Surface Time with Stephanie

Hello, I am Stephanie Luo. Welcome to “Surface Time : Confessions of a Diving Junkie”. I hope that the dialogues in Series 2 have given you different perspectives about “following your heart”. For me, when I listened back to each episode, I really love the excitement and passions radiating the guests as they recount their stories. And that happy vibe can be contagious. Probably enough to make you...

During the Surface Time today, I spoke with Gary Tyson, a British Army veteran turned chronic diving junkie. He called himself a hustler in life as he experiments different ways of making photos and videos. Land and underwater. And more importantly, finding ways to fund his love for travels and gadgets. When you hear him explaining why shooting a wedding is more stressful than shooting in Iraq, yo...

During the Surface Time today, I managed to Skype in with Natasha Grabner. She was my first junior scuba diver student. When I certified her, she just turned 10. 5 years on, she has had accumulated enough diving experiences than many adult divers in their life time. Like her father once described her fondly: this girl has more balls than the boys in her class. To date, my youngest guest on the sho...

During the Surface Time today, I caught up with Gary Stokes in Discovery Bay of Hong Kong. He is a veteran crew member of Sea Shepherd until they left Asia. He then founded OceansAsia to continue with the “intelligence-based” conservation work in the region. He and his team have been investigating and exposing the bad guys who have committed wildlife crimes and seeing justice done. He has given us...

During the Surface Time today, I had the joy of catching up with a dear friend, Emma Dabbadie, who has been living in Cape Town, South Africa for some time, in pursuit of her marine science research and discoveries. When we spoke, she was fresh off the scientific schooner called Tara from an expedition along the West Africa coast, as part of the Mission Microbiome, where they are uncovering the be...

During the Surface Time today, I caught up with Kay Burn Lim for some coffee while he was transiting through Singapore for a quick dip in Sipadan, Malaysia. We first met at an underwater photography competition in Timor Leste over 10 years ago. Back then he was a hobbyist photographer and clearly a talented one as he participated and won the competition. My little claim of fame is that I was his s...

Hello. I am Stephanie Luo. Welcome to Series 2 of "Surface Time : Confessions of a Diving Junkie". Series 1 was a complete whirlwind. It started with me sharing the idea of creating this passion project with a few close friends who happen to be scuba divers. Somewhat half-heartedly at the time as I was not sure how to kick things off. Then within the following weeks, I found myself connecting with...

It has been a bit of whirlwind ride to produce "Surface Time : Confessions of a Diving Junkie". In this last episode of Series 1, Stephanie is sharing her answers to questions from her guests. We hope that you have enjoyed the dialogues in Series 1. In the meantime, we would like to leave you with something to ponder, contemplate or even procrastinate on: 30-40 years from now, when you look back o...

In this follow up episode, Sharon Kwok answers the 5 insightful questions that Stephanie asks all her guests: 1) Aside your diving gears, what are the 3 items that you always take on a diving trip? 2) What are your 3 top-tip on safe-diving practice? 3) What is your greatest fear? 4) What is your greatest extravagance? 5) What do you value most in friend? Connect with Sharon W: https://www.aquameri...

I sat down with Sharon Kwok for a cuppa as she was fresh off the boat from Raja Ampat and en route back to Hong Kong. Sharon is an artist well-known in Hong Kong public broadcasting and cinematic fields. As a conservationist, she unapologetically leverages her connections with public and private sectors to support her marine and wildlife conservation works and to influence changes. Her passion and...

In this follow up episode, Magnus answers the 5 insightful questions that Stephanie asks all her guests: 1) Aside your diving gears, what are the 3 items that you always take on a diving trip? 2) What are your 3 top-tip on safe-diving practice? 3) What is your greatest fear? 4) What is your greatest extravagance? 5) What do you value most in friend? Connect with Magnus W: https://500px.com/p/wiker...

Magnus Akerblom-Wiker is passionate about creating and collecting memorable moments and convey these through his photography. At work, he leads a team of software engineers to develop solutions for many world problems. To him, the creative process that he has to go through as a software engineer is the same as when he works for his editorial photographs. You start with nothing and create something...

In this follow up episode, Margaret answers the 5 insightful questions that Stephanie asks all her guests: 1) Aside your diving gears, what are the 3 items that you always take on a diving trip? 2) What are your 3 top-tip on safe-diving practice? 3) What is your greatest fear? 4) What is your greatest extravagance? 5) What do you value most in friend? Connect with us: W: https://www.surfacetimecha...

Surface Time with my dear friend Margaret Murphy, who is a scientist, trained in zoology and toxicology and now works in the space of science policies in Washington DC, the epic centre of US politics. Although she claims to be a reluctant diver, her scientist-curiosity has always kept her entertained and fascinated by the marine diversity. I probed for her view on plastic pollution and vegetariani...

In this follow up episode, Nico answers the 5 insightful questions that Stephanie asks all her guests: 1) Aside your diving gears, what are the 3 items that you always take on a diving trip? 2) What are your 3 top-tip on safe-diving practice? 3) What is your greatest fear? 4) What is your greatest extravagance? 5) What do you value most in friend? Connect with Nico W: https://nicoderouge.com/ IG:...

Nico de Rouge, a French photographer and PADI Instructor living in Shanghai, had recently published his work on major publications like The Economist. He first caught the travel bug at the impressionable age of 19 and has since lived and travelled across North and South America, Africa and South East Asia. When we spoke, he was caught in the middle of the lockdown in Shanghai. Somehow he has manag...

In this follow up episode, Tony answers the 5 insightful questions that Stephanie asks all her guests: 1) Aside your diving gears, what are the 3 items that you always take on a diving trip? 2) What are your 3 top-tip on safe-diving practice? 3) What is your greatest fear? 4) What is your greatest extravagance? 5) What do you value most in friend? Connect with Tony W: https://www.tony-wu.com/ IG:...

Tony Wu, an award-winning wildlife photographer with a long list of accolade, has shared with us what he got up to in Japan water while the rest of the world dealt with international travel restrictions. A remarkable gentleman who wears his heart on his sleeves and is motivated by his curiosity in pursuit of new discoveries like the courtship and the spawning of cardinal fish and the importance of...

Hello, I am Stephanie Luo. Welcome to my podcast “Surface Time” (aka “Confessions of a Diving Junkie”), where I chinwag with people who are like me scuba diver and chronic addict to being underwater. I think it is a universal sentiment amongst scuba divers. “Scuba diving” is the best social icebreaker. Whether you’ve just met each other on a dive trip or at a “much-dreaded” work event. Once “...