Hi my name is Jay and I’m an OWSI here at Coast2Coast. 

I first got the bug for diving from my father, he would take me snorkelling off the beach in Bournemouth and we would try and touch the bottom and bring back up some sand, I think I was 6 or 7.
This was helped by a healthy appetite of Jacques Cousteau & The Man from Atlantis (Patrick Duffy).I always wanted to stay under the water for as long as I could. 

I joined the Royal Marines and had 14+ years’ service.
This was finally where I learned to dive in 1993.

I got a posting to Belize and I again joined the local dive club (BSAC) on the camp. I finally got to dive in some wonderful clear waters but still wanted to go deeper but with my qualification and the lack of instructors meant that this never happened. Until I meat a PADI Instructor he asked why I hadn't progressed my diving, so I explained that there wasn't any instructors around. He asked me if I wanted to go to see the Blue hole so I jumped at the chance and the following week I was diving the Blue Hole!

Since then I did some more courses and in 2009 I qualified as a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor. The best feeling, I can say is watching someone take that first breath underwater and realising that you can breathe and then watching their eyes widen and a big smile on their face.