Experience
Assistant Instructor – Kasai Village
December 2008 – July 2009 (Moalboal, Philippines)
Being a part of the team running the diveshop, looking after guests and guiding them around the many divesites.
Advanced Freediver
November 2008 (Moalboal, Philippines)
More in-depth learning about freediving, including physiological aspects and safety while diving.
ASSET Dive Technician
August 2008 (Morecambe, UK)
Fourteen days of theory and practical exercises to take three certifications; Scuba Technician, Cylinder Testing Technician and Nitrox Technician. These courses have given me a very deep understanding of all scuba related equipment.
Aida * Freediver
May 2008 (Portsmouth, UK)
A weekend of theory and freediving in a 30m deep tank in the south of England. The tank is normally used for submarine escape training as it is a military installation.
Freediver Introduction Course
April 2008 (New Malden, UK)
My first introduction to freediving, some basic theory and breathing exercises followed by pool training. Not enough for any kind of certification but certainly enough to wet my appetite for freediving.
SSI Master Diver
June 2005 (Koh Tao, Thailand)
During a diving holiday I took this course, mainly to get Nitrox certification.
Padi Assistant Instructor
April – September 1999 (Utila, Honduras)
After a five year break from diving I didn’t feel as confident in my skills as I wanted to, so decided to complete the whole Divemaster course one more time, and top it off with the AI certification. This period is certainly responsible for the bulk of my logged dives; I dived an average of three dives per day, often as many as five dives per day. I was the only DM interested in nightdiving and thus I did them all, every time. Minor Whaleshark encounters from the boat, never during a dive though.
Padi Divemaster
June – July 1994 (San Andres, Colombia)
Divemaster training and internship in a diveshop connected to a large hotel, assisting on other Padi courses and guiding customers on fundives.
Padi Advanced Open Water Diver & Rescue Diver
July 1993 (Utila, Honduras)
First visit to Utila, at the time the island wasn’t very developed, all very basic, but incredible diving.
CMAS * Diver
July 1992 (Vitoria, Brazil)
My first certification, course and exams taken in Portuguese, not one of the languages I consider to be my strongest. The fact that I was the only one to get all answers correct on the exam either portrays my high intelligence or the low intelligence of the other course members. Diving without a BCD, just harness and backplate.
Other diving experience
Playa del Coco, Costa Rica
Two weeks of leisurely diving, not very good visibility and a failure of the promised sharks and manta’s to appear. Instead we encountered a very large school of Stingrays, indeed an incredible sight.
Porto Seguro, Brazil
A single dive to confirm something I had been suspecting a long time, the diving in Bahia, Brazil, isn’t very good.
Koh Tao, Thailand
Three visits totalling about 80 dives, I have dived everything there is to dive around this island. Several Whaleshark encounters, even one dive with two Whalesharks present at the same time, one of my very best dives. Also a few sunrise dives at Chumporn Pinnacle resulting in a seven-foot Gray Reef Shark.
Sharm al Sheikh, Egypt
One weeks diving in the Red Sea, a childhood dream come through. Sadly the tide had turned a few days before we got there and the whole area had some of the worst visibility in history. Still managed to do just over 10 dives, including a few on the Thistlegorm wreck, also a daytrip to Dahab for another few dives.
Kullen, Sweden
I did a single cold water dive and it was all I expected it to be; cold, dark and nothing to see. But it was a very good experience, but perhaps not one I’ll be doing again soon.
Abrolhos, Brazil
After completing my initial scuba certification I took the opportunity to visit Brazil’s only underwater national reserve. We bumped into a few Blue Whales during the trip back and encountered a large turtle during one of the dives.