John Vanderleest

Residency: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Diving:

CDAA Cave Diving Instructor
NAUI Instructor
TDI Instructor Trainer

Educational Qualifications:

BSc(Hons) - Biological Science (Entomology)
Post Grad Diploma in Education
Post Grad Diploma in Computing (Software Development)

Publications:

Co-Author - Network Implementation Guide

Co-Author - Australian Vocational Education & Training Management Information Statisitical Standard (5 Volumes)

Co-Author - Job and Course Guides (3 Volumes)

Current Employment:

Management Consultant

Diving Overview:

As a lad, I spent most of my spare time clambering up some cliff face. However, as the years progressed, I began to realise that I had a natural disposition to peel off the rock and plumet back down to earth, generally causing much damage to my person. During one such revelation period, I was fortunate enough to land in water, saving me from yet another extended period in hospital. This time I only needed to be revived from a near drowning.

Being a lateral thinker, I hypothesised that if I climbed underwater, I wouldn't be hurt when I fell. And so began my wet climbing career. However, this was short lived. I found that after a few hundred feet, things started getting difficult again. The amount of scuba gear needed for the depths made the climbing back up difficult. Being a purist, I refused to use a bouyancy compensator. I needed to think laterally again if I was going to make this work.

And so, cave diving come into the scene. Lots of rock, soft landing and definitely lateral.

My cave diving career has followed a normal progression for a city lad. Starting first in the rain puddles outside my house, I progressed to exploring the drain pipes in our street. Naturally, this lead to bigger pipes and as luck would have it, my first ruptured pipe. This particular rupture lead me into the dark and wonderful expanses of the unknown, deep below the footpaths of our the next suburb. The concept of going where no man has gone before was appealing. And so an adventurer was born.

After mapping every lead from every known ruptured pipe in my city, I set my sites on bigger things. Systematically, I made my way around the world, exploring the leads from ruptured pipes in several countries. During one such trip to Florida, a pipe that I had been pushing was finally walled. Well, when I say walled, I mean the pipe finished pouring into the wall of a cave system. Although a stange concept to me, I thought that exploring a cave might be fun for a change. And so once again, a whole new sport was opened to me.

During the past few years I have spent several months each year working "at home." Fortunately, my boss is yet to notice that my home address keeps changing between Australia, Mexico, Florida and the Middle East.

For this trip, I have told him that I am doing an "In-depth Analysis of Fluid Trends in Otherwise Rock Steady Environments." Which is kind of the truth.

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