Simon Campbell

Posted at 2048 hours on 03/06/08 | Posted in Life, Diving, My 100 best things

A virgin dive site

There is nothing quite like ‘boldly going where no man has gone before’. Ignoring Start Trek for a moment, people have been doing it for centuries: sailing, climbing, caving, flying and space travel. What gets me off is knowing that you are the first human being to see a new part of the underwater world.

In January this year I was privileged to be in the team diving the almost un-dived Falkland islands. One of the most memorable days of my life was diving on a rock pinnacle, around 10m under the surface of the South Atlantic at the northern head of the Falklands Sound. With the RIB moored the the ubiquitous kelp, we waited for the tide to subside and slack water to begin… During the expedition the team agreed to limit depth to 30m due to the remote location: no chambers, VHF or rescue services available!!

I entered the water with buddy Mike Holroyd and descended into the magnificent garden. The pinnacle was swept by the significant tidal streams and had a sheer wall down to 70m on the Northwest side. You couldn’t put you finger anywhere on the rock without committing genocide on the vast variety of underwater flora/fauna.

I knew we were the first people to ever dive this site; I could feel it. Hardly surprising as it took a gargantuan effort to get out there. The 40 minute dive time flew by and it seemed like we were underwater for just two minutes; it was a tight slack window and the next pair were ready to rock.

In the words of the current Governor of California, ‘I’ll be back’…

More of my Falklands experiences can be found here. What’s in your top 100?

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