Hi, here's episode #79 Rannvá Jørmundsson - "Becoming an Explorer" brought to you by our brilliant sponsor XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Huge thanks to both for their support that makes everything you are about to listen to possible. One of the enduring themes of Speaking Sidemount is to shine a light on the applications of sidemount diving. I am a strong believer and practitioner in diving sidemount in nearly any application or environment but there's no doubt that if you dive ov...
Oct 31, 2022•55 min
This episode is brought to you by our brilliant sponsor XDEEP and by the patrons of Speaking Sidemount, huge thanks to both for their support. Speaking Sidemount has featured many of the top cave diving regions of the world… I'm thinking Mexico, Florida, UK, the Bahamas, and Sardinia. But it's been awesome to also dig deeper into regions not well known for caves… places like Sweden, Indonesia, Australia, and Canada. Now along these lines… I've known for a while that many of the Pacific Islands h...
Oct 02, 2022•50 min
This episode is brought to you by XDEEP and by the patrons of Speaking Sidemount, huge thanks to both for their support. In this episode, Alessandra shares her inspiring story of the events that led to her moving to Mexico to pursue diving. How she started her cave diving journey under the tutelage of legendary cave explorer Bil Phillips. She relates how she built her experience diving with friends before doing her cave instructor training in Florida. We contrast cave diving in Florida and Mexic...
Aug 30, 2022•1 hr 2 min
Hey, welcome to Episode #76 Looking Back - The Best of Speaking Sidemount brought to by XDEEP with the support of the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Huge thanks to both!!! This episode looks back over the first 75 episodes with me handpicking some of my very favourite segments. This was such a challenging task and what I find remarkable now that it's done, is just how much great material I have left out... maybe a part 2?? Let me know if you'd like to hear that. Listen in as I talk with Michur a...
Aug 02, 2022•1 hr 27 min
This episode is brought to you by our amazing sponsor XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Thanks so much to both for their support that makes this podcast possible. Tom Crisp hails from my home New Zealand and is undoubtedly one of our finest cave explorers and I'll use the term, adventurers. Tom has based himself in Alberta, Canada to allow him to discover and explore the caves of that region. You may recall Tom and I spoke way back in Episode #15 and in this, episode #75 we catch up o...
Jul 01, 2022•53 min
This episode is brought to you by our brilliant sponsor XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Huge thanks to both for your support. Sanne Volja is a cave diver and ISE instructor from Belgium and if you haven't seen her social media then you've been missing out on a real treat. Sanne combines her huge passion for diving with a unique style that makes for some of the best and most compelling stories and reels anywhere on Facebook and Instagram. Sanne has only been diving for a few years bu...
May 31, 2022•1 hr 2 min
This episode is brought to you by our brilliant sponsor XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Huge thanks to both for your support. In this episode I catch up with Edmund Yiu. Edmund hails from Hong Kong and is a Tec Diving instructor to trimix levels on both open circuit and closed-circuit rebreathers. He also teaches cave diving, is Greater China Regional Head for the RAID Dive agency, and he's a Divesoft Liberty instructor and a member of their Ambassador team. In addition to teaching ...
Apr 28, 2022•1 hr 5 min
This episode is brought to you with the support of our brilliant Sponsor XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Huge thanks to both for their support. I'm really happy to be able to bring you another episode featuring Stratis Kas. In addition to being a stellar cave diver and instructor who in his own words, is as passionate about sidemount diving as I am… he also seems to be constantly involved in super interesting projects from his book "Close Calls" to his recently released video featur...
Mar 17, 2022•55 min
Hey... getting through the busy summer season in NZ so here's another Special Release from the patron archive brought to you by XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. It's awesome to be able to share my discussion with Hayun Yung from South Australia. Hayun is new to sidemount but is progressing extremely quickly through diligent practice and with what you'll hear, excellent attention to detail. We chat about how and why she got into diving and sidemount... her thoughts on her upcoming cav...
Feb 01, 2022•1 hr 2 min
It's awesome to be able to bring you with the support of XDEEP, another great episode from the Speaking Sidemount Patreon vault. This episode was the first of two episodes with Steve Bogaerts I did back in 2020 and was originally released as a premium, patron-only episode. The information Steve covers is awesome, so I am pleased to now share it more widely. In this episode, Steve and I discuss the importance of foundational skill development - buoyancy control, trim and stability, pressure test ...
