When I was younger and going on family vacation, my always dad would often leave to go scuba diving and come back for dinner with stories of what he saw underwater. I remember I couldn’t wait to join him, so he took me snorkeling and then at 10 years old I tried SASY (Supplied-Air Snorkeling for Youth). I was amazed by scuba diving, the fact that I could spend up to an hour underwater looking at squid, turtles, stingrays, colourful fish and shipwrecks sounded too good to be true. At 12 years old, I got my PADI Open Water Diver certification in the Cayman Islands so dad and I would be able to dive together around the Caribbean. I haven’t been able to get the ocean out of my head and my heart ever since. He was also into underwater photography and we were using an olympus with a camera housing to take pictures of us, rainbow fish and mermaids.

From dive buddies to work buddies, we can always count on each other

One of my first underwater pictures was of the statue of Amphitrite.

This 9-foot tall, 600-pound bronze mermaid statue by Simon Morris, placed in 50 feet of water off the beach at Sunset House on Grand Cayman Island in October 2000. In Greek mythology, Amphitrite was the goddess of the sea and wife of the god Poseidon. She was also considered the personification of the sea as a whole, and the mother of seals and dolphins.