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ADVENTURE AWAITS.

YOUR DIVE TEAM

Meet the Diving Adelaide shop and dive team! Our dive team members are all dive professionals with a minimum of Divemaster level, so whoever you’ll meet, you’ll know you’re in good hands!

Ron van der Marel

Owner / PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer (MSDT)

Originally from The Netherlands, Ron took the plunge for his first Discover Scuba Dive over a decade ago while on a holiday with friends on the Caribbean island “Isla Margarita” (Venezuela). Diving instantly became Ron’s biggest passion and, besides doing his Master’s in business economics and entrepreneurship at the University of Amsterdam, he has since travelled the world to quickly progress up the diving ladder.

He started by doing his PADI Open Water Diver Course in Egypt, followed by his Advanced in Thailand, his Rescue and a couple of Specialty Courses on Bonaire and finally progressed into the professional levels in 2010 by doing his Divemaster and Technical Extended Range courses in South Australia and his instructor’s course while living on the island of Curaçao!

Meanwhile (and since then), working on the marine life bucket list with plenty of fun dives in Egypt, Thailand, Indonesia, Greece, Philippines, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Truk Lagoon, Palau, South Africa, Fiji, Maldives, Iceland, France, Cyprus, Ireland and of course in The Netherlands.

Together with Denise, Ron has also lived in Sydney for a year, where he has worked as a full time diving instructor and in recent years he has traveled through all the states of Australia to discover everything the underwater world of this amazing continent has to offer.

Denise van der Marel

Owner / PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer (MSDT)

Denise was lucky enough to start diving at the age of 14 on a holiday to the beautiful Red Sea in Eilat (Israel). Caught by the diving bug other diving holidays and courses were planned in Egypt, Thailand, Curaçao (Caribbean) and Indonesia.

 

Although Denise had just finished a master’s degree in Archaeology at the University of Amsterdam, she decided to incorporate the diving aspect in her studies and moved from Amsterdam to Adelaide to complete a master’s degree in Maritime Archaeology at Flinders University. It didn’t take long for Denise to enroll in the Divemaster course and enjoy all the diving South Australia has to offer. Together with Ron she went on a “drive and dive around Australia” trip. Apart from Tasmania they enjoyed diving in every mainland state in Australia (Tassie is still on the list!!).

 

After completing her degree in Australia, Denise lived in the Caribbean where she became a dive instructor and master scuba diver trainer before returning to Australia in 2012. Working as a full time master scuba diver trainer in Sydney provided her with the necessary experience to continue teaching in Adelaide. Recent travels have brought her to the Philippines, Tonga, Fiji, Iceland and France ~ lots of bucket list diving!

Gerry Prinsloo

Business Development Manager / PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer (MSDT)

Gerry grew up in Pretoria, South Africa. A couple of years ago he decided to trade in his suit and tie for a wetsuit and has never looked back since! He became certified as a Master Scuba Diver Trainer, while diving all over South Africa, so that he could share his passion for diving and the ocean with other people.

 

Since then he has traveled and dived some amazing places including Mozambique, Madagascar, Egypt and the Seychelles. One of his most memorable dives was the iconic Thistlegorm wreck in the northern Red Sea. A WW2 shipwreck filled with British motorcycles and trucks, in swimming pool like conditions and 60m visibility…what more could you ask for!

 

His journeys eventually brought him to Australia where he promptly fell in love with Adelaide, its countryside, people and, of course, beautiful dive sites. His favourite local dive site has to be Rapid Bay Jetty, because of the incredible diversity of the marine life on offer there combined with the almost perfect diving conditions year-round. Some of the places he would most like to dive include the Maldives, Komodo Island and Fiji.

Diving Adelaide Instructor Steve van der Henst

Steve van der Henst

Operations Manager / PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer (MSDT)

Steve was born in Guatemala in Central America. He has always been in love with music, helping people and water sports. During a trip in South-East Asia, his love of water led him to start his underwater adventures, completing his Open Water and Advanced OW in Koh Tao (Thailand).

 

When returning to his home country, his love of water only kept growing. As part of the firefighter team he used to work with in Guatemala, he decided to specialise in underwater rescues. After that, he didn’t stop until completing his Master Scuba Diver and a total of 6 specialty courses!

 

 

While diving in Honduras with his best friend, Steve was sharing some tips with his fellow divers! He enjoyed the experience so much, it made him realise he wanted to take it a step up and become a dive professional!

