Freedom! That was the feeling I had in June 2020 when I left my home to go on a trip alone. Caves, abandoned mines, alpine lakes and a few wrecks were in my plan for a great adventure.
If you love scuba diving, deep dark waters, decompression procedures and mixed gas theory, you must have heard the name many times: Bret Gilliam, a revolutionary trailblazer in the dive world. Over the past few decades, he has changed the way scuba diving is practiced.
In the pre-drone days, researchers relied on their observations of the orcas when they surfaced, and this was understandably limited.
“Until now, research on killer whale social networks has relied on seeing the whales when they surface, and recording which whales are together," said lead author Michael Weiss, of the University of Exeter.
"Looking down into the water from a drone allowed us to see details such as contact between individual whales," he added.
We received hundreds of nominations and left it up to a varied panel of loyal staff to sift through the entries. All inspired, many amazed and some brought tears. What is clear is that divers are awesome, and it came as no surprise that within the international underwater community there were so many selfless, empathetic heroes.
Our panel have made the final choice for the 8th liveaboard prize, this time for a trip of a lifetime in The Maldives, Nominated by his cousin, Alex Chan, this is his story:
