MEET OUR SUPPORTERS! Diver Profile - John Gransbury of Professional Dive Services
Name: John James Gransbury
Age: 37
Where were you born?: Queen Charlotte's Hospital, Hammersmith, United Kingdom.
Profession: SCUBA Diving Instructor. Dealer in life changing experiences. Peddler of shark interactions and Facilitator of wreck penetration.
Children / Fur Babies: Buddy - 10 year old Black Lab x Border Collie is the eldest, Ava - 4.5 year old female future world dominator and future scuba diver & Zac - 1.5 year old male wrecking ball and future scuba diver.
Passions or Hobbies outside of diving: What are you talking about?! There is a life outside of diving?! What drugs are you on!? Okay, it's a serious question... Spending time with my family of course, binge watching TV shows whilst editing photos from previous dive trips and playing dodgeball. Seriously it is a sport! Nothing like pegging a Nerf ball to vent land locked frustrations.
When did you start diving?: When I was 12 in the shark tank at the National Aquarium in Canberra. Did twenty odd DSD shark dives in that awesome tank until I was 15 and did my PADI Open Water course in Malaysia. I quickly racked up dives there every school holidays and worked up to Rescue diver before doing my Divemaster qualification in Australia when I was 18. 25 years of diving later and every dive with sharks takes me back to that first moment in the tank in Canberra. I absolutely love it!
Favourite Dive Site and why?: That is the hardest question EVER! Shark dive? Manta Dive? Wreck dive? Reef dive? Local dive? Interstate dive? Overseas dive? My favourite local day or weekend destination just due to the diversity would have to be North Stradbroke Island. During summer Manta Bommie is one of the best elasmobranch dives on the planet and you can't go past Manta Rays and Leopard sharks! Winter at Flat Rock it is all about the sharks and the gorgeous grey nurse sharks with the haunting melody of the humpback whale cannot be beat! We are truly lucky to have such incredible world class diving on our doorstep.
Most memorable dive and why?: Diving the Neptune Islands aboard Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions. I lead a group there every year over the June long weekend for BIG GIRL season where we get great whites up to 6m showing us how graceful and majestic they are. Nothing prepares you for that first bottom cage experience really seeing them in their element and just their sheer size and incredible grace as they glide effortlessly through the water. It is a sensation I still get every time I submerge in that cage. Just complete and utter awe. http://www.professionaldiveservices.com.au/australian-giant-cuttlefish-leafy-seadragons-and-great-white-sharks/
Dream Dive site on your wish list: The Galapagos - Will be ticking this off the wishlist next August 2018 on a private 8 person liveaboard, the Nortada. If you want to join us email me at [email protected] and I will send you all of the details!
Why do you clean up dive?: It is a never ending battle. I clean up on EVERY dive aside from assisting and arranging regular Project AWARE clean ups. Yesterday alone whilst teaching an Open Water course I pulled out 5 plastic bags, 3 cans, a coffee mug, a tile, a Gatorade bottle and countless other bits of rubbish. It is quite horrendous what people throw in the ocean. If we don't keep the ocean clean of debris then the entire planet will suffer.
If there was one thing you could say about clean up diving what would it be?: It is up to every diver to make a difference. We can all make a difference and should on every dive. You have BCD pockets, please us them and improve your ocean karma! Clean up diving is the most important thing we can do and every diver has a duty to look after the ocean that gives us so much in return.
Thoughts on Environmental Divers?: The Environmental Divers Clean Up Crew is essential in maintaining our local dive site. I run regular Project AWARE clean up dives as well but between our two initiatives we do more to keep the Gold Coast Seaway clean than any other group. Unfortunately the number of fishermen and other users of the area who don't ensure their trash is disposed of properly far outnumber us. It is even more important for people to clean up dive regularly and join initiatives like Environmental Divers Clean Up Crew to keep our local dive sites clean. We can and should make a difference on every dive!
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