Are you a Scuba Diver - Fancy a brew?

This is the final episode of Season 3 and I talk to my mate Angus Hosking. He's a lovely bloke and fellow ginger-haired outdoorsman, who loves to Free Dive around the Lake District and collect discarded or lost items in and around the waterline. We chat about the types of items he's found from iPhones to engagement rings, organised cleanup problems, talking at Kendal mountain festival and how to practice breath-holding safely to be able to free dive. To find out some more about Angus here...

In the penultimate episode of this season, I chat to AJ Powell. Based in Japan, he's a retired United States Army Non-Commissioned Officer who served in both the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army, and he is a world-travelled American combat veteran. He is a fully qualified aircraft mechanic and technician, flight engineer, instructor, and pilot. He is also a professional/occupational scuba diver, exploration diver, technical diver, and certified dive instructor. AJ is an author, published...

This week I welcome back Rosie Bancroft, she had to come back on and tell me about the most amazing year in Bali. After seeing all her amazing adventures spent in paradise, I couldn't wait to find out all the details. She had an amazing year and tells me about the do's and don'ts and how she managed to make it pay. She also got asked to become an ambassador for the "Girls that Scuba' community. Give it a listen to find out how you could have a similar experience. Rosie graduated from the...

This week I chat with Laney Grant, a newly qualified GUE Fundamentals Diver and Ghost Fishing UK's Fundraising Officer. We initially met when she ordered one of the Fancy a Brew podcast mugs after listening to the episode with @RichWalker. She talks openly about how completing the Global Underwater Explorers' Fundamentals course, gave her the confidence to be in the water more than she had before. After asking her previous instructors how to remain stable and neutral and their only...

This week I chat with Jessica Irwin, a military mom, a maritime archaeologist, an environmentalist and explorer. She loves to explore ideas, places, and new ways of doing things. She says "I am an archaeologist but that doesn't mean I just dig in the dirt. I also dive under the water, visit archives, and write. I look at cultural material to learn about the past." She loves maps and making maps. "Honestly maps are what brought me to archaeology and love for history. I have worked doing GIS...

This week I chat with my Dougie, he joined the Royal Navy in 1982, originally as an electronics apprentice, he then went on to complete the Ship’s Diver course. A four-week course training selected ship's company in self-contained air diving to 30m and to complete ship’s bottom searches to locate IEDs and to complete some basic underwater engineering tasks. In the summer of 1991, Dougie attended SBS selection at RM Poole. Unfortunately, he was RTU’d just prior to the jungle phase due to...

This week I chat with my Swedish JJCCR friend Sara Banderby. You might remember her from Season 2 when she talked about mine diving with the JJ-CCR. In this episode, she talks about having a CO2 Breakthrough and how it affected her. Diving in colder waters might seem intimidating or a hassle, but under the surface, a different underwater world waits for those who take the step. Ice diving, well-preserved wrecks, mines and amazing sea life. Sara has been diving since 2009, but she didn’t...

This week I chat with Bob Anderson, who came North to Orkney in 1993, attracted by the allure of Scapa Flow. He worked as a commercial diver for four years before becoming a dive boat skipper in 1998. After three years on other boats, he finally took the plunge in November 2001 and bought the Halton. “I try to explore as much of the underwater world as I can and dive the places the boat visits myself too.” Bob is a diver too so hopefully can give a fairly accurate impression of what you...

This week I chat with Jo Morley my ocean conservation friend. We met aboard the Pelican of London, a tall ship we sailed around the outlying islands of Northern Scotland as part of the Darwin 200 expedition in the summer of 2021. For over a decade, she's been working at the forefront of the marketing and communications industry specialising in consumer awareness and behavioural change campaigns for the sustainability and environmental sector. She has been responsible for the planning and...

This week I chat to Leon Gabbidon, my stunt man friend who I met on the set of ITV's Emmerdale in 2021. A hugely enthusiastic and motivational speaker, Leon laughs and smiles throughout our chat where he talks about his stunt career, diving sidemount and 2 near drownings! Leon is a stunt performer at The British Stunt Register he studied at Leeds Metropolitan University graduating in 2010 He now lives in London, the United Kingdom originating from Birmingham. To find out some more about...