 

 

When moving to Australia, he decided to take the leap and become a Divemaster first and then an instructor here with Diving Adelaide! Steve is now part of our professional dive team and has confirmed his one true passion: showing you everything there is to see in the underwater world!

Shané Prinsloo

Dive Centre Supervisor

Shané grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa. She studied and practiced law, and also completed the conversion of her law degree to be able to practice law in Australia.

 

After doing her Padi Open Water course she fell in love with diving and the diving industry, and decided to make a career change. She traded the law books for more PADI manuals and has since dived all over the world including South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Seychelles, Red Sea, and here in Australia on both the Ningaloo and Great Barrier Reef.

 

She loves diving in South Australia because we have so many easy shore dive options and a diverse range of species found nowhere else on earth.

Stephanie Ogilvie

Dive Centre Coordinator

Even though Stephanie is half South African and half Mauritian she actually discovered diving when living in Thailand in 2010 and was hooked after dive one. She completed her Open and Advanced Open Water courses off the stunning shores of Mabul island in Borneo in 2011 and went on to dive some of the worlds best sites such as Barracuda point on Sipadan, Castle Rock in Komodo and Blue Magic in Raja Ampat.

Stephanie has a passion for challenging diving, filled with current, trevally and action. Some of her most memorable dives have been with whale sharks, sea lions, massive schools of giant trevally and oceanic mantas.

The natural world is another passion of hers and so she completed a BSc in Environmental Management in 2018 whilst living in London. But after twelve years in the big smoke, she opted for a quieter life near the sea in South Australia.

She has begun discovering what Australia has to offer with dives at Ningaloo Reef and around South Australia, but still has global diving goals such as the sardine run in South Africa and to one day finally find a wall of hammerhead sharks!

When not diving she can be found walking or relaxing with her dogs.

Tom Mitchell-Porteous

Dive Centre Coordinator

Tom is a tried and true local of Port Noarlunga, one of the most popular dive sites in Adelaide! Despite growing up near the ocean and always having a love for the water it wasn’t until the onset of the pandemic that Tom discovered his love for diving. With his round-the-world trip postponed, Tom decided to explore the local underwater world instead and quickly became enamored with the beauty and mystery of the deep.

 

As soon as international borders opened, Tom embarked on a journey that would take him to some of the world’s most breathtaking dive sites. He has since traveled to numerous countries and has had the opportunity to dive in a variety of environments, including the cenotes of Mexico, the wrecks of Malta, the Red Sea in Egypt and the exhilarating drift dives and USAT Liberty in Bali.

 

His adventures have given him a deeper appreciation for the beauty of the ocean and the importance of preserving it for future generations. When he’s not diving, Tom spends his time honing his graphic design skills. He is particularly interested in cavern diving and hopes to become a certified Divemaster, enabling him to lead others on underwater adventures and continue exploring the world’s most fascinating dive sites.

 

Tom’s passion for diving and his dedication to his craft make him a valuable member of any dive community, and he looks forward to continuing his adventures both in and out of the water. Tom is instore most days and is happy to have a chat and help you out with anything you may need.

Diving Adelaide Dive Centre Coordinator Tyler Carson

Tyler Carson

Dive Centre Coordinator

From the North East side of Adelaide, Tyler, a recent graduate in Illustration and Animation, embarked on a scuba diving journey in March 2021! After getting certified as a PADI Open Water Diver, he fell in love with the ocean and started exploring the mesmerising waters of the Yorke Peninsula and Fleurieu Peninsula. One of his favourite holiday desinations is Port Douglas to dive on the Great Barrier Reef.

When not diving, Tyler can be found designing and running half marathons. His price winning designs are amazing and his love for the oceans helps inspire him to create unique illustrations.

Tyler plans to further his diving career by completing further courses and diving on reefs and wrecks across the world!

Emma Webb

Dive Centre Coordinator / PADI Divemaster

Breathing underwater for the first time at 15 years old, Emma completed a Discover Scuba double dive with her Dad on the Great Barrier Reef during one of their family holidays. Rest assured Nemo and Crush were indeed found, as well as one of the biggest blue gropers young Emma had ever seen. Fast forward through the years of growing up in Port Lincoln while being surrounded by the sea; it’s hard to believe that Emma didn’t continue diving until starting a new career path in 2021.

