Surface Time with Stephanie

During the Surface Time today, I caught up with Kay Burn Lim for some coffee while he was transiting through Singapore for a quick dip in Sipadan, Malaysia. We first met at an underwater photography competition in Timor Leste over 10 years ago. Back then he was a hobbyist photographer and clearly a talented one as he participated and won the competition. My little claim of fame is that I was his support diver. So a decade on, he is now an award-winning cinematographer and highly regarded Mr. Inspector Gadget.

It was amazing to hear how he has evolved from a hobbyist photographer to cinematographer, contributing to several shows that many of us have enjoyed in our own living room. He has certainly left an impression that “travelling light” could be a reality for scuba divers. So we shall see.

Connect with Kay Burn Lim

W: https://www.kayburn.blog

VM: https://vimeo.com/kayburn

IG: https://www.instagram.com/kayburn/

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Hello. I am Stephanie Luo. Welcome to Series 2 of "Surface Time : Confessions of a Diving Junkie".

Series 1 was a complete whirlwind. It started with me sharing the idea of creating this passion project with a few close friends who happen to be scuba divers.

Somewhat half-heartedly at the time as I was not sure how to kick things off. Then within the following weeks, I found myself connecting with the old friends, making new acquaintances and starting to create the content. Everyone has been generous with their time, suggestions and supports. They literally gave me no room for self-doubt or even procrastination.

When you listen to each episode, you will find that scuba diving is always the starting point of dialogue. Beside that it is distinctively noticeable that perhaps because of the shared love for the underwater world, people are naturally very generous in sharing their stories and experiences.

Poetically, we could call each episode a love letter to life and conscious living. Even if you're not a scuba diver, you could still somehow relate to or resonate with the stories and life philosophies. I have also noticed that each series shares a subtle common theme, piecing all episodes together. In Series 2, that common theme is "Following Your Heart". In essence my guests were sharing their own version of "Following Your Heart".

Like Kay Burn Lim, in the space of a decade, he has evolved from a non-diving related business owner to an award-winning cinematographer.

Emma Dabbadie, a Marine biologist, who has dreamt for a long time to get on Tara, a floating research laboratory, to do more scientific research on microbiomes.

For Gary Stokes of OceansAsia, his heart has led him to adopt "Aggressive non-violence" approach to raise awareness and save the environment.

The future generation leader, Natasha Grabner, at the tender age of 15 has already set her mind on "work should be fun".

Gary Tyson who used to be a land-based professional photographer has now taken his creativity into the underwater world.

Tune in to hear their stories in full.

Let their stories tickle your curiosity and imaginations. Be inspired to live your life with courage, love, and joy.

And it will be fab to show us some love by sharing Surface Time with your friends and family, and even your worst enemy, if you have one. Just to soften them up.

And thank you for listening. Enjoy the Confessions. Ciao!

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E: [email protected]

It has been a bit of whirlwind ride to produce "Surface Time : Confessions of a Diving Junkie". In this last episode of Series 1, Stephanie is sharing her answers to questions from her guests.

We hope that you have enjoyed the dialogues in Series 1. In the meantime, we would like to leave you with something to ponder, contemplate or even procrastinate on:

30-40 years from now, when you look back on everything you’ve done, what do you want to be?

We will be back in late August / early September for Series 2 with more fun and entertaining stories.

In the meantime:

Connect with Stephanie

If you would like to learn scuba diving or go diving with Stephanie, please feel free to get in touch by DM to:

IG: @stephaniepalmo

E: [email protected]

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In this follow up episode, Sharon Kwok answers the 5 insightful questions that Stephanie asks all her guests:

1) Aside your diving gears, what are the 3 items that you always take on a diving trip?

2) What are your 3 top-tip on safe-diving practice?

3) What is your greatest fear?

4) What is your greatest extravagance?

5) What do you value most in friend?

Connect with Sharon

W: https://www.aquameridian.org/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/AquaMeridianHK

IG: https://www.instagram.com/sharon_kwok_aquameridian/

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I sat down with Sharon Kwok for a cuppa as she was fresh off the boat from Raja Ampat and en route back to Hong Kong. Sharon is an artist well-known in Hong Kong public broadcasting and cinematic fields. As a conservationist, she unapologetically leverages her connections with public and private sectors to support her marine and wildlife conservation works and to influence changes. Her passion and commitment to marine and wildlife conservation is infectious. It is totally cool to catch this bug.

Connect with Sharon

W: https://www.aquameridian.org/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/AquaMeridianHK

IG: https://www.instagram.com/sharon_kwok_aquameridian/

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TG: https://t.me/surfacetimechats

TW: @surfacetimechat (no “s”)

E: [email protected]

In this follow up episode, Magnus answers the 5 insightful questions that Stephanie asks all her guests:

1) Aside your diving gears, what are the 3 items that you always take on a diving trip?

2) What are your 3 top-tip on safe-diving practice?

3) What is your greatest fear?

4) What is your greatest extravagance?

5) What do you value most in friend?

Connect with Magnus

W: https://500px.com/p/wiker?view=photos

IG: https://www.instagram.com/photowiker/

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TW: @surfacetimechat (no “s”)

E: [email protected]

Magnus Akerblom-Wiker is passionate about creating and collecting memorable moments and convey these through his photography. At work, he leads a team of software engineers to develop solutions for many world problems. To him, the creative process that he has to go through as a software engineer is the same as when he works for his editorial photographs. You start with nothing and create something out of it. The word “explorer” is an understatement when we use it to describe him. His love to learn new things is purely driven by his curiosity. His commitment to stay curious so that he can stay creative is inspiring.

Connect with Magnus

W: https://500px.com/p/wiker?view=photos

IG: https://www.instagram.com/photowiker/

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TG: https://t.me/surfacetimechats

TW: @surfacetimechat (no “s”)

E: [email protected]

In this follow up episode, Margaret answers the 5 insightful questions that Stephanie asks all her guests:

1) Aside your diving gears, what are the 3 items that you always take on a diving trip?

2) What are your 3 top-tip on safe-diving practice?

3) What is your greatest fear?

4) What is your greatest extravagance?

5) What do you value most in friend?

Connect with us:

W: https://www.surfacetimechats.com/

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IG: @surfacetimechats or https://www.instagram.com/surfacetimechats/

TG: https://t.me/surfacetimechats

TW: @surfacetimechat (no “s”)

E: [email protected]

Surface Time with my dear friend Margaret Murphy, who is a scientist, trained in zoology and toxicology and now works in the space of science policies in Washington DC, the epic centre of US politics. Although she claims to be a reluctant diver, her scientist-curiosity has always kept her entertained and fascinated by the marine diversity. I probed for her view on plastic pollution and vegetarianism, and I genuinely love how she shared a well-balanced and objective executive summary of these complex topics. In short, if we want to live a life where our blue planet remains a beautiful place or even better, we need to do our part in dealing with climate emergency, starting from right now.

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TW: @surfacetimechat (no “s”)

E: [email protected]

In this follow up episode, Nico answers the 5 insightful questions that Stephanie asks all her guests:

1) Aside your diving gears, what are the 3 items that you always take on a diving trip?

2) What are your 3 top-tip on safe-diving practice?

3) What is your greatest fear?

4) What is your greatest extravagance?

5) What do you value most in friend?

Connect with Nico

W: https://nicoderouge.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/nicoderouge.photo/

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TW: @surfacetimechat (no “s”)

E: [email protected]