Diving to Adventure with Colin Knight
Colin Knight’s interest in diving began during his youth in the United Kingdom when he saw the first underwater TV series on the BBC, a black-and-white program called “Diving to Adventure” with Hans and Lotte Hass.
Colin Knight at Bandos, Maldives. “Since then, I always wanted to dive in tropical waters to experience firsthand the marine life on coral reefs and wrecks,” Colin said. Working for Saudi Aramco provided that opportunity.
Colin moved from Sheffield, England to Saudi Arabia in 1982 to work in the Materials Systems and Planning Department as a SCECO East (Aramco Loanee) in Dhahran; his brother Philip was already an Aramco employee. Along with the attraction of a tax-free salary, working for Aramco allowed Colin and his wife Sue to make new friends and enjoy leisure time to travel, which they couldn’t have done if they had stayed in England.
“As soon as I arrived in Saudi Arabia, I enrolled in a dive course run by Todd Marlatt and Dennis Keitel,” Colin said in an email interview. “Three days after qualifying, I spent the Id holiday diving in the Red Sea with the Abqaiq Dive Club, a wonderful group of divers who adopted me for the trip.”
Colin became a PADI Dive Instructor in 1988 and certified over 900 divers in 25 years. He served in various club roles, including president, and organized dive trips to the Red Sea, U.A.E., and Oman.
In addition to his participating in diving courses and clubs, Colin also developed an interest in photography during his tenure with Aramco.
An example of Colin Knight’s underwater photography.“My interest in natural history prompted me to buy my first SLR [single-lens reflex (SLR) camera], a Nikon SE2 with a 100mm Micro-nikkor lens, which I still use today on a digital body, in 1983. I learned photography by participating in the monthly competitions run by the Dhahran Camera Group in the early 80s, with guidance of experienced photographers like Roger Farrish and Bruce Bailey,” Colin said. He would go on to become the club’s president and to win awards for Photographer of the Year and Best of Show in 1986.
It seems only natural that Colin would eventually merge his interests in diving and photography.
“I purchased my first Nikonos underwater camera in 1984 to coincide with Bob Neff’s first underwater photo course,” he said. Colin went on to win several awards for his underwater photography, including two gold medals at the United Kingdom’s Brighton Festival International Underwater Photo Competition.
Colin and Sue valued these kinds of experiences offered by the Aramco self-directed groups and the Adult Education Programs during their time in Saudi Arabia, which ended with Colin’s retirement in May of 2008.
Now settled in Littlehampton, West Sussex with a sea view, Colin has added butterfly photography and butterfly conservation to his hobbies, as well as metal detecting on the beach. He and Sue continue to travel and dive around the world.
An example of Colin Knight’s underwater photography. “In 2001 I joined a dive trip to South Africa and saw Great White Sharks off Dyer Island near Gainsbaii (we were in a cage!) and dived the Protoea Banks off the KwaZulu Natal Coast to see the sardine run and the Ragged Toothed Sharks congregating to mate,” Colin said when asked to recall some particularly memorable trips. He also referenced the 2009 KSA Reunion in March as “an amazing photographic experience.”
“I was able to visit places I had ignored while I lived there because I was too busy diving,” Colin explained. “Particularly memorable and photographic places were Abha, Maidan Saleh, Shaybah the Munira Al-Ashgar collection and the Folk Heritage evening.”
Even in retirement, Colin still leads an annual diving trip to the Maldives, an island country in the Indian Ocean.
“I first visited the Maldives in 1986 on a trip organized by Mara Culp to Villingilli Resort. I was so impressed that I organized my first tour there during an Id holiday in 1988; I became addicted to the coral reef diving, the ambience of the tropical islands, and the hospitality of the resort staff,” Colin said. “The Maldives always amazes me, and offer new experiences every time I visit when I see new marine species and capture the photographic results.”
The annual diving trip is now an opportunity for a dive reunion with friends from Saudi Arabia, Australia, and the United Kingdom. If you’re interesting in joining Colin on the Maldive Island Trip, save the date for November 2010.
To keep up with Colin and his travels, visit Colin Knight’s Blog and enjoy his photography at Colin Knight Photo Galleries.