my Y2K resolutions
We asked some well-known faces from the world of diving about their resolutions for the new Millennium - and their regrets for the one passing

Tanya Streeter We took a deep breath and asked Tanya Streeter if she would share her resolutions with us. The celebrated free-diving world-record holder lives in Grand Cayman. "Like every variety of diver - save underwater photographers, of course - I regret not diving with a camera at all times. In the event that this not-so-subtle hint has washed over those wondering what to buy me for Christmas, I resolve to become the proud owner of an underwater point-and-press and to make it a permanent inhabitant of my divebag.
"No doubt my snapshots will fall short of capturing the awesome emotions experienced when, for example, dolphins appear jumping in the exact spot where I just surfaced from a deep dive, or an inquisitive mola-mola rises from the deep blue to check out my sled. But what better way to stir up the memories, remember why I dive and share my experiences?
"My second resolution is to take underwater photography lessons!"

Michelle Cove We thought Michelle Cove's ideas might have some bite. A mother of two and a busy underwater stunt-girl, her main business means running a successful dive centre in the Bahamas, a place famous for shark encounters.
"1999 was another very good year for us and our business just grew and grew. I have no regrets," she told us. "There is always something waiting to knock you back, but I resolve not to let anything in Y2K get in the way of giving our customers the very best service and the most exhilarating dives, with the growing number of sharks that seem to be turning up to our shark-feeds.
"I hope our reefs continue to flourish. So far they seem to have escaped what's reported to have happened to coral in other parts of the world. We intend to employ more Bahamians as boat captains and to continue to take on the very best young international diving instructors that come our way."

Innes McCartney Innes McCartney has spent recent years tracking down famous submarines in the English Channel: "With the dawn of the new millennium, the world moves into a new age, with new challenges and many unknowns," he said. "It seems increasingly important that we continue to learn from the past to help us all make a better future.
"The shipwrecks of the Channel can tell us much about the circumstances under which our forebears lived and died. Over the next century, much of what is there now will disappear. I will continue to video and explore these wrecks and hope to make my research available to all at some time in the future."
Innes also had a more specific resolution. "I intend to use more trimix in the 50-60m range, instead of air. The video footage I have already taken clearly shows how narcosis affects underwater performance."
What about his regrets? "I started diving at 24 - I should have started at 14!"

Mike Harwood We knew we would be safe with Mike Harwood. The Special Diving Inspector, he has given the Health & Safety Executive a human face. "First and foremost, we should all look after our health. Life is not a dress rehearsal," he reminded us.
"I am interested in two dictionary definitions," Mike went on. "The first is: Diving - to work or explore under water, either carrying a supply of air or having it sent from the surface. The second is: Hot Air - empty talk.
"My New Year's resolution is to keep the hot air out of diving. I regret that I was unable to manage it during 1999!"

Mark Andrews Mark Andrews courted controversy when he grabbed the record for deep diving on air. "My resolution is to help bring British diving the recognition it deserves. We're far too reserved," he said unreservedly. "People say: why not keep it to yourself - I say: I'm English! We get nothing by being so quiet."
Mark has resolved to close the "huge void" between recreational and technical divers. "I want to be the man from the Magic Circle who broke the code. It might make me Mr Unpopular, but I don't believe in keeping secrets to myself.
" I want to help people find their own limits, which will actually make them safer. Manufacturers are asking me to test equipment to the extreme for them now, and that's the sort of thing I want to be doing."
Regrets? "I wish I'd got into diving 10 years earlier. I'm 34 and started six years ago, but my great fear used to be drowning. I failed my Open Water first time because I wouldn't take my mask off. But if you want something badly enough, you overcome fear." phobia."

Steffi Schwabe Cave-diving is a serious business and Dr Steffi Schwabe, a German-American and now Director of the Rob Palmer Blue Holes Foundation in the Bahamas, gave us some serious thoughts.
"Resolutions for 1999 that were not kept - none. I guess the trick is not to make too many resolutions, then the chances of succeeding are greater," she said.
"My goals were to complete my PhD and get another film on blue holes out on television. I did both. It seems that the Black Hole film will be out around the first part of the year 2000 on the Discovery Channel."
Her new resolution requires some serious continent-hopping, however. "It's to keep the Rob Palmer Blue Holes Foundation afloat while at the same time getting my environmental law degree from Macquarie University in Australia. I think those goals should keep me off the streets and out of the pubs!
"The degree will, I hope, give me a bit more clout when it comes to protecting the blue-hole environments. I believe people will take me a bit more seriously when addressing environmental issues, instead of seeing me only as a crazy scientist who is trying to protect something she loves."

Lord Tebbit of Chingford Diver's most auspicious novice diver is Lord Tebbit of Chingford. He was having lunch with HM The Queen when we called, but popped up later to reveal that close encounters with marine life this year had done nothing to deter him.
"My diving resolution for year 2000 must be to do more - in warm water," he said. "If I have any regrets about my diving in 1999, it is simply that I did not wear a chain-mail glove when I was feeding that turtle!"

John Simenon We had to do a little detective work to track down John Simenon. The former film company executive and son of a famous Belgian was educated at Harvard, worked in Britain and lives in Switzerland. An adventurous diver, he is now Managing Director of TDI Europe.
"This year I did far too much administration and not enough diving," he told us. "My New Millennium resolutions? I plan to do lots of diving, and to hell with the paperwork!" And so say all of us.
"In 1999 I wish I'd gone to Cocos to see the hammerheads, armed with a closed-circuit rebreather," said John. "Next year I have promised myself that I will."

Veronica Robbins There might have been some bother over diving war graves and protected sites in 1999, but the outlook of the Receiver of Wreck, Veronica Robbins, proved to be sunny. "I want to progress if possible with our Wreck Amnesty," she said, referring to her proposal to allow items taken illegally from wrecks to be declared retrospectively without penalty. "It has gone on to the back-burner because there are so many different strands to bring together, but it is a definite proposal."
"We really want to work with divers and I want to send out a positive message for the new Millennium," said Veronica. "I've no regrets - we had a tremendous 1999, with a big upswing in the number of wreck finds reported, and Diver has helped with that. The old brigade is still around but the greater willingness to come forward and discuss activities with us shows an obvious change in attitude.
"I do believe divers are being more responsible, and I want to continue to build on our very positive relationship with all the diving organisations. The last thing we want is to stop anyone diving, simply to ensure they do it in a safe, legal and sensitive way - and discriminate over the wrecks they dive."
Appeared in DIVER - December 1999