Tower of London poppies
Blood Swept Lands
and Seas of Red
Created by ceramic artist Paul Cummins, with setting by stage designer Tom Piper, 888,246 ceramic poppies are being planted by volunteers at the Tower of London’s moat. Each poppy represents a British military fatality during the First World War.
Diver Magazine – April 2014
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything on this blog. We’ve been kind of busy since the arrival of Thomas.
My friend Steve Warren has written a very moving article in this month’s Diver Magazine about the filming trip we made a few years ago to visit the wreck of the Bowbelle in Madeira. We travelled with film maker Drew Sutton, a survivor of the Marchioness disaster keen to exorcise the demons.
Here are a few images from the expedition. All images © JP Trenque and Steve Warren.
Bali
We have just returned from a fantastic trip to Tulamben and Menjangan on the Indonesian island of Bali, staying at the Mimpi resorts.
Sulawesi images
After a break of nearly one year, I have tasted tropical water again in March-April 2011 with a trip to North Sulawesi, Indonesia. I spent a week in Lembeh, split between Divers Lodge and Lembeh Cottages, and then headed to Kima Bajo to dive in the Bunaken National Park with Eco Divers.
Maldives
Images from my recent Maldives trip have been used on the cover of Narked Diver, the magazine for sport 
divers who don’t take themselves too seriously.
The magazine features an article about Jamie who gets thrown straight at the deep end after joining a 2-week liveaboard in the Northern atolls. In this issue of Narked Diver, you can also read about the discovery of the spreadeagle ray and get new tips on natural buoyancy skills.
I’d like to thank all the participants for making this trip memorable.
Pilot Whales of Gibraltar
Who said the Med was dead ? Steve Warren, from Ocean Optics gave me the opportunity to spend a few days in the company of pilot whales in the Mediterranean. It was an unforgettable off-the-beaten-track experience and I never imagined that snorkelling could be so much fun !
Diving the Bowbelle
I travelled to the town of Funchal on the island of Madeira to dive the wreck of the Bowbelle, the dredger that was involved in a collision with the pleasure boat Marchioness in August 1989, in with 51 young people lost their lives.
Sabah and East Kalimantan
I’ve recently returned from an great trip with friends to Borneo.
After a week diving around Sipadan, Mabul, Kapalai and Siamil by liveaboard, we took the public ferry from Tawau in Sabah (Malaysia) to Tarakan in East Kalimantan (Indonesia) where we spent the night. Tarakan isn’t a tourist destination, and the people out there were just the friendliest people ever.
From Tarakan, we travelled 3 1/2 hours by speedboat to Maratua island and spent a week there, diving around Maratua, Sangalaki and Kakaban. Although it was the monsoon season, we had some great encounters.
Red Sea – June 2008
The annual pilgrimage to Sharm with friends from BSoUP went well. This year, our floating home for the week was was Tornado Marine Fleet’s MY Whirlwind, operated by Tony Backhurst Scuba. Resident dive guides Shaun and Chrissie where often hijacked to be models.
Keen to play with the resident snappers (the Lutjanus bohar kind, not the Homo photographicus aquatiquem species) at Ras Mohammed, I had brought along my old Dolphin rebreather, to try and figure out whether the reduced amount of bubbles does indeed make a difference when it comes to getting closer to the action. I have to say the jury is still out on that one, especially as the schooling snapper weren’t there in full force. But we had great time with the Giant Trevallies and more importantly, we had great fun.
Images from this trip are available in the Red Sea gallery.
Cenotes of the Yucatan
You can read about my visit to Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula with Hidden Depths Dive Tours‘s Paul Hughes in this month’s Sport Diver.
Paul had prepared a full-on programme to show me that the Mayan Region could offer world-class diving, and something totally different to the usual scuba holiday. During my stay, I would get a taste of cavern diving in the cenotes around Tulum and discover a much talked-about area, the Chinchorro Banks, way south near the Belize border.