Matt Waters - An introduction - S01 E01

Matt Waters: A little story on how the Scuba GOAT podcast came about

Matt Waters is a multi-agency scuba diving instructor, travel agency owner and now podcast host.  Matt has certified hundreds of recreational divers and conducted 1,000’s of dives around the world.  With a true passion for the Ocean and its inhabitants, Matt needs little excuse to don his dive gear and get those fins wet and when he’s not submerged he’s generally doing something dive related, whether that be tinkering with cameras, scoping out new bucket-list locations, organising expeditions and bookings or simply catching up with dive buddies.  It’s fair to say that he’s a little bit addicted to the Ocean.

Podcasting is an easy way to keep in touch.  Right?

Forging my way through these uncharted waters seemed quite daunting at first, and so without much knowledge, I dived into my first attempts at recording an episode with a good mate, Jason Fondis who is based on the beautiful island of Nusa Penida, Indonesia.  Nusa Penida is contactable, however, two blokes chatting via zoom, with very little experience of recording audio was just plain hilarious! I think it took us 5 attempts to overcome connection issues, background interference, audio drop-outs and blips, my lack of Audacity knowledge let alone knowing how to alter the Loudness or use the effects, generators, analysers and tools.  Thankfully I chose the best person to torture with continuous repeats of the recording efforts, Jase is naturally a hilarious chap and always has something to say, so it was bloody good fun.

Whilst struggling to finalise Jason’s episode a couple of friends reached out as they had exciting news about a shark finning campaign that they were spearheading in the UK.  Brendon Sing and his wife Elizabeth are the Directors of Shark Guardian and it was a no brainer to include them in the show.  Only 2 recordings this time.  Since recording their episode, Shark Guardian has been successful in its bid to ban the import/ export of Sharkfin across the UK borders.

Transcript

Matt Waters: 0:01

Hey there dive buddies and welcome to the show. I'm Matt waters and I will be your host on Scuba goat. During this first episode, I will endeavour to unscramble my ever inquisitive mind, and explain how the show came about and what you should expect from future episodes. Now, there's a number of factors that led to the creation of Scuba goat. But first and foremost, it's my absolute passion for diving, being subsurface is well and truly my happy place. Secondly, if I'm not briefly drooling over Scuba pictures and videos found on various social media channels, then I edit in my own photos from recent dies and getting excited about the next dive. But when will it be with who and where now I lead dive expeditions all over the world Thailand, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Galapagos Komodo Raja Ampat for I did until 2020 kitten and halted all nomadic life on earth. Well, it's at this point, I would like to highlight that I founded a Scuba booking agency a few years ago, and I have done my utmost to visit as many of the operators is possible to gain a feel for the location and what is on offer. I'll circle back to this in a moment. I tend to be pretty positive about most things in life. And even though locked down and travel ban sick, especially when you're a travel agent, there has to be something positive to be gained. You recur, I can restructure our website and tag on the whistles and bells to make it a super cool website for when travel starts again. Well, the website's almost complete, and we're still no closer to the next adventure. So here I said, a Scuba addicted mid 40s chap staring at a laptop monitor day in day out, feverishly checking for the golden email from Qantas and answering the chequered flag on COVID while simultaneously firing the starter's pistol on the race to check in for some far off exotic dive location. As I mentioned earlier, I'm rather inquisitive, and not very patient when it comes to sitting and reading. But if you tell me something, and I'm slightly interested, then you have my undivided attention. Unbeknownst to him, Joe Rogan is my new best friend. He's had my attention almost daily for at least the last four months now. And so with several weeks of cabin fever under my belt, and my new air buddy, Joe chirping away, a smidge of clarity shone through. He's a comedian talking to another comedian about comedy. How easy is that? Now, I'm not saying comedy is easy, far from it. And I'm definitely not a comedian myself. But if you're involved in a conversation where the content has you hooked, then surely it must be pretty simple. Now, you remember I mentioned my travel agency earlier, I've spent a lot of money and time trying to visit as many of the operators I promote as possible. And for good reason. Yes, I get to dive but more importantly, communication occurs. And I get to talk to people, there is something so unique about talking that cannot be replicated through scripts and pitches. Yes, they are all a source of information. But you could argue that they do not contain the feelings of excitement, tone, or passion that the spoken word does. For example, I could show you some amazing photos of the super pods of dolphins, innumerable sharks, humpback whales, and the cacophony of noise that comes with a cornered bait ball of sardines in South Africa. But absolutely nothing compares to actually being in the water and feeling that event. Now in my mind's eye, the next best thing to that is hearing firsthand what it is like to be there. And so why don't I talk to divers about these unique locations and find out what's so special about their choice of Scuba paradise. It's at this point that the thought processes when it's overdrive once more, I could talk to my dive buddies in the industry. I want to expand my knowledge on where to dive, I want to tell the world about the amazing places I've already been. I want to let my guests know that once again, we will dive together. The operators I booked with I'm sure they could do with a bit of support right now. And the operators have not met. Who are they? Where are they? What's it like? The charity organisations that slave away tirelessly in pursuit of success could do with a bit of support too, I'm sure. But surely all of this information can be found online. Well, indeed it can. But as I reach for the headphones and start the next episode, I can confidently confirm that the excitement that once came with a phone notification has given way to the disappointment of knowing that it's not a future guest wanting to talk about their desire of their next Scuba adventure. merely another pointless notification from social media tortuously reminded me of last year's Galapagus trip. Maybe I'm just getting older, wiser, impatient with the ever increasing infection rate of desire to obtain a blue thumb, a red heart or a sideways smiley emoji. Either way, I miss talking And I missed the excitement of organising people's diver adventures, let alone my own. So until I can once more view my phone as a friend, until that quantas golden email comes pinging through my inbox. Maybe I'm not the only person who wants to talk about diving. There's a lot of positives that could be drawn out of this little podcast. Let's give it a go. And so Scuba goat was created. Nothing grand or corporate, designed or created at the kitchen table in Sydney, just an inquisitive 40 Something diver missing the global travel and wanted to know the gossip wanted to help the industry, its guests and ultimately wanting to know where the greatest of all time diving may be.