Jacques Cousteau admirer dives into life with both feet

Krista Bryce -

Ed Singer of Nanaimo should have webbed feet and gills after spending more than four months of his life underwater for decades.

The avid scuba diver has spent a minimum of 139 days underwater every year during the past 30 years as a commercial and recreational diver in the waters off Vancouver Island.

An admiration for Jacques Cousteau and his underwater documentaries and photographs piqued Singer's interest in the deep blue before he was a teenager.

At the age of 15, Singer started his diving career off the shores of Prince Rupert, where his dad worked as a commercial fishermen during the summers.

A neighbour took the teenager under his wing and introduced him to the world of commercial diving.

The sport would became his career and lifelong passion.

Singer, 45, has logged more than 5,000 commercial and recreational dives, including training thousands of scuba divers, recovering bodies and doing commercial contract work for several municipalities, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada and B.C. Ferries.

Most of all, Singer has been instrumental in helping create Nanaimo's underwater tourism industry, which attracts more than 10,000 divers every year.

Despite the fact Singer spends most of his working hours underwater, it's still his favourite place to play.

"A lot of people burn themselves out, but that part hasn't changed at all for me," said Singer, owner of Sundown Diving.

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