Dive Master Insurance and DiveAssist.org are proud to help out the diving community. We work with several organisations that deal directly with divers or the environment in which divers obtain their enjoyment. Without these groups and organisations diving would not be what it is today. Both organisations therefore are dedicated to providing financial support to ensure diving, divers and the environment are cared for.
Diving Diseases Research Centre
The Diving Diseases Research Centre is one of the UK’s longest established nd most prolific hyperbaric research organisations. Its depth of knowledge is second to none and Dive Master Insurance has supported its work for many years.
DM sponsored the first Diver Medic Book the DDRC produced, plus helped produce the publications for the Men and Women in Diving survey and the Survey of SCUBA Diving for Disabled Divers.
Dive Master Insurance will continue to support the valueable work of the DDRC because in doing so it is assisting the people who keep Dive Master Insurance in business. Without advancing the knowledge base ofthe people who assist divers, the dive industry will not develop. A good example of that, is today’s proliferation Dive Master Ins urance has a long his tory of helpin g the hyperbaric community through the DDRC. of technical divers which only came about thanks to organisations like the DDRC and its research work. Dive Master firmly believes that helping such oragnisations, will ensure the UK diving industry will stay well respected throughout the world.
MV Trident
On 29 September 2010 the ex-dive charter boat the MV Trident was sunk as an artificial reef off the island of Koh Tao in Thailand. DiveAssist.org & Dive Master Insurance donated money to the fund set up to bring this new wreck to the area’s divers. DiveAssist.org & Dive Master Insurance believe in giving back to the diving community and it has had some terrific support from divers in and visiting Thailand, so when the opportunity arose to be able to help a worthy project it took it.
Artificial reefs are proven to improve the life of both the marine environment and the diving industry in the surrounding area. So instead of just giving money to one business, donating to a community project such as this means we are able to benefit the diving industry.
The MV Trident was a dive charter boat owned by TechThailand and hosted a lot of dive trips that actually found a large number of the wrecks which divers around Koh Tao now enjoy. Almost as soon as she was decommissioned, there were plans to sink her as an artificial reef. A suitablevessel needs to be cleaned of all contaminants, which would have made up the bulk of the funding required and so the organisers put out requests for donations.
DiveAssist.org & Dive Master Insurance saw the opportunity in the project to give something back to the whole divingcommunity and the dive industry of Koh Tao and donated to the cause.The finance was soon in place and by September the vessel was ready to be sunk.A suitable location was found near to a site called Shark Point and the vessel sank stern first and put on a spectacular display as she drifted to the seabed.The dive is now 36m to the seabed and a superb 25m to the deck where most divers will spend their time.She lists a little, but makes a great training dive for the growing technical diving community of Koh Tao and a challenging dive for an experienced diver.
It’s a fitting end for a vessel that spent much of its working life discovering wrecks across the region. And
DiveAssist.org & Dive Master Insurance are proud to have been a small part of its story.
Egyptian Divemaster candidates get helping hand
Emperor Divers, one of the most recognisable names in the Egyptian dive industry, came to Dive Master Insurance asking for help with two of its local employees. The long serving employees – Saad and Ali– had been working in the equipment room for several years and the centre wanted to help develop their careers. Emperor Divers took it upon themselves to train thepair as divers and then continue their training up toDivemaster level.
DiveAssist.org & Dive Master Insurance were asked to provide insurancepolicies for both and we happily agreed.
Saad and Ali are now well on their way to a career in diving, something that would have been out of their reach if it hadn’t been for their employer and Dive Master Insurance.
Currently they are both qualified to Advanced Open Water divers and have completed the Emergency First Response certification and are undergoing their Rescue Diver training.
By the time you read this the pair will probably be commencing their Divemaster training and will soon play a much bigger role in Egypt’s diving industry than they ever thought possible.
Dive Master is just starting a relationship with the campaigning organisation Marine Connection. It has recently paid for the publication of a report into solitary dolphins, which should improve our knowledge and hopefully lessen mankind’s impact on cetaceans. Marine Connection campaigns tirelessly for cetaceans all over the world with specific projects on captive animals, bycatch of cetaceans and cetacean hunts. Dive Master and DiveAssist.org look forward to working more with this organisation in the future to help protect our aquatic companions.
Helping direct action
Last year Dive Master Insurance donated a ton of fuel to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The fuel was used by the ship the Steve Irwin, which travelled to the Southern Ocean to confront the Japanese whaling fleet. The Steve Irwin, is an ex-Scottish Fisheries patrol vessel and has been part of the SSCS fleet for many years as it was originally called the Bob Hunter. The vessel was, of course, named after the Australian TV personality and conservationist who tragically died while diving with sting rays.