Taking on a Master’s program in Maritime Archaeology with a Bachelor of Letters in French with Flinders University, Emma started her PADI Open Water diving course in August of 2021 with Diving Adelaide. She rediscovered her love for being under the waves and so continued on with her qualifications, completing her PADI Divemaster certification and Scientific Diver certifications in 2022 and 2023. With so many incredible sites yet to explore, Emma can’t wait to dive in places like French Polynesia, Thailand and the Mediterranean.

Outside of work and study, Emma has a passion for adventure and exploration, taking on new experiences and hobbies like salsa dancing and roller skating. As well as this, she has a love for being outdoors, camping or the occasional fishing trip with her family. Emma is also aspiring to learn as many languages as she can while travelling to many of the amazing places around the world.

Diving Adelaide Dive Centre Coordinator Jordan Francis

Jordan Francis

Dive Centre Coordinator

Jordan grew up on the south coast of South Australia, spending most of his childhood snorkelling in places like Second Valley, Rapid Bay and various other locations on the Fleurieu Peninsula. After getting his PADI Open Water Diver certification in 2014, he fell in love with scuba diving.

After a few years, working in a number of different office roles in the tourism industry, Jordan decided to step away from that life and took an opportunity at Diving Adelaide in hope of expanding his knowledge and skills in the diving world.

Some of Jordan’s most memorable dives are in places like Portugal and Gozo, experiencing some absolutely stunning dive locations including the Saint Maria Caves in Gozo!

Oli Petersen

Dive Centre Coordinator / PADI Divemaster

Oli grew up surfing and snorkeling here in South Australia and has always been at home in the water. Upon completing his Open Water in 2018, Oli found his new favourite hobby! He has since dived all across South Australia and was lucky enough to dive in Palau during 2019.

 

Oli loves deep dives and spends most of his weekends diving all the incredible wrecks we have dotted along our metro coast. As a Marine Biology graduate, Oli is lucky enough to work as a scientific diver with Flinders University, experiencing the dive industry through new eyes and dive places never seen before.

 

A real gear nerd with a passion for exploring the deep, Oli is currently a PhD candidate at Flinders University and will be happy to answer any questions you have about life below the waves!

Caity Worthington

Dive Centre Coordinator

Caity has always loved the ocean, always snorkelling and swimming with her family. She was lucky enough to start diving at the age of 10 in Fiji, and fell in love with scuba diving straight away, it becoming her new favourite hobby. Since then, she has dived in Indonesia, Fiji, the Middle East and Australia!

 

Caity’s love for scuba diving pushed her to complete more certifications like Advanced, Rescue and Master Scuba Diver with 5 specialties! Caity loves diving wrecks as well! Her favourite wreck she dived was the USAT Liberty Wreck in Bali. A scooter dive to The Glenelg Blocks, in SA, is also amongst her favourite dives.

 

She loves to continue to learn as much as she can about the ocean and scub -diving. Outside of diving and school, she spends most of her time horse-riding, playing tennis, and spending time with her friends. Caity hopes to get her Divemaster certification and eventually  become an instructor!

Alex Gibbons

Dive Centre Coordinator / PADI Freediving Instructor

Alex grew up in Wolverhampton, UK and moved to Australia at the age of 19 where he signed up for six years in the Royal Australian Navy. It was during this time he discovered his passion for spearfishing. Working on a ship with other spearfisherman and travelling to locations around the world allowed him to pick up the sport pretty quickly. After leaving the military he spent time in Bali where he completed his freediver and advanced freediver qualifications. This taught him valuable knowledge about the benefits freediving has for the body and wellness of the mind.

 

Alex realised he wanted to be able to share the amazing abilities freediving can give you in and out of the water. In 2019 he embarked on a six month training program where he went and spent time in Egypt, training everyday like a freediving athlete at the blue hole in Dahab. It was also at this time where he earned his freediving instructor qualification.

 

Outside of work Alex has a passion for the outdoors and helping others reconnect with nature to improve their mental health. He believes nature has all the keys to making people happy, healthy and strong. He enjoys doing ice baths, breath work and putting himself in challenging situations. His ideal way to spend a weekend is to load up his backpack with as little gear as possible and head off into the wild to catch his family a feed.