Jan 05, 2022•59 min
This episode is brought to you by XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount, huge thanks to both for their support. Robin Cuesta hails from France but has made his home in one of the most beautiful parts of the world, Sulawesi Indonesia. Long known for its brilliant ocean diving, Robin discovered that the region's geology included massive areas of limestone and that all of the water came from underground sources. If you are into cave diving you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce that t...
Dec 20, 2021•39 min
This episode is brought to you with the awesome support of XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Huge thanks to both, their support makes this podcast possible. Great to give you Episode #70 Christine Tamburri - "Passion Plus". Christine is a young woman hailing from the US Northeast. She has not been diving long, but as you'll hear, she has developed an exceptional attitude to both her diving and progress as a technical and cave diver. Attitude is one thing but Christine's passion for al...
Nov 18, 2021•1 hr 9 min
This episode is brought to you by XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Huge thanks to both for their support. In part 2 of my discussion with Prof Simon Mitchell, we get into the negative impact of increased gas density, particularly at depth. We muse on the impact of gas density and CO2 retention with it likely being a factor in dive accidents such as that of David Shaw, and then I get to rant a bit and ask Simon about the benefits of streamlining with respect to work of breathing. From...
Oct 17, 2021•47 min
This episode has been produced with the support of XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Huge thanks to both for their support. In this episode, I catch up with fellow Kiwi and world-renowned Hyperbaric Physician, Prof Simon Mitchell. In this, the first of two special episodes with Simon, we discuss his background and how he got into diving medicine, how his service in the Royal New Zealand Navy shaped his career, we reminisce on our military service and then draw a line under the stellar...
Sep 08, 2021•39 min
Hey, here it is. "Skanda Strikes Back"... with the support of XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Huge thanks for the amazing support of this podcast :)!! In Episode #67 Skanda 2 - KISS Sidewinder Exploration, Skanda shares more on his very best cave exploration projects and in particular, we investigate how the KISS Sidewinder rebreather is enabling the Protec Tulum team and others to go deeper and longer in pursuit of places unseen by any human. Huge thanks again to Skanda for sharing...
Aug 16, 2021•49 min
This episode is brought to you with the support of our brilliant sponsor XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Huge thanks to both. A few weeks back I received a message from Patrick Widmann asking if I had seen the efforts of Skanda Coffield... and for sure I had seen him featured in a couple of Phillip Lehman's Somos Los Cenotes videos most notably the Blue Abyss dive which was just stunning... If you haven't seen it... Check it out on the DRLocal YouTube channel - Somos Los Cenotes Epi...
Jul 13, 2021•55 min
This episode is brought to you with the support of our sponsor XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Huge thanks to both :)!! Late last year I was honoured to be invited to speak at the FLOW Sidemount event in Cala Gonone, Sardinia. The event was originally slated for June this year but moved to October due to COVID. Conceived and organised by Stratis Kas my guest way back in episode #38 along with Daniele Pontis and Mariona Yepes Daviu from Bluforia Diving Centre, this event will be a mu...
Jun 16, 2021•45 min
Awesome to be able to share Episode #64 - Mikko Paasi brought to you with the support of XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Huge thanks to both for their support. By now the name Mikko Paasi is, or should be well known to all of us as a key member of the support diver team that contributed massively to the positive outcome of the Thai Cave rescue. Hailing from Finland, Mikko owns Kho Tao Divers in Thailand and beyond his exploits in the rescue, Mikko is a cave diver and dedicated wreck...
May 18, 2021•53 min
Welcome to the 2021 season of Speaking Sidemount brought to you with the support of XDEEP and our patrons. In this episode, I catch up with renowned cave diving photographer, Laurent Miroult. Huge thanks to Stratis Kas for the introduction. Laurent and I dive into... his background and how he got into sidemount and cave diving, how he balances his career as a doctor with diving, and his training and mentoring with Rob Neto. We learn more about how Laurent captures his amazing images... his equip...
Apr 14, 2021•51 min
It's awesome to be able to bring you with the support of XDEEP, another great episode from the Speaking Sidemount Patreon vault. In this episode, I catch up with my old friend Matt Jevon, just a few months into the COVID-19 pandemic. I first met Matt Jevon back in late 2015 when I was being taught and mentored by Tom Steiner at Gozo Technical Diving. Matt and I teamed up on a bunch of awesome dives and also did our fair share of après-diving at a few of the great restaurants on Gozo. Matt is the...
