Monty has become one of Britain’s most famous divers, after

leading expeditions to many of the more notable underwater

locations on the planet. The ex-Royal Marine traded uniform for wetsuit, winning the Channel 4 Superhuman competition on the way, and went on to make the Great Ocean Adventures TV series and Swimming With Giants film of global underwater animal encounters. MontyÕs presentations are full of passion and humour, and whether he’s talking about sunken cities off India

or diving with great white sharks in South Africa, you’ll be thoroughly entertained. The only thing you won’t find at a Monty presentation is an empty seat.

 

 

NORTH GALLERY 14

 

Saeed Rashid & Alex Mustard

(1.45 -3.15)

Digital Photo Clinic

With underwater photography so popular, the Digital Clinic, run this year by Saeed Rashid, is sure to be well-attended. Saeed lectures in electronic publishing at Bournemouth Media School, so he really knows his TIFFs from his RAW files. He will be offering advice on getting the best out of your underwater images once

uploaded to your computer, and is likely to invite some special guests to help out with their own areas of expertise.

Saeed also asks anyone thinking of attending to send in the odd digital photo that could do with a little tweaking! (by email as jpgs to info@focusindepth.com, or on disk to Diver, marked ‘Dive Show Photo Clinic’).

 

 

NORTH GALLERY 16 &17

 

Innes McCartney

(11.00 - 12.00)

Capturing The Komet  

Submarine diving expert Innes McCartney has prepared an

exciting new presentation about his discovery of the Nazi warship

HK Komet in the English Channel. This merchant raider caused

havoc during WW2, downing thousands of tonnes of Allied

vessels before her own sinking in October 1942. Controversy

surrounded Komet’s demise, as she exploded in a fireball that

reached 300m into the sky Ð was she struck by British torpedoes

or did shellfire ignite a fuel store? Innes and his team set about finding out by diving Komet, now in deep, dark water with treacherous currents. You’ll get the chance to see what they found, and hear about future penetrations.

 

Richie Stevenson & Carl Spencer

(12.15 - 1.15)

Carpathia Explorers

These two well-known names from the world

of deep-wreck diving expeditions bring a vast

store of experience to LIDS. They participated

in one of the most significant wreck-diving

exploits of last year, when they visited the

wreck of the Carpathia, which lies in 156m of

North Atlantic water, 225 miles west of Land’s

End. The Carpathia became famous for her

role in rescuing survivors of the Titanic in 1912, before her own downing in 1918 by a German U-boat. Expect an engrossing insight into the logistics of planning a deep-wreck venture on this scale.

 

Mark Ellyatt

(1.30 - 2.30)

Victoria and Nelson

Mark Ellyatt is an inspirational British diver, his amazing underwater feats including claiming the title of the world’s deepest diver when he reached 313m off Thailand in 2004. It’s all in his book Ocean Gladiator. Lately Mark has been diving in Lebanon, exploring the extraordinary wreck of HMS Victoria, which stands upright (yes, upright!) in 156m. Not only is the vertical warship historic, but it continues to yield secrets. The latest twist concerns boxes deep inside that may contain personal possessions of Britain’s greatest admiral. For Mark, it’s a race against time before dynamite fishing destroys Victoria.