Renee Polesso

Dive Centre Coordinator / PADI Divemaster

Born and bred in Adelaide, Renee has been diving for the past 11 years, being attracted to the adventure, freedom and silence of the underwater world.She has been lucky enough to incorporate diving into her overseas travel, diving locations throughout South East Asia, Eastern and Southern Africa, Egypt, Turkey, Iceland and America.

 

Her favourite location is Komodo, drift diving with Komodo’s Manta Rays.

 

After working as a Divemaster for Diving Adelaide for years, Renee rejoined the Diving Adelaide team recently as shop coordinator, after working in the disability sector for 6 years. When she isn’t at the front desk you will find her at a playground wrangling a toddler.

Shelley Snyders

Dive Centre Coordinator / PADI Divemaster

Although Shelley always loved the ocean she never thought she would actually end up diving, but in 2010 her husband and she decided to take the plunge and get their Open Water certification while on honeymoon in Thailand. After falling in love with the experience, dives were only kept to the warmer waters, diving places like the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Vietnam, Bali and Brisbane. In 2013 she traveled back to Thailand to complete her Advanced Open Water & Wreck Specialty. Investing in her own gear that same year meant more diving in local spots around South Australia and she really got addicted!

In 2014 Shell met Ron and Denise from Diving Adelaide and signed up for her PADI Rescue and Divemastercourses and now loves taking leafy sea dragon tours as she has a keen eye for spotting the tiny critters. Some of her favourite spots are the Rapid Bay and Edithburgh Jetties and she is always looking forward to her and her hubby’s next traveling and diving adventures!

Chun Bee

PADI Course Director (CD)

Born an Aquarius, fondly known as “The Water Bearer”, the ocean is home for instructor Bee! Bee (ScuBee) has been diving for more than 10 years. Since then, he has been involved in many different roles within the diving industry both locally and internationally. Today, as a PADI Course Director, he also enthusiastically teaches dive courses, instructors and guides fun divers, continually sharing his knowledge and experience about the ocean and marine creatures.

Bee is a PADI Elite Instructor who enjoys the outdoors and nature, especially leisure and adventure diving to explore the underwater world – the natural habitat of millions of species. Having said that, he always ensures all guided dives and PADI courses are educational yet filled with lots of fun and excitement. His philosophy is “70 percent of the earth is made out of the ocean, so let’s enjoy both worlds”!

Emma Thwaites

PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI)

Emma grew up in Winchester, UK. She has always been passionate about the marine environment and diving, even from a young age. Saving her money each year so she could do scuba diving on their family holidays, Emma first dived in 2011 and continued on to complete her open water course in Turkey in 2013. Since then, she has travelled and dived in some amazing places including Turkey, Sri Lanka and the Great Barrier Reef.

 

Emma studied for a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in Marine Environmental Science and Marine Conservation which included completing her scientific diving techniques specialty diver. After working as a scientist in the UK, her journeys eventually brought her to Australia where she continued her diving career up to the Instructor level in Cairns, witnessing and diving the annual migration of Dwarf Minke Whales!

 

Moving down to Adelaide to take on the new challenge of temperate water diving and teaching courses, Emma is excited for new adventures! Outside of diving, Emma is passionate about film photography and it is rare to see her without one of her cameras in hand. Her favourite local dive site (SO FAR) is Rapid Bay where we get to see the famous Leafy Sea Dragons!!

Diving Adelaide Instructor Emily Pegg

Emily Pegg

PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI)

Emily grew up on the south coast of the UK and after completing a degree in BA (Hons) Photography decided to take the plunge into full time travel to explore more of the world’s oceans.

Quickly falling in love with the tropical waters of Sri Lanka she tried scuba for the first time through the PADI Open Water Diver Course and hasn’t looked back since ! From here she quickly progressed up through to the professional qualifications so she could bring people all over the world into the ocean.

After diving in beautiful locations such as Thailand, Indonesia and the Cook Islands she chose to take her IDC in Nusa Lembongan to experience colder waters and see groups of manta rays and mola mola enjoying the currents around the island.

After a few years diving the warm waters of South East Asia, Emily wanted a new challenge with temperate water temperatures and a whole new underwater scene and has found teaching here very rewarding ! She looks forward to exploring more of the sites down in SA and hopefully seeing lots of port jacksons and leafy sea dragons.

