouTube channel @skobzar you’ll find short edits like:

  • Diving on the Zenobia Wreck – Cyprus, May 2024
  • Night Dive on Zenobia Wreck – Cyprus, May 2024
  • Elpida Shipwreck – Cyprus, May 2024

What Keeps Me Descending

Every certification and every reel-run inside a wreck adds another question instead of an answer: How can I push a little deeper? Can I film this more cleanly? That curiosity is the real air in my tanks. Next up: Trimix training, a date with the HMHS Britannic, and a long-awaited expedition to the ghost fleet of Truk Lagoon—not to mention yet another blissful swim along Zenobia’s port side.

Until then you’ll find me on the deck, scribbling notes in a wet notebook, camera rig humming beside my twin-set, already plotting the next descent.