Welcome
If the post is on track , this magazine should be reaching you about halfway through December , so we ’ re looking back on another year of diving as well as laying plans for 2025 . I tend not to go too big on Christmas in SCUBA , because of the media saturation it receives elsewhere . But as a concession to our designer Paul Hanson I will allow this page to go ‘ Full Yule ’. Go on Paul , tinsel me silly .
In these pages , you ’ ll find features on seagrass monitoring in the Isles of Scilly ; the challenges of a young mum ’ s return to club life ; a report on the March for Clean Water ; the story of a daring double exped to the Faroe Islands , plus Travel Special , the latest book reviews and all the insights from our team of regular writers .
Looking to the future , I wanted to ask for your help with an upcoming column we ’ re introducing next year . Cast your mind back to October ’ s BSAC Diving Conference and two of the stars , National Diving Officer , Sophie Rennie and Head of Diving and Training , Sophie Heptonstall . They had a great double act going during their section , and we want to bring that energy to these pages .
So hopefully in the next issue we will bring you Two Sophies , or Sophie & Sophie , or Sophie ²... we ’ re still kicking around a few ideas . The point is , they are our leading instructors and therefore full of well-earned diving and training experience , which they are naturally eager to share . This is where all readers of SCUBA enter the equation . We ’ d like you to suggest some questions that we can put to the Sophies , something they can sink their teeth into .
It could be something fun , something important ... the point is it should present a theme worthy of exploration . And where better place to generate the questions than BSAC ’ s membership ? Please feel free to email me some questions and we ’ ll hopefully build up a good stack for upcoming issues in 2025 .
For now , it only remains for me to wish you all a merry Christmas and safe diving for 2025 . The next issue will land in mid-February – see you then .
Simon Rogerson – Editor simon @ scubamagazine . co . uk
Cover photo : Coral reef in Belize , by Scott Johnson / Belize Aggressor IV
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