Welcome
The 2026 diving season will be well and truly at its peak by the the time this issue hits your doorsteps. How is everyone? All good, I hope, and enjoying a summer of great diving. This seems a fitting time to remind you to keep in touch – I want to feature more stories of expeditions and club diving with a purpose. If you have a project that falls under either category, please get in touch on my usual email and I can send you a brief for how we can cover your endeavours in these pages.
Similarly, we also have space for accounts of your club trips abroad. We have an array of options open to members who want to share their intel from a wellplanned adventure overseas. I always recommend you make contact with me before you start writing – we can approach these accounts as a brief vignette, a mini-feature or a longform treatment such as this issue’ s Travel Special on the Pacific Northwest, by Sarah Chan and Rohan Holt( page 57).
The point is, make contact with me first, then we can together decide how best to approach your story. There are various factors at play, not least the volume of submissions I tend to receive from popular destinations such as Malta and the Red Sea. Initially, I’ d love to hear from clubs organising trips to less familiar destinations.
You’ ll find some excellent stories in this issue from all the SCUBA writers, but I recommend a read of Nick Schiller’ s cautionary account of a RIB incident that left him seriously injured( page 43). It’ s a detailed story, and you’ ll have to read it carefully to unpick the circumstances that led to the incident. There are some important lessons and I thank Nick for taking the time to help me fine-tune his story.
Finally, we have a tribute to the late Doug Allan, who died in April. Doug was of course a great cameraman and diver, but even beyond that he was a standard-bearer who helped millions achieve a better understanding of the marine world. His contribution to our world is immeasurable, and this issue of SCUBA is dedicated to his memory.
Simon Rogerson – Editor simon @ scubamagazine. co. uk
Cover photo: Mossyhead warbonnet in an old bottle, Pacific Northwest, by Alex Mustard
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