Don Shirley

And we'd go away on weekends eventually.

The sergeant major used to think that I was trying to get away from doing duties on a weekend, but I was actually going diving.

Diving was my absolute passion.

And I really carried that on throughout my time.

So anytime I could, I went diving.

When you're going in water, you exist at another level.

Everything becomes very, very focused.

And really, that's one thing I like about diving in general.

It's just the fact that when you're in the water, you're no longer a surface-dwelling creature.

You actually live in the water, which is really one of my mantras.

When you're diving, you're living in the water, just like a fish would live in the water.

And you never look at the surface as being somewhere to go.

My pet saying is surface is not an option.

We felt like we knew each other quite well.

I watched him kit up, and he kitted up just like I would.

It very much fitted in with my profile of diving with people.

Anyone can turn up to me and give me a whole list of qualification, but until you actually get them in the water, you don't really know what they're going to do.

So the first dive always is the checkout dive, and then you gradually extend from there.

But when Dave joined me, it felt like he'd been diving with me forever.

We literally played in the water.