I applied for the Australasian Our World Underwater scholarship presuming it was too good to be true, but was still worth a shot.  After a gruelling hour-long finalist interview in Sydney with Jayne Jenkins (Our World Underwater Scholarship Society Australasia Vice President), Peter Fields (diving extraordinaire), Sue Crowe (Our World Underwater Scholarship Society Australasia Coordinator and Tabata Australia) and Mat Kertesz and Steve Lindfield (both previous OWUSS scholars), I left feeling impressed by such an admirable and accomplished cast of interviewers, and quite unsure of my chances. The next morning I received a phone call from Jayne saying that I had been chosen. I continued the conversation stunned, hung up and fell to the floor with excitement in anticipation of the adventure ahead.

The Rolex Scholarship is a diving-based award administered by the Our World Underwater Scholarship Society (OWUSS) and offering incredible opportunities to three individuals annually, one each from North America, Europe and Australasia. The Scholarship is open to students aged 21-26 from a wide variety of diving-related disciplines and past Scholars have included students with backgrounds in marine biology, medicine, marine archaeology, videography, photography and many other disciplines. The Scholars have the opportunity, via funding from the principle sponsor Rolex, a full set of diving equipment from TUSA and waterproof plus equipment from various associated sponsors and the Society’s own vast network of contacts, to travel within their own region and across the world doing volunteer work and gaining professional experience and training in their chosen fields of interest within the underwater world. The Scholarship has been offered in North America since 1973, in Europe since 2001, and in Australasia since 2007. The year-long scholarship aims to educate young people while investing in the future of diving-related professions and research.

I completed my PADI Open Water Instructor course at Dive Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand in 2008. I have enjoyed working part time at Dive Otago while continuing full time study at the University of Otago toward a Bachelor of Science in Zoology with a minor in Archaeology. For my scholarship year I will pursue opportunities related to marine research including predator prey ecology, population recovery and species identification. I am also interested in Maritime archaeology, photography and conservation biology.

My first scholarship event was participating in OzTek 2011 in Sydney on 12-13^th March 2011. The event was run by David Strike and hosted many interesting speakers including Rick Stanton (accomplished cave diver), Michael Menduno (creator of ‘aquaCORPS: The Journal for Technical Diving’), Professor Simon Mitchell (anesthesiologist and diving physician), Jarrod Jablonski (founder of GUE), and Jill Heinerth (explorer and filmmaker). It was a very exciting weekend, introducing me to a range of experts in the diving industry from the Australasian region and around the world. These contacts will be valuable throughout my year, and I especially appreciated learning about opportunities and projects close to my own backyard. I have also learnt more about Tec diving, which I had little experience with in the past. OzTek brought together people from a variety of professions and research specialties that have one fundamental thing in common – Diving. Through events like this, not only the professional dive community but also the public are able to gain updates about technology and research, learn more about current and past projects and plans for the future. It is a great way to bring together people who share an interest in exploring the underwater world.

During my time in Sydney I was also lucky enough to go for a dive with Jayne Jenkins (OWUSS Vice President) and Chris Miller (underwater photographer). We explored around the pier at Chowder and saw moray eels, octopus, cuttlefish, angler fish, puffer fish and incredibly, sea horse mating! Chris and Jayne both managed to get some stunning photos.

On Monday the 14^th I accompanied Sue Crowe and Christer Falkeborn to Shelly Beach for the Tabata Waterproof D1 dry suit trial dives, which all went well. I went for a snorkel in the beautifully clear, shallow water of the bay. The first creature I saw was a tiny cuttlefish, I was still about 2meters from it but it reared up and inked itself then darted off. Swimming along the rocks I saw huge grouper, numerous wrasse, a ray and then out of the corner of my eye a shark. I had never seen sharks in the water before now and I wasn’t sure if I should swim away or toward them. After gathering my thoughts and excitement I swam along next to the school of about 9 or 10 small Duskys.

As a PADI Instructor I was excited about visiting the PADI Asia Pacific office in Sydney. Manager of Marketing and Business Development, Danny Dwyer was kind enough to show me around. With around 900,000 certifications a year globally, PADI is one of the leading education organisations for SCUBA diving. The Asia Pacific office is responsible for processing 25% of the worldwide entry-level certifications and 19% of worldwide continuing education certifications (statistics for 2009). People that are interested in diving but have not gained certifications are encouraged to join the PADI Diving Society which allows them to participate in special discount offers, not only within diving but also related to travel and lifestyle purchases. Another PADI affiliate is Project AWARE, a non-profit organisation that works to educate people about marine conservation.

After a wonderful week in Sydney, meeting people and exploring underwater, I have returned home to New Zealand. I am very excited about my next event; I am heading to New York in April to attend the Our World Underwater Scholarship Society evening at the Explorer’s Club, New York.

Thank you to everyone I have met so far for all of your generosity and support.

Jayne Jenkins (OWUSS Vice President) with her five Australasian scholars. Left to right; Steve Lindfield, Jayne Jenkins, Mat Kertesz, Anthea Ibell, Will Arlidge, and Matt Carter.

PADI Asia-Pacific Office, Sydney. From left to right: Anthea Ibell (OWUSS 2011/2012 Scholar); Henrik Nimb (Vice President Marketing, Education & Business Development), Mike Holme (Director of Training and Quality Management), Danny Dwyer (Manager of Marketing and Business Development).

Dinner with Michael Menduno (left), creator of aquaCORPS, Mark Caney (right), Vice President Rebreather Technologies, PADI Technical Diving Division.