Sinking feeling going to work! (From Tewkesbury Admag)

Sinking feeling going to work!

11:24am Thursday 30th November 2006 in News

Diving is Jason Nutt's passion and is also the way he earns his living - a perfect combination.

He is a diving instructor and runs Feet First Diving, which is based on the Northway Trading estate.

From there, he not only teaches diving, he organises trips and holidays to exciting locations such as the Red Sea and the Maldives.

"It is a perk of job that I can arrange trips to places where I want to dive," he said.

One his most memorable experiences in recent years was ice diving in Russia, inside the Arctic Circle.

"It was 30 degrees below on land and minus two in the water. The ice was two foot thick and we had to cut a hole in it to get into the water.

"We had to be roped together in pairs for safety, and could not go more than 40 metres from the hole, but it was absolutely fantastic," he said.

He has also dived with oceanic white tipped sharks in the Red Sea which was, he says, an amazing experience, but probably not the wisest thing he has ever done.

Despite all these adventures, he says that the south coast of Britain is still the best place for diving.

"There is nowhere richer in wrecks, and you really never know what you are going to find. It works for those who are interested in wreck diving, and those who like to see the fish, as the ships provide a good habitat for them," he said.

Asked why he set up his dive school in Tewkesbury, so far from coast, he explained that coastal diving is very seasonal, whereas in a town he can run courses all year round.

"A lot of people want to learn over the winter so that they can go diving on their holidays.

"Once they have qualified and got their card, they can hire the equipment and do it anywhere in the world" he said.

He teaches people from the age of eight upwards and arranges dive-based parties with underwater vehicles for the same age range.