Andy Torbet spent ten years as a paratrooper, diver and bomb disposal officer in the British Forces before turning his hand to filmmaking and presenting. Using his skills as a pro diver and skydiver, he has travelled around the world to go on extreme and technical adventures for the likes of the BBC, Discover and The History Channel. Highly skilled and meticulously trained, he makes a beeline for the most hostile environments in order to share these bizarre, alien or remote places with the world.

Oceanographic sat down with Andy to discover more about the man behind the mettle.

Oceanographic Magazine (OM): Do you think a sense of adventure is innate in humans?

Andy Torbet (AT): I would like to think so. However, I think to a certain extent we’ve almost bred it. From an evolutionary standpoint the desire to explore new areas, to find food, prey and resources – I think natural selection would have would have selected for that, which is why humans move and spread out. So, I think a sense of exploration is instinctive. But going to seek adventure for adventure’s sake? As humans we need a certain level of stress, it’s just got to be the right sort. For example, going to the gym and then resting in order to get stronger and improve. I think people are now looking for these kinds of challenges and stresses through adventure, because we don’t get them in our daily lives anymore. If life is too easy, that can cause a different kind of  low-lying stress because we’re not built for that, we’re built to go and find food and avoid being eaten by saber-toothed tigers. Adventure is subjective as well, it depends on what you’ve done and what you’re capable of doing – what one person finds quite mundane someone else might find adventurous. But I think having the occasional adventure, basically makes you happier.

OM: Do you go diving alone?

AT: Yes, I do dive a lot on my own. When deep diving or cave diving, there aren’t many differences between going alone or diving with a team. The principle is the same, you have to be wholly self-reliant because chances are, people can’t get to you in time to sort out any problems. Often the caves in the UK are so tight and the visibility is so bad that even if someone is in front of you,  they can’t turn around to get back to you or get past you to help. I by myself alone a lot and even in teams I’m still effectively diving solo. When solo diving, I’m in complete control and if anything goes wrong, it’s up to me. The buddy system is important but if you’re relying on them to sort something out if it goes wrong, then you’re putting an immense amount of pressure on that person if that’s your first option.

OM: Have you ever got lost while diving in caves?

AT: Only once. Getting lost in the cave system can be very, very bad. It’s one of the main causes of death in cave diving, which is why we’re so careful about laying and anchoring line. I was in a mine in Wales quite early on when I was self-teaching cave diving. The line had tucked itself under the edge of an old cart railway track, so when I turned to go back out, I couldn’t see it. I was pretty confident because at any junction your always mark the home side somehow, and I also knew that the map was a grid system, so if I just kept following the right hand wall and always turned right I would get to an opening that would take me back out. Luckily, I found the line, and everything was fine – this situation only lasted a few seconds. But your heart rate starts going up and you become very aware that you have a finite period of time to sort this out. That’s the difference – there are problems that happen underwater wouldn’t be a big deal at all if it were on land, but under the water you’re running out of time, which is usually what causes minor issues to become fatal.