Dave’s Hidden Depths

Dave Peake has been fascinated by the underwater world for most of his life and began his exploration of this alien environment at the age of fifteen, diving and snorkelling in the sea in the Plymouth area.

Dave joined the police force and worked in what was then the Plymouth City Police, but it wasn’t long before his underwater abilities lead him to a career as a police diver. His duties as a professional diver involved operating in every possible inland freshwater environment, including rivers, ponds and quarries.

Dave’s job also saw him serving as a Community Officer based in Yelverton, on the western edge of the National Park, where he developed his interest in Dartmoor. Dave retired from the police in 1995 and still lives in the Yelverton area. He dives and takes photographs of the life and landscapes to be found in our coastal waters and indeed all over the world – but he couldn’t resist the lure to explore the hidden depths of the place he lives so he began to combine his passion for Dartmoor, the underwater world and photography by capturing images of the unique world of the National Park’s rivers and streams.

You can get a glimpse of Dave’s underwater world in the exhibition Dartmoor’s Hidden Depths which runs until April 15th at the Dartmoor National Park Visitor Centre in Princetown.