Live chat with adventurer and diver Ellis Emmett

Hi everyone, this live chat will be getting underway at 12pm. Keep those questions coming!

Hi. Anybody out there? Feel like I’m standing on the edge of space shouting out into the universe!

Thanks for joining us today Ellis. Let’s get started with the first question.

Hello Stuff, Ellis 🙂 Thanks for coming together to host this talk. I don’t have a Tv, so just found this through Stuff- looks like a fantastic series, Descending! As someone who is looking forward to getting into Scuba- very simple question: SSI or PADI? 🙂 I’m in Chch, is there a course here your recommend? Also, Ellis- LOVE your tree house- well done!

To be honest, I’ve done training with both PADI and SSI and I would recommend either. As you know, Christchurch and its dive shops are turned upside down at the moment so just jump online and talk to some instructors.

What are your favourite places to dive here in NZ?

The Poor Knights for the North Island, hard to beat for marine life. And for the south, Fiordland holds so many secrets and diversity.

How long have you been diving for? And how did you get started?

I did my first basic dive cert at the age of 16. I remember being pretty scared to go diving initially but I just kept at it until I felt like a fish haha.

Feel just at home under the water as I do above!

I’m keen on the thought of getting into diving, but is it a costly thing to do?

Diving isn’t the cheapest sport around. But to be honest if you’re not really sure you want to take it up try free diving first. There’s not much equipment needed and you can have just as much fun close to the surface. The majority of marine life and colour is in the top few metres of water.

What is your all time favourite place to dive and why?

Oh god… ? After having dived so many places, it truly is a hard question to answer. For diversity of life, I would have to say Indonesia. For shipwrecks, the Solomons is hard to beat. And for history, the wooden shipwrecks of the Great Lakes, North America blew my mind.

Hi, I’ve been a keen snorkeler since childhood and I’ve also been diving for the last 6 years. I vividly remember coral and fish life being way more diverse and colourful as a child. I grew up in South Africa so spent holidays snorkeling in Mozambique and the Comores Islands. I remember heaps of devilfish, amazing colours and huge underwater mushrooms. I haven’t returned there in a long time but no other diving spots I’ve been to gets close to that. I’ve dived in Rarotonga, Samoa, Fiji and Cozumel (Mexico). Where have all the soft coral and fish gone? Or am I just looking in the wrong spots?

To be honest, I don’t pretend to be any expert on marine biology, but after travelling all over the world, diving and speaking to countless locals, this was a reoccurring theme.

I’m looking at doing a trip to South America at some stage. Have you dived any memorable spots over there?

Not yet! Maybe Descending season two ??

Hey Mate, were you involved much in the production of the show, on the gear side of things? How much of a challenge was it to dive with those considerations? Camera, sound, lighting. Example, did it limit the length of dives or complicate what you wanted to do to make sure Andre captured it?

We were a pretty small crew on the ground, so pretty much everyone in our team had to be multi-faceted. It would be challenging to film this show in all the locations we went to on land, to take it under water and film while diving throws in so many more challenges. Also adding salt water and wet, moving and unpredictable environments, and highly specialised equipment is a recipe for disaster. We had more than our fair share!

What’s the one spot you haven’t been able to get to but is on your bucket list?

My bucket’s full of places I haven’t been yet! A common misconception is many people believe we’ve been, done and seen it all. The truth is we’ve barely scratched the surface.

However, if I had to pick one, that would be diving under the ice in Antarctica. It was on our list for Descending season one, but fell through. Fingers crossed for season two!

Hi, any idea when we will see the documentary in NZ, I have enjoyed watching the Canadian boys and their adventures.

Try turning on your TV tonight sometime. Travel Channel 025. Sorry I don’t know what time … I know that’s bad!! I hate watching myself! 🙂

what is the most dangerous situation you have found yourself in while diving

When we were filming in Iceland, we were diving the caldera of an extinct volcano. To our knowledge no one had ever before been to the bottom of this submerged volcanic cone ….

We were all down about 100 feet, it was bloody freezing, about 2 degrees and that was on the surface. My regulator froze and I had to do an emergency ascent.

Spent a bit of time quietly sipping oxygen and making peace with the world 🙂

Hi Ellis 🙂 Can you share a funny story/experience you’ve had with a creature..that you probably didn’t expect to have? Just curious…

We had so many amazing experiences with marine creatures. To be honest I’m pretty passionate about the life under the ocean and I am a pretty hands-on guy, so when I see a creature, even if it looks big, ugly and mean, like it will probably bite you, I can’t help myself but to get up close and personal …

I had an amazing experience in Indonesia where a massive mantaray swam over me and the bubbles from my breathing started tickling its belly. “She” seemed to like it and literally settled on top of me! An amazing experience with a truly wild creature.

Hi there. Couple of questions for you. I am heading to Flores at Christmas time and intend on heading to Kamodo National Park and the surrounding area. Any thoughts/advice on diving in this region? I am fairly experienced and have dived a bunch around Indo so would love some extra ideas. Also, I have dived the Red Sea off Southern Egypt and have heard rumors of how good the diving is further south around Eritrea and Socotra. With your experience in this region, how would you rate this compared to Indonesia? Speaking of Indonesia, where is the best diving and biodiversity in your opinion. My brother is currently in Alor and reckons its can’t be beaten. I loved North Sulawesi but would certainly be keen to here your thoughts. Thanks a lot Simon

That sounds like an awesome trip! Do you want a dive buddy?? That area is on my bucket list too …

For Descending, we dived the Red Sea in Djibouti and Sudan. The marine life, colours and diversity were amazing. I would definitely rate it right up there with Indo but maybe not quite as diverse in terms of species …

We dived two main locations in Indonesia, my pick was Raja Ampat. However it sounds like you’re gonna have a blast wherever you go.

Have you tested your shark repellant pink flippers outside the cage yet?

Yes, plenty of times! The first time I ever shark-dived was here in New Zealand with a bunch of hungry bronze whalers. I remember sea kayaking to this spot where fishermen always saw them. I flopped over the side of my sea kayak just with snorkel and my pink “anti-shark” fins. I didn’t really think I would see any sharks and the water was pretty murky but literally within seconds one turned up and took particular interest in my fins! …

I swam for about an hour and another one turned up. This one was a little more interested and at some point it got a little too close so had to give it a wee push with my fins. This did the trick! So ever since, I called them my “anti-shark” fins 🙂

Can I dive if I have asthma?

Yes, but …

To be honest I have no idea, ask your doctor 🙂

What range of jobs or revenue gathering employment opportunities exist with being a diver?

Hard to use your inhaler down there!! But maybe you can connect it to your snorkel 🙂

Being a diver can take you almost anywhere in the world. From heavy duty commercial type diving at one extreme to tourism diving at the other, and everything in between. It’s a fantastic way to travel the world and there are lots of options.

Can I join you on season 2??

YES! …

But probably from your living room 🙂

That’s all we’ve got time for today. Thanks so much Ellis for your time and thanks to everyone who submitted a question.

Good luck everyone! Thanks for your questions. Go out there and get wet!