SCUBAHUB
John Adams’ sweet 60 years of diving
BSAC VETERAN JOHN ADAMS HAS celebrated 60 years in diving with a certificate awarded by TV presenter Paul Rose.
The presentation was organised by John’ s club, Kendal & Lakes SAC. Speaking after the event, John, who joined BSAC in 1965, looked back on his six decades as a BSAC diver.
“ My proudest BSAC moments are receiving my First Class Diver certificate from Lizzie Bird, becoming an AMG CCR Instructor Trainer with Mike Rowley and heading up the Advanced Wreck Diver Course,” John reflected.“ But, I have to say receiving the 60 years certificate from Paul Rose was pretty special too!”
John took up scuba aged 18 after being inspired by the1960s TV series, Sea Hunt. Having originally learnt to dive with Divers Down in Swanage, he was posted abroad with the army, before returning to the UK – and BSAC- in the late 60s.
Since then, John has become a well-known face across BSAC’ s diver and instructor training scene and has been involved in many of its training developments over the years, including BSAC’ s pilot CCR course and teaching on
the club’ s first Technical Instructor Training Course. John has also served time on the National Diving Committee’ s technical group and, in 2003 re-established BSAC Centre of Excellence, Seaways Diving Centre in Cornwall with his friend and owner, Colin Fairhurst.
BSAC CEO Mary Tetley congratulated John on his remarkable 60 years in scuba.
“ John has been a constant on the BSAC diving scene and has played a significant part in the diving experience of so many other divers. I’ d like to thank him for his contribution to the club over so many years.”
A member of 16 BSAC clubs during his 60 years as a diver, John currently dives with Lunesdale SAC and Kendal & Lakes SAC. He continues to teach, running Advanced Diver courses for the North West region since moving to the Lake District four years ago.
Gary Davis, Diving Officer of Kendal & Lakes SAC, said John’ s wealth of diving experience continues to benefit BSAC clubs and divers alike.
“ Whatever our club is doing- diving, training, try dives, socials events, fundraising, equipment maintenance / servicing- John is sure to be involved. His enthusiasm and drive is almost boundless and I actually wish we could bottle and sell it!”
John credits BSAC for giving him the opportunity to meet and keep learning from some of the world’ s top diving experts. But when it comes to how many dives he has done over the past 60 years, he admits he has lost track.
“ I was up to around 2,300 dives but around 35 years ago during a house move, I lost all my hand written logbooks! I was so disappointed I didn’ t log any dives for around another 10 years so the final figure I don’ t know. This year, I will probably be down to about 50 dives as I’ m getting far choosier as I get older!”
Get the plan, plan the year
THE BSAC YEAR PLANNER IS NOW available for 2026, enabling members and clubs to organise trips for the year ahead.
In a change to previous years, the planner can now be downloaded from the‘ Resources’ area of the new MyBSAC member platform.
As well as space to add notes, the planner shows spring and neap tide information throughout 2026. The PDF can be printed off in either A4 or A3, perfect for the dive club noticeboard. The planner also comes in larger sizes – A2 and A1 – which can be sent to your local printers or copy shop if you need a large size.
Also available is a shared‘ subscription’ calendar featuring all spring and neap tides, which is provided for smartphones, iPads and shared calendars on desktop computers. Subscribing to this calendar called‘ BSAC year planner’ will place spring and neap tide information directly into the calendar on your device.
To download the Year Planner 2026 in a selection of print formats visit bsac. com / yearplanner or to subscribe to the digital format, go to bsac. com / yearplannerdigital
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