Diving Adelaide Instructor Cora LeLong Douglas

Cora LeLong-Douglas

PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI)

Cora grew up in Vermont, USA. She has always been a water baby whether it be lakes or oceans. She was given the PADI Open Water Diver Course for her 15th birthday and was lucky enough to do her Advanced Open Water a few months later on the island of Bonaire. After mastering the idea of breathing underwater and seeing the array of colours under the sea, she was hooked and set forth the goal of one day becoming an PADI instructor.

She moved to Australia to study a BSc in Marine Biology in 2018. After graduating in 2020 she spent months exploring the Great Barrier Reef in any way she could until the opportunity arose to finally complete her PADI Instructor Development Course. She then moved to Tasmania to instruct for a year before embarking on van life to WA. Along the way she fell in love with the beautiful coast line of SA and after spending a year in WA decided she wanted to get back to SA and started her adventure here at Diving Adelaide.

Cora loves temperate water diving and the confidence that it can build in her students. She loves to see sea dragons and sharks but absolutely adores the range of invertebrates found along the coast, especially the Giant Australian Cuttlefish.

Outside of work you will find her hiking, cooking, traveling and spending quality time with her dog.

Kris Chan

PADI IDC Staff Instructor (IDCSI)

Kris grew up in Hong Kong and has always enjoyed being in the water. Growing up as a triathlete, the ocean has always been a big part of his childhood.

He never had the intention to scuba dive until a family trip to Anilao in the Philippines in 2015 where he got his Open Water certification. The ocean fascinated him and he hasn’t looked back since.

In 2016 Kris moved to Adelaide for uni. The diving opportunities in South Australia made him realize that he wanted to pursue further. He started his journey with Diving Adelaide as a student having completed both his Advanced and Rescue courses in a month’s time. After getting some more dives under his belt, it has become apparent that the ocean would be his dream office.

After completing his Divemaster course with Diving Adelaide in December 2018, he became part of the team, spending most of his time down at Rapid Bay searching for leafy sea dragons and other macro critters.

Kris spent the last three years working all over the world in Indonesia, Maldives, Hong Kong as an instructor, but still somehow managed to find his way back to Adelaide where he teaches almost every weekend. Kris is also pursuing a career in marine biology and conservation.

Diving Adelaide Divemaster Ashley Lau

Ashley Lau

PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI)

Ashley grew up in Hong Kong and has always loved water sports since she was a kid. Growing up, Ash has competed in swimming and surf life saving. After going to Thailand in 2018 for her PADI Open Water Diver Course, she got deeply passionate about the sea and has been diving all over the world ever since!

She moved to Adelaide in 2022 to study and signed up to become a dive professional with Diving Adelaide right away! After completing her PADI Divemaster Course and PADI Instructor Course, she has joined the dive team and can be found teaching courses or diving at Rapid Bay most weeks to look for sea dragons!

Lachlan Holroyd-Cioron

PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI)

Lachlan was born in south Australia and loved being in the water ever since he was a kid. He has always been fascinated by the life in the ocean. Growing up he always thought about diving but never thought he would ever make a life long career out of his passion, but has never looked back since.

 

Lachlan has done all courses up to Divemaster with Diving Adelaide and then left to Sydney for a little to do his instructor and doesn’t plan to stop climbing the ladder from here on. His favourite local spot to dive is Rapid Bay! Every part of the site is beautiful, even the long drive down there.

 

He is planning to study marine palaeontology and understand the ancient oceans!

Diving Adelaide Instructor Lauren Watkins

Lauren Watkins

PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI)

Lauren was born and bred in New Zealand! A true Kiwi she grew up in the country, never far from the water. In 2019 she sat her Diploma in Professional Scuba Diving Instruction, which led her to joining the Diving Adelaide team. Unfortunately due to the pandemic she moved back to NZ, joining the Royal New Zealand Navy, but after a 4 year hiatus she’s back!

One of Lauren’s most memorable dives was the MS Mikhail Lermontov in Queen Charlotte Sounds, where she previously learnt to dive sidemount to explore as much of the wreck as she could. What Lauren loves about diving is that no dive is ever the same and you get to meet people from all walks of life!

When Lauren isn’t diving you’ll be sure to find ber either working on ships or finding the closest 4 legged friend to play with. At the top of Lauren’s dive list is the Blue Hole. The Blue Hole is located southeast of Sinai, a few kilometres north of Dahab, Egypt on the coast of the Red Sea!

