Matt Waters - An introduction

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Matt Waters: Hey there dive buddies and welcome to the show.

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I'm Matt waters and I will be your host on Scuba goat. During

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this first episode, I will endeavour to unscramble my ever

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inquisitive mind, and explain how the show came about and what

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you should expect from future episodes. Now, there's a number

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of factors that led to the creation of Scuba goat. But

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first and foremost, it's my absolute passion for diving,

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being subsurface is well and truly my happy place. Secondly,

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if I'm not briefly drooling over Scuba pictures and videos found

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on various social media channels, then I edit in my own

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photos from recent dies and getting excited about the next

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dive. But when will it be with who and where now I lead dive

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expeditions all over the world Thailand, Papua New Guinea,

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South Africa, Galapagos Komodo Raja Ampat for I did until 2020

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kitten and halted all nomadic life on earth. Well, it's at

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this point, I would like to highlight that I founded a Scuba

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booking agency a few years ago, and I have done my utmost to

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visit as many of the operators is possible to gain a feel for

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the location and what is on offer. I'll circle back to this

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in a moment. I tend to be pretty positive about most things in

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life. And even though locked down and travel ban sick,

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especially when you're a travel agent, there has to be something

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positive to be gained. You recur, I can restructure our

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website and tag on the whistles and bells to make it a super

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cool website for when travel starts again. Well, the

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website's almost complete, and we're still no closer to the

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next adventure. So here I said, a Scuba addicted mid 40s chap

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staring at a laptop monitor day in day out, feverishly checking

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for the golden email from Qantas and answering the chequered flag

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on COVID while simultaneously firing the starter's pistol on

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the race to check in for some far off exotic dive location. As

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I mentioned earlier, I'm rather inquisitive, and not very

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patient when it comes to sitting and reading. But if you tell me

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something, and I'm slightly interested, then you have my

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undivided attention. Unbeknownst to him, Joe Rogan is my new best

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friend. He's had my attention almost daily for at least the

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last four months now. And so with several weeks of cabin

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fever under my belt, and my new air buddy, Joe chirping away, a

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smidge of clarity shone through. He's a comedian talking to

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another comedian about comedy. How easy is that? Now, I'm not

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saying comedy is easy, far from it. And I'm definitely not a

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comedian myself. But if you're involved in a conversation where

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the content has you hooked, then surely it must be pretty simple.

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Now, you remember I mentioned my travel agency earlier, I've

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spent a lot of money and time trying to visit as many of the

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operators I promote as possible. And for good reason. Yes, I get

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to dive but more importantly, communication occurs. And I get

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to talk to people, there is something so unique about

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talking that cannot be replicated through scripts and

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pitches. Yes, they are all a source of information. But you

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could argue that they do not contain the feelings of

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excitement, tone, or passion that the spoken word does. For

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example, I could show you some amazing photos of the super pods

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of dolphins, innumerable sharks, humpback whales, and the

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cacophony of noise that comes with a cornered bait ball of

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sardines in South Africa. But absolutely nothing compares to

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actually being in the water and feeling that event. Now in my

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mind's eye, the next best thing to that is hearing firsthand

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what it is like to be there. And so why don't I talk to divers

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about these unique locations and find out what's so special about

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their choice of Scuba paradise. It's at this point that the

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thought processes when it's overdrive once more, I could

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talk to my dive buddies in the industry. I want to expand my

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knowledge on where to dive, I want to tell the world about the

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amazing places I've already been. I want to let my guests

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know that once again, we will dive together. The operators I

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booked with I'm sure they could do with a bit of support right

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now. And the operators have not met. Who are they? Where are

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they? What's it like? The charity organisations that slave

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away tirelessly in pursuit of success could do with a bit of

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support too, I'm sure. But surely all of this information

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can be found online. Well, indeed it can. But as I reach

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for the headphones and start the next episode, I can confidently

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confirm that the excitement that once came with a phone

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notification has given way to the disappointment of knowing

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that it's not a future guest wanting to talk about their

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desire of their next Scuba adventure. merely another

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pointless notification from social media tortuously reminded

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me of last year's Galapagus trip. Maybe I'm just getting

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older, wiser, impatient with the ever increasing infection rate

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of desire to obtain a blue thumb, a red heart or a sideways

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smiley emoji. Either way, I miss talking And I missed the

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excitement of organising people's diver adventures, let

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alone my own. So until I can once more view my phone as a

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friend, until that quantas golden email comes pinging

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through my inbox. Maybe I'm not the only person who wants to

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talk about diving. There's a lot of positives that could be drawn

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out of this little podcast. Let's give it a go. And so Scuba

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goat was created. Nothing grand or corporate, designed or

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created at the kitchen table in Sydney, just an inquisitive 40

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Something diver missing the global travel and wanted to know

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the gossip wanted to help the industry, its guests and

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ultimately wanting to know where the greatest of all time diving

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may be.