The Rotary Club of Church Wilne welcomed Rotarian Chris Tew, to its Speaker Evening. Chris gave a wonderful insight into the world of Scuba Diving, sharing a gallery of photographs capturing the wonderfully colourful coral and fish seen during family diving holidays to Egypt and the Maldives.

Chris's family story began in 2003 during a holiday in Egypt, back then it was easier to take a trial dive and gain a taste of the undersea world. Chris and his son were quickly hooked and have since made many trips to the clear warm waters of the red sea. They undertook a 4 day Open Water Diving course. Starting in the classroom for an hour or so before entering the water from the beach and carrying out a number of safety and practical tests. Days were spent switching from class room to practical sessions in the sea and a bit of revision in the evening and tests in the morning. It was not long before they were joined by Chris's wife and now all the family are confident divers.

Chris described sitting on the sea bed, with brightly coloured fish swimming all around and the wonderfully delicate and brightly coloured coral. He described the tricky business of photographing fish, the best way being to use red filters and wide angle lenses to ensure the colour of the fish comes out in the photographs. The favourites being clown fishes (Nemo in "Finding Nemo", not sure where Dory was), they tend to swim close to sea anemone, with their young. As a diver approaches, they swim to intercept the diver and so make great photography models. Chris was careful to also show us the photographs of Stone Fish and Scorpion Fish which can be difficult to see and may be deadly, so best to avoid.

Chris also showed us photographs of a 9 foot Manta Ray swimming overhead. For the less adventurous of us, we were shown pictures of Whale Sharks which can be easily seen while snorkelling, in Mexico.

For more information on Rotary and our speaker evenings, please contact Rotarian John Astell at: rccw1220@gmail.com

Rotarian John Cook