Working as an HSE Part 4 Professional SCUBA Diver I have been immensely lucky to work at sea as a gas blender and underwater videographer, for the BBC as a Dive Supervisor, ITV and SKY as in water safety diver. I've made so many friends and contacts along the way leading me to start training for the British Stunt Register (BSR). Welcome to the build-up to the 3rd season of the fancy a brew podcast. A trailer to show what I've been up to for the last 12 months and what led me to invite the...

Not wanting to take away anything from any other guest - But this has to be my best episode yet! Chris Lemons the star of the Netflix film 'Last Breath' Chris reveals loads of details about how the film came about, how it was made, what happened before, during and after the incident. He also tells about the impact it has had on himself his family and his colleagues. The documentary uses genuine footage and audio recorded at the time of the accident on the divers' radios and body cameras,...

In this episode I share a brew with Tony Seddon. What a lovely guy he was to have a chat with. Thanks for the recommendation from previous guest Craig Eley. We chat about the Cave Diving Group (CDG) what it takes to be a robust sump diver or caver that dives and his business Starless River. Sole UK importers for some European brands such as MTDE. The Starless River traveling shop visits the main caving areas of the UK and Ireland – we post our whereabouts every weekend here on the front...

Wreck and Cave was started in 2005 by Rich Walker, he is a full-time instructor with Global Underwater Explorers. Before that he was a scientist studying how blood flows around the body. Rich’s knowledge of physiology and physics gives him a unique position as a diving instructor. https://www.wreckandcave.co.uk/ Rich has been diving since 1991. He is a wreck diver and spends most of his spare time diving the wrecks around the UK. More recently he has become fascinated by the wartime wrecks...

Expedition – Western Ecology Tour The UK’s marine environments are under more pressure than ever before. From the visible plastic pollution littering our beaches down to the invisible damage done by discarded fishing gear and intensive or sometimes illegal fishing practices that damage the sea bed. We need a better understanding and awareness of the issues and actions to protect the seas we all love and depend on. I’ve assembled an expert group of divers and marine biologists for an...

In this week's episode, I chat with my friend Caroline Robertson-Brown from Frogfish Photography. She's the deputy editor of Scubaverse, and author of 4 diving books, an ambassador for Mares and diving in the Bahamas as well as an educator in the community about sharks and plastic waste. 🔴 Her Bio: Caroline (along with Husband Nick) runs Frogfish Photography, an underwater photography company based in Manchester that offers equipment sales, tuition, talks, and image sales. She is a...

Talking to Julie Hartup about growing up in a conservative Mormon family in Utah, before ditching everything for a life in Guam studying the Mantas of Micronesia and working on Episode 4 of the BBC's Perfect Planet series. Julie obtained her degree in Zoology from Brigham Young University and was a research diver and teaching assistant for their marine biology program held at Hopkins Marine Station in Monterey California. She completed several internships at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in...

Talking to Mick Stewart, a multi-agency recreational and military commercial diver who works alongside less abled divers to allow them to have just as great a time in the water as anyone! 🔴 His Bio: Mick has been a military and recreational diver for the past 25 years. Starting his diving career as an Army diver with the Royal Engineers, he quickly took up recreational diving as a hobby to give himself the most opportunities to get in the water in both areas! As a recreational diver, he...

Talking to Fiona Crouch from Natural England she talks about her life of working in Marine Conservation from New Zealand to Plymouth. She also discusses the projects of reseeding the SeaGrass beds around the UK which sheads light onto compliments our Expedition Wester Ecology Tour coming up in June. 🔴 Her Bio: Fiona has worked in marine conservation, education and outreach for over 25 years after being inspired to protect the ocean whilst volunteering at the University of Auckland’s Marine...

Talking to Kristen Fassolas aka the Scuba Fitness Coach about the pitfalls of fitness training, how to motivate yourself to start and ways to improve your fitness to dive. 🔴 Her Bio: Kristen is a Master Scuba Diver and a qualified Personal Trainer, working in the fitness industry for eight years. She started scuba diving in 2006 in preparation for a year travelling around the world so she could explore as much as possible and over the years she has experienced diving in warm, tropical,...