26,000 times under waves for Maltese dive teacher

A Maltese diver has been honoured by international diving association PADI after logging an incredible 26,000 dives.

I couldn’t imagine going on holiday to a place where I couldn’t dive

Joseph Chircop, known as Derek to his friends, logged his 26,000th dive on Monday, but speaking about his feat during the PADI ceremony on Saturday, he momentarily forgot where his milestone dive had taken place.

“It was Ċirkewwa,” he exclaimed eventually, after checking with his colleagues at Scubatech Diving Centre in St Paul’s Bay, where he was visited by a PADI representative.

The son of a naval diver, Mr Chircop first dived under the waves in St George’s Bay at the age of 11.

He is unsure if any other Maltese divers have bettered his feat, but when he reached 25,000 dives in 2010, a British magazine pub-lished an article about him and asked its readers to come forward if they had logged more. No one did.

Despite being a partner in Scubatech and a qualified instructor, Mr Chircop looks at diving as a hobby rather than a job. He plans his holidays around diving and has visited Thailand, South Africa, Indonesia and Malyasia on diving trips in recent years.

“I couldn’t imagine going on holiday to a place where I couldn’t dive,” he chuckled.

Asked about his most memorable dive, Mr Chircop’s mind drifted back to the 10 years he spent working as an instructor in the Maldives.

His son, then 18, came to visit and Mr Chircop took him on his first dive.

“We were surrounded by 50 to 60 manta rays when a whale shark suddenly came out of nowhere. That was a great moment to share with my son,” he said.

On the subject of sharks, Mr Chicop dived with oceanic black tips and fearsome tiger sharks in South Africa, “but I don’t consider them dangerous at all”, he said.

He struggles to name a favourite place for diving around the Maltese Islands, saying Ċirkewwa, Gozo and Comino all have some great diving spots offering different attractions.

Asked how many dives he hopes to log in his lifetime, Mr Chircop says he has no idea but he isn’t aiming for any records.

“I dive because I love it. The day I get bored of diving I will stop, but I know that day will never come.”