As we look welcome 2026 and share our plans, I want to start by looking back at 2025.
My plans post for 2025 was a big bold plan to achieve my bucket list for scuba diving whilst not actually retiring. It required cutting right back at work to 18 weeks and careful planning, but that started back in 2022 when I made the decision.
So did I achieve my plans? Not quite, but back to that later.
I did 255 dives, over 6 trips, in 4 continents, and 10 countries. That is more than 25% of my dive count to date. I started the year with 791 dives in the log book and finished with 1045!
- Jan / Feb Thailand and Indonesia.
- Mar / Apr Phillipines and Micronesia
- May Lanzarote with my home buddy and daughter
- July dives at home in N Ireland
- August in Mexico
- September in Eygpt
- Nov / Dec Singapore and Australia including 3 weeks on the Great Barrier Reef
And what about work? We decided on 18 weeks and I delivered. I supported projects with content and advice, I planned and delivered at Oracle CloudWorld London, Ascend and Kscope, HR tech (a new conference for me), and AI World in Las Vegas. I supported our AI capability build and am currently running a major study on EBS customers which I will present on this Spring.
Whilst not technically working I also, with ACE funding support, joined the Latin America Oracle Tour, presenting in Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and Guatemala. I returned to South Africa for their event and then when in Australia for my last dive trip, I was also able to preset at the AUSOUG event in Perth. All this enabled me to retain my ACE Director which was one of the goals.
My bucket list was about experiences rather than just places. And some of the highlights were amazing adventures with Whale Sharks, and learning to muck dive in Indonesia. Both of these I talked about in my 'Joel Kallman Day' post.
I dived Historic wrecks in Chuuk Lagoon in Micronesia and was memorised by how respectful it was to history.
The Great Barrier Reef was a must and I was not disappointed, I travelled to the far North of Australia and dived places that don't even have names, it is so rare people go there, and travelled over 3 weeks down the reef back to Cairns and then went further out to the Coral Sea. Yes I saw some damage but deliberately visited places that have recovered or avoided damage.
As well as reaching my 1,000 dive milestone, I also dived with Dolphins which has alluded me in my dive career to date, that was so special.
I spent time diving with my daughter who is newer to diving, along with my local dive buddy who simply is the reason I keep going.
I have made many new friend and will dive with many again I hope. I have also had more time and been able to catch up with many people throughout the year, including several in Australia. And virtually, my friends have followed my adventure on Facebook and given me advice and ideas, like the man who was part if my original dive training who told me how to in Weedy Sea Dragons in Sydney, which I managed to fit in, before going on the boat.
So why did I say I hadn't quite achieved my goals? Well what I learnt in 2025 is that I am not too old for diving, I met many older than me, and actually feel fitter than at the start of the year. My bucket list is not complete in fact I have added to it!
So with those two important lessons, and continued support from Inoapps, 2026 will follow the same pattern. Just 18 weeks work and a lot of diving. But first a period of time at home, working on some of the projects in the home and with my daughter that got out on hold in 2025.
