Expand your world, take the plunge! That’s the message scuba diving enthusiast Weldon Wade has for his fellow Islanders.

He’ll speak on Diving With a Purpose at this weekend’s TedX Bermuda conference.

Mr Wade, a systems analyst at Argus Insurance, first tried scuba diving eight years ago.

“When I dropped down to the bottom of the sea floor, I was fascinated, excited and also mad,” the 36-year-old said. “I was mad because I’d taken so long to try it. I realised the underwater realm was vast and beautiful.”

The discovery of scuba diving came at a time in his life when he was feeling claustrophobic living on an island 21 square miles long. In fact, he was getting ready to expand his horizons by moving abroad. Scuba diving was an item on his bucket list of things to try before he left.

The moment he found himself on the bottom of the sea, a whole new part of Bermuda opened up.

“Mainland Bermuda may be 21 square miles long, but we have 200 square miles of reef,” he said.

Despite that experience, Mr Wade relocated to Toronto, Canada in 2006. He moved back to Bermuda three years later, and scuba diving became his life’s passion.

He’s now certified to master scuba diver rating at the recreational level and is in the process of becoming certified at the commercial level. He also formed an organisation called Bermuda Ocean Explorers that aims to encourage more locals to try diving and to keep diving once they do.

“Before I tried scuba diving I would swim and do a little bit of snorkelling, but I had no one in my family or circle of friends to introduce me to scuba diving,” he said. “Before, I was afraid of the rocks in the water because they looked jagged and scary. Once I realised what was under the surface of the water, the rocks stopped being scary.”

Now he spends a lot of time shore diving, exploring underwater tunnels that run through the reefs off the South Shore.

Mr Wade said there are programmes to encourage young people to become certified, but once those young people reach a certain age they often drop out of the sport.

“There is a drop off when it is time to invest in the hobby, because it is quite an expensive hobby,” he said. He likened the cost of scuba diving to golfing.

A dive cylinder, wetsuit and other items can drive the cost upward of $1,000. Add to that the cost of boat excursions out to dive sites — around $150 per person per time.

Mr Wade has gotten around the latter cost by signing up for membership with a dive company for around $1,300 a year.

“After about nine excursions, the membership has paid for itself,” he said.

He dives at least twice a week and helps other people get around the excursion fees by arranging shore diving excursions through BOE.

“If you are entering the water from the shore it is practically free, once you have all your own kit,” he said.

He believes that divers sometimes stop going out to dive in Bermuda, because they get bored.

“Once you’ve seen the wrecks, you’ve seen them and you might not want to go out and see them again for awhile,” said Mr Wade. “That’s sightseeing. It might encourage more divers to keep at it if we sank more wrecks creating new dive sites or created underwater sculpture parks, like they have in other places. I’ll bet if you put down a sculpture of Johnny Barnes, or Lois Browne Evans, lots of divers would be interested in diving there.”

BOE creates activity in the diving community by offering ‘diving for a purpose’ activities such as lionfish hunts and marine trash collection events.

“In the last three years, we have done a lot,” he said. “We are not a charity. We are mostly just a group of friends. Outside of diving we have been part of the Catlin End to End Walk; we have a water stop at Ariel Sands [and we’ve] partnered with Westmeath Residential and Nursing Home. We give money to help kids get involved in ocean-related things. Earlier this year, we sponsored university student Winston Godwin to take part in a sailing expedition.”

He feels the group is succeeding in its mission to bring more life to the sport in Bermuda.

“By hosting these events, we give divers something new and exciting to do,” he said. “People are getting involved and into diving. It’s also giving divers that might have had their gear stored collecting dust for a while a reason to dust off their kit and get back into it.”

For more information about BOE see their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/bermudaoceanexplorers or www.bermudaoceanexplorers.org.

TedX Bermuda takes place on Saturday at the Fairmont Southampton. For more information see www.tedxbermuda.com. Tickets are available at www.ptix.bm.