Mar 23, 2021•1 hr 6 min
As our summer hiatus continues, it's awesome to be able to bring you with the support of XDEEP, another great episode from the Speaking Sidemount Patreon vault. This time I catch up with PJ Prinsloo. PJ is a technical diving instructor trainer and the Director, Technical Diving for RAID South Africa. As you'll hear, he is passionate about the benefits of sidemount and has a wealth of knowledge from the perspective of a sidemount diver, instructor, instructor trainer, and in his role at RAID. Las...
Feb 18, 2021•51 min
I'm super excited to publicly release Episode #50 with Chris Jewell. Previously this episode was only available to Patrons of Speaking Sidemount and is brought to you with the support of XDEEP. Chris is a member of the British Cave Diving Group and was part of the team involved in the acclaimed Thai Cave rescue. Chris took part in the actual extraction dives of the rescue and in doing so became part of history as a key part of one of the greatest rescues of modern times. Awards, accolades and nu...
Feb 05, 2021•57 min
Hey all, Happy New Year. I hope that wherever you are, that you are well and doing OK. Excited to provide the first episode of 2021 brought to you by XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Thanks so much to both for their support. In this episode, I catch up with Florida based, cave instructor, explorer and author, Rob Neto, Rob has just released the 2nd edition of his book "Sidemount Diving, The Almost Comprehensive Guide". Despite the title, this is, without doubt, the most complete writ...
Jan 26, 2021•57 min
Here it is... the last episode of 2020 with Speaking Sidemount Gold Patron, Sean Wheller. Sean and I have been communicating online for well over a year, and in fact, he was one of the very first patrons to support the show. He's a sidemount diver, a decompression and cave diver and continues to progress his training with PJ Prinsloo in South Africa. In this episode, Sean and I chat about his diving, how he started in sidemount learning from Steve Martin's videos, his training with PJ Prinsloo, ...
Dec 30, 2020•52 min
This episode is sponsored by XDEEP and supported by the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. I'm really excited to share this episode with you featuring my chat with Tamara May. I first sighted Tamara on YouTube, I think about 5 or 6 years ago as the star of an excellent sidemount configuration and skills video shot in Mexico. The skills were excellent but as I was taken with the video flow, the camera and editing work which really made the video incredibly compelling. More recently I saw Tamara liste...
Nov 26, 2020•52 min
This episode is sponsored by XDEEP and supported by the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Victor Tovar is the principal of Cave Tribe through which he provides specialised and personalised diving training with an emphasis on sidemount and cave courses. Victor is passionate about foundational skills and as you'll hear in this episode he focuses on progressively building foundational skills while gaining experience and comfort in the environments his students wish to explore. In this episode Victor a...
Oct 17, 2020•58 min
This episode is sponsored by XDEEP and supported by the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. This is the second episode in this series where I catch up with renowned cave explorer Steve Bogaerts. Over the past two years, Steve has had it pretty tough with respect to diving. A series of DCS incidents, on successive dives, each a little worse than the previous, has led Steve to hang up his fins and retire from diving. Just the thought of one of the world's great cave explorers having to quit under circu...
Aug 19, 2020•47 min
Great to release Episode #55 with our VIP Patron of the Month, Matt Burdon. Matt is a Public Safety Diving Team Leader, Tech Dive Instructor, VIP Patron of Speaking Sidemount, and survivor of a serious infection of COVID-19. Matt graciously joined me to share in detail his experiences contracting COVID-19, from the knowledge that it had infected his workplace to seeing a colleague die, to his own battle with COVID, including 17 days in a coma. Matt's story is both frightening and inspiring. You'...
Jul 21, 2020•53 min
In this episode, brought to you by XDEEP with the support of the patrons of Speaking Sidemount, I catch up with British cave diver and instructor Robert Thomas. Robert has had an extraordinary beginning to his dive career, first diving at the age of 6... Joining the ranks of certified divers at the tender age of 10 before starting to cave dive in his teens. At 18 as soon as he was old enough he joined the ranks of the famed British Cave Diving Group and a year later he qualified as a full member...
Jun 18, 2020•53 min
This episode is brought to you with the support of XDEEP and our amazing patrons, which makes everything you are about to listen to possible. If love Speaking Sidemount and would you'd like to know more about how you can support the show by becoming a patron, go to www.patreon.com/speakingsidemont This month's VIP Patron of the Month and my guest on this episode is Brendon Allen. Brendon is based and works as a commercial pilot in the UAE. But he also is a passionate diver and instructor and thr...
May 22, 2020•57 min
