The Scuba GOAT Podcast

Jolyon Collier, the visionary behind Counting Coral, has forged a unique path that intertwines conservation, art, and business acumen. As the founder of this groundbreaking not-for-profit organization, Jolyon is on a mission to bridge the gap between various stakeholders including conservationists, artists, corporations, tourists, and local communities, all united in the cause of preserving our pr...

Michael Menduno has been diving and reporting on technical diving since 1990 when he founded the AquaCORPS magazine and its sister publication Technical Diver. A reporter, technologist and member of the Board of Directors for the historical diver's society, Michael is the editor-in-chief of Global Underwater Explorers online magazine InDEPTH. He is also a contributing editor for Dan Europe&ap...

"Not all heroes wear capes." This is so true... they sometimes wear fins too! Lyndi Leggett wears fins, and to many she is an absolute superhero.  A few years ago, sick of the corporate world Lyndi was trawling through social media and came across an article about David J Lawrence Sr and his son, Scuba Junior.  Following surgery, David Jr was rendered disabled, paralyzed from the neck do...

Lady Elliot Island is a destination that epitomises eco-centric tourism.  It is a true reflection of the dedication, hard work, focus and drive afforded to her by so many people over the years, past and present, and none more so than the island's current custodian, Peter Gash. I am elated to host Peter on the show and discuss not only his success in realising his dreams so far but also the is...

Nays Baghai is a young and impressive director with an exceptionally keen and creative eye.  His feature film debut, Descent , won the Best Australian Documentary award at the Oscar-qualifying Sydney Film Festival and has gone on to be available on Amazon Prime ANZ. Having been screened at numerous other film festivals such as, the International Film Festival, Hot Docs and Raindance, Nays’ is taki...

Stephen Fordyce is sometimes described as a mad professor and I can't help thinking that there is some truth in that.  When it comes to listening to his explorations deep beneath the surface of the earth and then beneath the surface of the water therein.  Scuba diving is a relatively niche sport, and within it there are many more niche areas and I think Stephen has found the pinnacle of niche...

OZTek Advanced Diving Conference & OZDive Expo is a major international event that, since its inception in 1999, has done more to highlight the adventure and excitement inherent in diving than any other show. The show continues to play a key role in creating broad awareness of new techniques and technologies which transform and push back the boundaries of underwater knowledge. Produced by dive...

Gareth Lock and Mike Mason return to the Scuba GOAT podcast to discuss the latest in human factors in diving. Gareth invited me to complete the "Essentials of Human Factors in Diving" remote training package, followed by a 2-day face-to-face course at Dive Centre Bondi. This course explores Human Factors' significance in the dive industry and its role in improving safety and day-to-...

Dr Leonardo Guida, shark scientist and shark conservation lead at the Australian Marine Conservation Society joins us in this episode to talk through a variety of topics ranging from personal experiences swimming and diving with our apex predators to the conservation efforts currently in place throughout Australia and across the globe. Leo is actively involved in many projects including the "...

Comedy alert! We managed to coax Don Silcock back into the studio by waving a beer under his nose and as a bonus for the show his dive buddy of 20 years came along too... The sensible text and a REAL intro to Jayne Jenkins Jayne learnt to dive in the chilly waters along the rugged Welsh coastline before moving to Australia in 1973. She is actively involved in many facets of the diving industry and...

Scuba IQ operates from Port Douglas, (north of Cairns) Queensland, Australia.  Clearly, Port Douglas is a perfect destination to get out and explore the Great Barrier Reef and that's exactly what Scuba IQ do. Originally from New Zealand, Martin Connolly spent a few years in the navy and then saw the light, jumped into a wetsuit and spent the next 20 years as a multi-agency dive instructor wor...

Steve Crosby walks us through his journey to become a dive pro and what it has taken to stay connected to the dive industry particularly during the pandemic years. Many people have asked me how to get into and become successful in the dive industry.  Hard work and determination... Be like Steve.   He is a shining example of how to progress and focus on the goals one at a time without taking your e...

Dr Jen Matthews has pioneered the application of metabolomics to unravel the metabolic interactions underpinning coral health and resilience to environmental change. Increasing environmental pressures, such as increased sea temperatures, are causing the catastrophic loss of coral cover around the globe, including the largest coral reef ecosystem in the world: the Great Barrier Reef. So, it’s unsur...

