Growing up in Limerick, Tom Moore's childhood had a common feature with many of his friends: summers spent in Kilkee. Every day spent at the County Clare resort was an education for Tom, and watching the divers there instilled in him an interest in the sport that resurfaced years later.

Now living in Galway, Tom has been involved with the Galway Sub Aqua Club since 1990. "It was always something I wanted to do. I'd been snorkelling since a young age and I was no longer fit for field sports, so, like a lot of people in their 30s, I took up diving," he explains.

Seeing an ad for the club in a local newspaper, Tom went along to one of the annual recruitment meetings the club holds every year. Getting involved quickly, he took part in the inside winter training courses run by the club, re-learning to snorkel first, and gradually accustoming himself to genuine diving. Now, he loves to dive, and takes every opportunity he can.

Ireland, he says, has some of the best diving in the world, with a huge amount of flora and fauna off the West Coast in particular. However, he has made several visits to the Egyptian resort of Sharm-El-Sheikh to dive off a very different coastline.

"It's not always the same, it depends on the time of year. The last time I was there, just before Christmas, we swam with hammerhead sharks. You would rarely see the sharks as they only surface for a few weeks and spend the rest of the time very deep, so it was great. There are beautiful coral reefs there, and you get lots of colourful tropical fish," he says.

Tom has also dived off Cuba, which, he says, was broadly similar to the Red Sea, with colourful tropical fish. Other club members, he says, visit the Pacific and further afield.

The club organises a regular dive every Sunday both winter and summer, staying within driving distance. Driving distance from Galway, however, includes some of Ireland's best diving sites, off the Clare coast to the south, and Killary Harbour to the north. There are also six or seven annual trips to places like Rathlin Island off the north coast or the Blaskets off the Kerry coast.

Being president, Tom says, is mainly an honorary title. He is quick to point out that, in any diving club, the main responsibilities fall to the diving officer, the equipment officer, and the training officer, who have the majority of 'on-the-ground duties'.

The Galway Sub Aqua Club is more than just a recreational club, however. The club has a major role in operating the recompression chamber at UHG, which is currently closed, and also in Garda search and recovery operations where the Garda Sub Aqua Unit may not be available.

To find out more, visit www.galwaysubaquaclub.com.

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