Cant be bothered with Colossus

 I recently did a radio interview about my diving exploits- and this wreck, as always, seems to pop up. Little wonder as Colossus is such a famous shipwreck and  formed such a huge part of my life for quite a while too. You see-I found a very substantial part of it and had a lot of fun down there when I had it all to myself. Then, after a couple of years, for various reasons, archaeologists got involved and that destroyed everything. The last straw for me was this photograph. I went from doing what I liked on the wreck-when I liked -to dropping it completely. Why? Well there are numerous reasons but the main reason was the over-bearing authorities and their draconian ways and the paperwork they like to give you that I could well do without in my life. You see, the thing is this- the moment a wreck gets protected the authorities suddenly become very anal about it.  They even think its a sort of privilege to have a site protected. "Hey" they say, cheerily, "you can get a licence to dive it- wont that be great?"  Err, well no, not really.  Its not like they give the finder of a site a licence for life for finding it- no, you have to apply for it every year just like everyone else- and have to tick all their unreasonable boxes to get it as well.. Then you have to report on every visit you make -and on every diver that goes in the water and what was seen. And its not like you can dive it alone any more- like you used to either -no- now you have to have a buddy diver to go in with you and a boatman aboard up top at all times for "safety". Then at the end of a season you have to write a report about all your activities, providing information on everyone involved and their qualifications and details etc etc etc. Its endless unnecessary tick box drivel. Why would anyone want this?-  And god forbid you transgress in anyway shape or form because they are eagerly waiting to pounce. Not only can  I not be bothered with all the above bureaucracy- but when they got all uppity at things like me staging this photograph on the wreck, I'd had enough. All I did was to take off my mask and demand valve to have this picture taken behind one of the cannons. No harm was done at all. The wreck is only 12meters down at low water- so if anything was to go wrong the surface is just a few fin strokes away- moreover-someone like me can just snorkel to it- or duck dive down to it while merely swimming. So why on earth would a photo like this be so upsetting to anyone?  Well after being chastised for having my picture taken- I just dropped the wreck entirely. I also dropped another wreck I found that also had a protected order placed upon it too for the same reasons. I have found that you cannot reason with university type know-it-all's who sit behind desks thinking they are doing you a favour by placing pointless rules upon you -and that look for problems where none exist. Thus nowadays I dive all my other discoveries and try to steer well clear of the people in grey suits... This picture was taken years ago and the only times I have gone anywhere near the wreck in recent years is only if a licence holder approaches me to take them out to it. Im happy to spend time with, and talk to, fellow divers about the wreck- but I will not go into the water now as a matter of principal.  I dont want the bods in my life any more unless its absolutely necessary. Far too much water has gone under the bridge with them. And dont even get me started on archaeologists. They are Holier than thou and anyone who's job is built on recognition cannot be entirely above board.....in my opinion.