Boat diving in the early 1960s
Jim with his friend Ted Derrick ( right ) and wife-tobe Marisa
The charm of travel
Jim ’ s first overseas diving trip took him to the South of France , close to Toulon , the birthplace of scuba diving , with three fellow London members . “ I recall having to prove we could dive by sitting in the swimming pool for five minutes and letting the French instructors slightly flood our masks . We looked at each other and shrugged – was that it ?”
He met his wife-to-be , Marisa , while on a trip to the Italian island of Giglio , where Reg Vallintine was managing a centre . He and a friend had ordained it to be a fun trip , just a spot of diving , but one day while walking along the pier he heard a distinctive laugh ; it was Marisa .
They dived together , but by then Jim was experienced and looking for deeper dives . Those early divers sometimes adopted a ‘ flexible ’ approach to the buddy system .
At this point Marisa joins the conversation : “ Jim was ridiculously good and I was just a beginner , so he would say to me ‘ You wait here ’ because he would go deep . Well , I ’ ve never waited for any man , on land or in the water . So , I went off and he came up and he wasn ’ t very pleased ... but he shouldn ’ t have left me , for goodness ’ sake !”
Back in the UK , Jim ’ s experience led to occasional involvement with search and recovery operations for the police , in the days before dedicated underwater units . “ The diving itself wasn ’ t difficult , but it was a question of self-control ,” Jim says . “ You
are fighting yourself , swimming around with your hands in front of you , or on the bottom of the ground . And then you touch the body and just freeze for five seconds , then you had to see if the body could be moved .” It was a far cry from underwater grottoes in the Med , but Jim would find beauty everywhere ; he says he was neither a purist wreck diver , nor a natural history diver , but someone who enjoyed all facets of the diving experience .
“ Depth isn ’ t important ,” he says . “ It ’ s what you see . The most interesting dive I ever had was in Jersey , and all I had on was a mask and snorkel . I entered a large rock pool and waited 10 minutes then all the shells opened and the fish emerged from cover and started to swim around .”
About to enter the water ; fellow member Pat Craddock is shore cover
At an early BSAC function ; Jim is on the far right
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