Deep in the Blue – A Life of Diving

Description

Reg Vallintine’s life spans the pioneering first 50 years of Scuba Diving, when in the early years nearly every dive was into the unknown and the wonders of sea life and ancient wrecks were first discovered.  Beginning alone in British waters with only an old rugger shirt for protection, his story moves to the Mediterranean where he set up dive schools where non had existed before and uncovered one of the oldest wrecks in the world, dating from 700BC.  These were the halcyon years of diving, a ‘golden age’ during which he explored the farthest Hebrides for the first time and dived the newly created island of Surtsey off the Icelandic coast.  He met the pioneers of the sport, Hass and Cousteau and expeditions included the dramatic search for the missing X-craft midget submarine in Arctic waters and the excavation of Henry VIII’s Mary Rose in the Solent.  As director of the British Sub-Aqua Club, the governing body of the sport, he guided it during it’s fastest growing period of expansion worldwide.  Reg Vallintine’s account of his life in diving is infused throughout with the excitement of underwater exploration and his fascination with islands and their people.