Kate Parker is a full-time paediatric Speech Pathologist but in her spare time has been a volunteer with Sea Shepherd since 2015, originally taking on a role as an onshore volunteer helping to raise funds through selling merchandise at events and sharing the work of the organisation through outreach and education. She then progressed to offshore crewing and has been on 7 campaigns with Sea Shepher...

With over 20 years as a fighter pilot under his belt, Mike Mason currently teaches pilots of the Australian Air Force how to hone their skills and use the aircraft they are flying as a weapons platform.  Human Factors is used on a daily basis to achieve the goals these men strive for, so its fair to say that Human Factors is pretty much second nature to Mike.  Armed with this and Gareth Lock intro...

What a great way to round out Season 2 of the show - Expanding on our look at the Technical side of recreational diving, I'm joined by Ryan Duchatel, JJ CCR Trimix Instructor, cave diver and co-owner of Total Immersion Diving based in Newcastle , Australia. I've found many recreational divers are curious about the tech divers out there and the complex equipment they use.  It seems to be...

Graham Willis is a professional dive Instructor operating out of Frog Dive, Sydney, Australia.  Having lived in Sydney for over 30 years it's a fair assumption that Graham knows a lot of the dives sites pretty well and during a chance meeting via mutual friends Graham began chatting with a chap about writing books, namely dive books; Johan Boshoff has the experience of creating publications a...

Jeffrey is a dive industry titan specialising in all areas of technical, cave and rebreather diving. He’s logged more than 20 years experience at the pointy end of diver and instructor development, and is also the owner of GoPro Asia and Bans Technical Diving, based on Koh Tao, Thailand.  His qualifications include multi-agency accreditations, such as a PADI Course Director and Technical Instructo...

Rebecca Griffiths first grabbed my attention via Instagram.  Her account displays some beautiful photographs which I recognised instantly as having had minimal post-shot editing (quite a rare commodity these days).  I continued to follow for a while and found that she was not only a photographer but a diver, free-diver and conservationist too.    As a youngster, Rebecca developed a life-long love...

The second part of our mini-series with Deb and I talking through more destinations that every diver should have on their bucket list and highlight some of the up to date travel requirements for the destinations mentioned. See chapter markers for locations discussed and S02 E12 for the first part of this series. Deborah Dickson-Smith, is a writer, editor and publisher who has built a career in the...

As the world starts to open up,  I reckon it is time to take a look and remind ourselves as to what is on offer. Joining me today is Deborah Dickson-Smith, a writer, editor and publisher who has built a career in the travel media industry.  She has managed to travel (and dive) through most of the South Pacific and Southeast Asia.  Deb now uses these experiences to design tailor- made dive holiday...

Earlier this year Norwegian born Samuel Rostøl decided to leave mainstream employment as a nurse so that he could focus all of his available time on supporting animal activism.   Soon thereafter, Samuel was invited to join Sea Shepherd in the Faroe Islands as they documented the annual Grindadrop or Pilot Whale hunts.  His footage has shone an even brighter light on the islands and albeit he casts...

Marcel Van Den Berg is a PADI Platinum Course Director, super passionate about professional training and eager to help anyone wishing to become a dive pro.  During this episode, I have a catch up to see how he is supplementing his income during the pandemic, what he is doing regarding pro training and how he is preparing for the borders to allow travel once more. Marcel's passion for training...

An absolutely mind-blowing highlight of my Scuba GOAT journey to date is the 2hrs I recently spent with Dr Sylvia A. Earle on the show.  I’m sure this guest needs little by way of introduction; though her credentials, experience, passion and dedication to our oceans is awe-inspiring and incredible to witness. Sylvia is without a doubt one of my lifelong heroes, and when her office contacted me to...

I catch up with two of my dive buddies whilst we are stuck in lockdown.  Lissa Rebec is Sea Shepherd's co-ordinator in Sydney, Australia and Don, the Senior Travel Editor for Scuba Dive magazine.  We discuss a few topics that have caught our attention recently and also highlight a number of excellent people working hard to educate the world on how we should be protecting our blue world.    Do...