Rachel Abbott

It was the summer of 1963, when everybody called me Baby and it didn’t occur to me to mind. It was before Kennedy got shot, before The Beatles, when I wanted to join the Peace Corps and I didn’t think I’d ever find a guy as great as my dad… Sorry, wrong story!! My first ever scuba dive was in Cyprus in 2000. The guys at the dive centre were telling stories of this great wreck dive in Larnaca, but to do it you had to be qualified to dive deep and be experienced – The Zenobia.

I thought that sounds awesome, I must qualify to dive. 15 years, several new jobs and 3 new horses later I finally got around to it. I qualified for my open water and advance open water in the quiet village of Dahab Egypt, learning in the Red Sea – so spoiled. When I returned I joined Stellar Divers and was introduced to U.K. diving – not quite so spoiled anymore. Brrrr. With Stellar I have been able to develop my Scuba skills and experience and continue to add more dive qualifications. Joining Stellar divers has really made scuba diving for me – it’s like being adopted it a huge scuba family. I have enjoyed many UK and international trips diving with Stellar including the infamous Truk Lagoon in Micronesia – now there are some serious ship wrecks there and every bit as exciting as the Cypriot guys were describing back in 2000. I still need to get back to Cyprus to dive the Zenobia though, watch this space.