We are now in the middle of our 3rd lockdown in less than a year and Covid-19 is playing havoc with our lives, our economy, our businesses and our dreams. We are all tired of it and want it to end and yes there are sparks of light appearing. So while we struggle to cope with the “new normal” it gives us time to look and acknowledge what we have and be thankful for.
Embarr at Anchor West Cork 2011
Recently I found myself trawling back over the last 10 full years of Graham and I operating Oceanaddicts. We welcomed many dive tourists from Ireland and overseas to come and enjoy the dive sites and the beautiful town of Kinsale. Introducing new people to diving through our PADI training and seeing them wonder at the marine environment that captivated both Graham and I over 30 years ago was so gratifying. Most of all we made some amazing people and made lots of new friends.
When we both lost our jobs in 2009 we decided to take a bold step and set up Oceanaddicts. Our family worried about us, some of our friends thought we were crazy and the advice form financial advisors was we would be better off putting our money in the bank and living off it until it ran out, because they said we would never see a return on our investment (they were probably right).
We went ahead in any case finding and purchasing Embarr and sailing her back form England in February 2010. We didn’t know how long our adventure would last but we decided to live the Adventure anyway. We were inspired by the divers who came to dive with us, we found the challenge rewarding if a lot of hard work. We mostly achieved the outcomes we wanted, but we had to adapt and change along the way.
In 2019 thanks to your our valued customers and friends we had or best season since starting Oceanaddicts and things were looking good for 2020. When we exhibited in Duikvaker in The Netherlands in February and Dive Ireland in March (just before the 1st lockdown) we had no idea the storm that was heading our way.
Again we had to adapt to new restrictions, new satanizing routines, facilitate social distancing etc. Again thanks to you our divers we survived the year. I read somewhere, sometime that innovation happens on the edge and we are most certainly in the edge with uncertainty seemly being the only certainty. So now we are embracing this uncertainty as an opportunity, knowing that we still have the fantastic dive sites we always had, we can still have the beautiful town of Kinsale, but most of all we know divers still want to go diving.
We are looking forward to the season, and are ready to embrace the challenges it will no doubt bring. When the lock down’s are over we will be diving again, enjoying the fun and banter on the boat, our beautiful marine environment and enjoying a meal and a pint with you our diving friends. For now we must stay at home but we look forward to warm calm diving days and seeing you all again soon.
If you follow us on social media over the next few weeks we will be looking back over the last 10 years of Oceanaddicts posting memories we would love to share with you until the time when we can make lots more happy diving memories together.
Until then Stay Safe and thank you for all your support
Anne & Graham
