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 Frequently Asked Questions
Curious about Agnes? Check out the frequently asked questions to find out more about her diving.
When and where did you start diving?
My very first underwater experience was at Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia where I did a couple of try dives. I had the opportunity to interact with a lot of wildlife and came away from the first dive thinking 'This is what I want to do with my life!!' I was booked onto a proper open water course two weeks later and since that moment in 2002 diving has been at the very center of my existence.
How many dives have you done?
I have done over 1100 dives (July 2010). 700 of them have been in and around Australia and the rest have been mostly in Florida. I have also done a bunch in the Bahamas and in the UK.
What are your diving qualifications?
PADI OW/AOW/Rescue
PADI DM
IANTD Normoxic Trimix
TDI Advanced Trimix
CDAA Advanced cave
NSS CDS Deep Diver, DPV and Recovery Diver
O2ptima Rebreather - Sentinel Rebreather
When did you start cave diving and how many cave dives have you done?
I started cave diving in 2005 and have done over 500 cave dives (July 2010).
What made you want to go cave diving?
My first taste of cave diving was back in 2004 when a bunch of us went snorkeling over Piccaninnie Ponds, in Mt Gambier. Pics, as it is affectionately called, is a large sinkhole with a vibrant and active ecosystem and plenty of animals like fish, eels and turtles wondering the shallows. The ponds offer perfect visibility and as I snorkeled on the surface, chasing some little turtle, I swam over the lip of the hole and suddenly the bottom dropped off from below me. A large shaft dropped down to 40m and there was just this darkness that beckoned. As I saw the diver ascending from the depths I thought - I want to go down there!
How did you get interested in Wreck Diving?
There are plenty of wrecks around Melbourne and as soon as I dived one I loved it. Wrecks - beautiful, awe inspiring, long forgotten chunks of metal on the ocean floor. These objects fascinated me not just because of their sheer aesthetic beauty but also because each one had a story. The people stories are incredible... usually a shipwreck is a traumatic event and people loose everything, sometimes even their lives. The history of the ships and the stories of the people are fascinating and it adds another dimension to your diving. Wrecks got me early and they got me hook line and sinker. The allure of finding, photographing and surveying pristine and untouched wrecks was the reason I started diving ever deeper, using more technical equipment and mixed gasses.
Why Passion, Daring, Adventure?
Well technically it should read 'Pasja, Przygoda, Ryzyko' - that was a family motto when I was growing up. My parents used to come out with this gem every time we were traveling and getting into trouble, for example getting bogged in the middle of nowhere or lost in the woods or still wondering up some hiking trail as the sun started to set. Often it was pronounced just before undertaking something spontaneous and risky when the outcome was unknown but there was fun to be had. I grew up with it, I have lived it and these days it defines my attitude to life, so I have adopted it as my own.
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