Now, where were we?
I remember, March 1992 in Roatan and some "super-geek" moments with my good friends Steve and Renee from San Diego plus my other 'dive buddy' - a hired Nikonos V.
I returned to Bermuda from this holiday with a renewed enthusiasm for underwater photography. The Canadian Armed Forces base at Daniel's Head, Somerset, had a dive club I was a member of and as well as organising great dives, they also had a Nikonos V I could loan - I had it for the period March to June that year!
In June 1992 I moved back to the UK via a mega holiday in Grand Cayman. I flew via New York where I bought my own Nikonos V, 35 mm lens and some close up / macro odds and ends. Every day on this wonderful island was spent diving and taking pictures, mostly awful ones, but a few were pretty good, they eventually got published and some still grace the walls at home. After two weeks of superb diving I returned to the UK for good.
Several weeks of what must have been a mild form of depression set in following the 'reality' moment as the plane was landing at Manchester Airport. I can remember looking out of the window and seeing grey clouds, rain and the same old houses and buildings that were there when I had left three years previously.
I had a great new job to go to, loads of superb prospects and a 'solid' future, but it still felt like something was lacking.
What was missing was my diving and underwater photography, so I did something about it and joined the Macclesfield branch of the British Sub Aqua Club. The trips weren't quite the same as in Bermuda (unsurprisingly) and the club had a completely different feel to it, but it was very welcoming and I had some great days and weekends diving with them.
Now - here's a top tip for you, as someone who travels a lot, I soon found that no-one wants to hear about your adventures. And if you have lived abroad on an island like Bermuda, if you even mention the name, you can see people wanting to punch your lights out.
I don't know if its jealousy or a deep feeling within of, "why didn't I do that?" but the truth is, no-one is really interested. Each exciting chapter of your life was probably matched by what might have been quite an 'ordinary' one in their lives. When I return from assignments to my regular job I don't tell anyone where I have been or what I have done - trust me, if you do they'll hate you for it.
So - how does this impact on your life as a travel writer or diving journalist? Well, if your loved ones and friends aren't keen on hearing your stories, how can tens of thousands of readers at your target magazine be expected to be interested?
The answer? 'Your story,' the article you write, shouldn't be about you. It's not meant to be a diary of, 'And then we got off the plane, and then we did this, and then we got to the hotel....' Nor is it about, "I then, ... I dived...., I saw...."
Somehow you need to find an angle, something that will grab the reader and take them to the end of the article leaving them inspired, or asking questions, or just putting the magazine down and thinking, 'that was interesting.' This is your challenge - how to make your article all about the reader not you.
More "About Me" in Pt III (I suspect this could go on for a few 'chapters,' but in each one I promise I'll include a top tip)
Keep writing...
Brendan
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