Although he graduated from NUIG more than a year ago, Barry McGill is still tied to his alma mater because of his number one hobby. As a member of one of the college's most successful clubs, the sub aqua club, he still sees his diving buddies regularly and gets involved in club activities.

An avid diver since a family holiday to Minorca in Spain when he was just 16 years of age, Barry has managed to keep diving central to his life throughout school, college and now his work as a diving engineer.

"I always wanted to dive. I knew some older, local divers and people in my family had told me stories. It's a mythical kind of sport, because it seems to people like some kind of black magic – the mystery is because people can't do it themselves."

After returning from the family holiday that began his love of diving, Barry got a job at the Offshore Water Sports dive centre in Mullaghmore, Sligo. "They were very good to me. I couldn't afford to pay as diving is a very expensive hobby, but because I worked there I got loads of experience and ended up being brought out on diving jobs and stuff to assist the dive master."

Once Barry arrived in Galway for college, he immediately joined the NUIG diving club, which he says was "the perfect place" to hone his skills. "Everyone was my age, and normal dive clubs can be hard to get into when you're young. It was great to meet so many other divers my own age."

The club regularly dives and has also undertaken some big trips, such as one to the Orkney Islands in Scotland to see some wrecked German warships. On the way there, the group stopped at Loch Ness to try their luck (unsuccessfully) at finding the monster of legend.

One of Barry's favourite diving experiences has been diving the wreck of the Lusitania. "There was so much history there, it was a very special dive. The bombing of the Lusitania was such a major world event. It's like the Titanic except you can't dive the Titanic without a submarine. I think I was the youngest person to dive it, which was great."

Another memorable experience was finding the lost wreck of the HMS Curacao last October. The Curacao was cut in half by the Queen Mary during World War Two, but covered up by the British government until the war ended. "The wreck was found in 125m of water 55 miles off the north coast of Donegal. Being the first person to see the wreck of the ship since the day it sank in 1942 was a very special moment and one I'll never forget," he says.

Now working as a diving engineer for CEI Collins Engineers in Dublin, Barry gets to spend as much time in the water as out of it. He is involved in designing and inspecting marine and bridge structures underwater, and calls it his "perfect job".

To find out more about the NUIG/GMIT Sub Aqua Club, visit www.galwaydiving.com.

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