A Good Day Out by Cathy de Lara

Last week, Johno and I paid a visit to the diving museum in Gosport, as BSoUP (The British society of underwater photographers), and the Historical Diving Society were hosting a talk by photographer Charles Erb. The talk was on the marine life seen in UK waters and although it was mostly aimed at non-divers, or divers that don’t frequent UK waters, we both found it really interesting as it highlighted the beautiful, and colourful marine life we can see in UK waters. If anyone is interested in underwater photography, BSoUP meet virtually once a month for a chat, a themed competition, and one or two talks which are usually very interesting. You don’t have to be an amazing photographer to join, in fact you don’t really have to be a photographer at all! (but if you would like to be, let me know and I can look at running the BSAC underwater photography SDC).

Before the talk started, we were all given the opportunity to have a wander around the museum. It’s located in a Victorian military battery on the sea front in Gosport, and although it’s quite small I think divers will find it particularly interesting as it’s the only museum of its kind in the UK. The exhibits include some very early diving helmets, diving bells, chambers and atmospheric diving suits. The suits included a JIM suit as seen in the movie “For your eyes only” and as worn by Sylvia Earle in 1979 for her record-breaking dive of 381m. There were exhibits on early diving, military diving (including the story of Buster Crabbe), commercial, scientific and Sport diving which included more modern equipment, I have to say I was glad it was labelled as “modern diving equipment” as the Inspiration rebreather they had on display was newer than the one I am currently using!

It only took us an hour or so to wander around the exhibits inside (the bigger stuff is outdoors), but for anyone going to Gosport it’s well worth a visit, its inexpensive, and the guys that run it are very enthusiastic, we also loved it because it was a really hot day, and it was lovely and cool inside the battery!

Cathy & Johno

Below are some links that you might find useful….

The Diving Museum, Gosport – The Diving Museum

The Historical Diving Society – The Historical Diving Society (thehds.com)

inspiring and informing underwater photographers: BSoUP