Diving with… Atlantic Scuba, Cornwall

In this ongoing series, we speak with the people who run dive centres, resorts and liveaboards from around the world about their businesses and the diving they have to offer…

What is your name?

Mark Milburn

What is the name of your business?

Atlantic Scuba, Cornwall

What is your role within the business?

Owner

How long has the business operated for?

Since 2008, nine years

How long have you dived for, and what qualification are you?

First qualified in February 2000, multi-agency Instructor

What is your favourite type of diving?

Exploratory dives

If you could tell people one thing about your business  (or maybe more!) to make them want to visit you what would it be?

We specialise in going diving and getting people diving. We encourage all divers and potential divers to get involved with our projects, using their special diving interests whether it’s photography, filming, archaeology or marine biology.

What is your favourite dive in your location and why?

The Manacles reef system. It is covered in a wide range of colourful wildlife and an unknown quantity of wrecks, with plenty more wrecks to find.

What types of diving are available in your location?

We have many shore dives that are worth doing. We also operate our own boat, so we can visit many wrecks and reefs, of all depths, within our operational area. We take divers of all levels out, whether they are a newly qualified open water, or seasoned technical divers.

What do you find most rewarding about your current role?

Showing divers just how good the local diving can be, with the wide range of wildlife as well as the potentially good visibility.

What is your favourite underwater creature?

I really like rays. We have a few rays we see on a regular basis but the male cuckoo wrasse has to be one of the most colourful fish anywhere.

Are there any exciting changes / developments coming up in the near future?

Our next move is to get a second boat legal and running, one that can be moved and launched anywhere around Cornwall; so we can access an even bigger range of wrecks and reefs. We have some potentially interesting new sites to find and/or explore.

As a centre what is the biggest problem you face at the moment?

We are a very busy centre but taking that move to take on more staff, without knowing what the future holds, is quite a concern.

Is your centre involved in any environmental work?

For many years we have organised underwater litter picks from the local beaches. We have also removed ghost fishing gear, released juvenile lobsters for the National Lobster Hatchery and we have run Seasearch dives. We also collect any floating debris we see when out on our boat.

How do you see the SCUBA / Freediving / snorkeling industry overall? What changes would you make?

Overall the industry is not in the best shape, manufacturers and dive centres should all talk, so that they can organise a systematic approach to promote diving. At Atlantic Scuba we promote diving in whatever way we can, we also actively promote and get involved in both snorkelling and freediving.

What would you say to our visitors to promote the diving you have to offer?

We specialise in getting individuals and small groups diving. We run scheduled dives, as well as full charters, so that almost anyone can join in without having to worry about filling the boat. With the range of wrecks and reefs we have to offer, for divers of every level, we can find you some suitable good dive sites. Our unique location means that we rarely cannot dive, we may have to switch dive sites but we do have some good back up locations if the weather does try and defeat us, which it rarely does.

Where can our visitors find out more about your business?

Our website www.atlanticscuba.co.uk has details of what we have to offer, from dive courses to dive sites, from sales to servicing. We organise our scheduled dives within a Facebook group – Falmouth RHIB diving on Stingray. We also have a Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/AtlanticScuba/ and a Facebook place – https://www.facebook.com/AtlanticScubaDiveCentre/. Our Google+ username is +atlanticscuba, Twitter #atlanticscuba and you can find us as Atlantic Scuba on most social networks.