Geoff Parkinson

PADI IDC Staff Instructor (IDCSI)

Geoff spent his younger years living in New Zealand, always living walkable distance from the beach. Where ever possible he was in or around the water. Geoff fell in love with diving after he did his Open Water course in Sydney back in 2017, signing up to do his Advanced Open Water and continuing his diving education straight after becoming certified.

 

Wanting to find out more about diving he went along to a pro night where they had speakers from PADI and discussed what it takes to become a PADI Pro and the career you can have. Geoff was hooked and signed up to follow the steps to become a PADI Master Scuba Diving Trainer (MSDT).

 

Geoff’s been lucky enough to dive a lot of great dives sites all over Australia and different parts of the world. “It’s great being able share the underwater world with new divers and see each new student transform from their 1st breath underwater in the pool until their last ocean dive of the Open Water course to become certified Scuba Divers.”

Qiukai Pan

PADI Open Water Diver Scuba Instructror (OWSI)

Our Chinese instructor Kai was born in Shanghai, but moved to South Australia when he was 14 years old. The first time he put his face in the water with a tank on his back (on one of Diving Adelaide’s PADI Open Water Diver Courses), he fell in love with the underwater world and knew this was something he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

 

Kai did all his courses up to PADI Divemaster through Diving Adelaide and then went over to Sydney to do his Instructor course. As he is fluent in both English and Mandarin (and underwater sign language of course), he can teach in both languages!

 

He has recently completed his CDAA Basic Cave course and his favourite “local” dive has to be Kilsby’s Sinkhole (but he’s also a fan of the leafy sea dragons at The Bluff!). He’s now saving up for his ultimate dream destination – to dive the nuclear fleet at Bikini Atoll (on a rebreather if possible).

Damian Bishop

CDAA Cave Diving Instructor / TDI Technical Diving Instructor

Damian learnt to dive in 2009 and quickly progressed to the Instructor level in recent years. The technical and cave diving bug then bit hard and his focus changed to cave diving in the Mount Gambier region, as well as the caves on the Nullarbor Plains. He is one of less than 40 divers to have dived the remote Burnabbie Cave in WA. His favourite dive sites include Fish Rock (NSW), Iddlebiddy Cave, Tank Cave (both at Mount Gambier) and Olwolgin Cave (WA). He has dived numerous ocean sites in SA and interstate and his overseas experiences include Truk Lagoon, Gili Islands, Bali, South Africa and Thailand.

 

Damian is also involved with Flinders University Underwater Club (FUUC), where he has held multiple committee positions. He is currently the South Australian Rep of the Cave Divers Association of Australia (CDAA) and is a gear junkie who dives both sidemount and backmount configurations and has helped many local divers with advice regarding (tec and rec) gear. If you are keen to pursue technical diving, Damian is the perfect mentor! Have a chat with him about all things tek when you see him next (probably blending gas for people for the weekend).

Brendan Toohey

PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI)

“BT” is an ‘experienced’ secondary school teacher whose diving career is entwined with school experiences: from his first breaths underwater in the shark tank at Bangkok Aquarium, first taught by colleague Jason Marsden in Singapore, and “working” on school dive camps leading to his Divemaster certification.

Happily Divemastering on leafy sea dragon tours for Diving Adelaide at Rapid Bay for five years (he holds the shop (world?) record of 14 different leafies spotted in one day), he grabbed the opportunity to work with Course Director Bee on the Diving Adelaide’s Instructor Development Course.

BT is a patient and communicative instructor, bringing his passion for the ocean to the next generation of ocean protectors and enabling them to breathe underwater!

Daniel Moyle

PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI)

In 2005 Daniel completed his Open Water Course and logged his first dive at Noarlunga and has been captivated by the underwater world ever since. He has dived all over South Australia and further abroad in places like Borneo, Malaysia, Indonesia, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Hawaii and the Maldives and loves to have a chat about diving throughout the Pacific. His most memorable dive was at Beqa Lagoon in Fiji, ducking as huge tiger sharks passed over his head and watching the bull sharks fight over fish.

 

Daniel worked in the wine industry for many years and has completed a Bachelors degree in English and History. However, having obtained his Divemaster certification in 2018 he decided on a career change and found his home at Diving Adelaide sharing his passion for diving. He has since completed his PADI Instructor course and technical diving qualifications. His favourite local dive is Rapid Bay for the array of marine life and it’s ease of access.

 

Outside of work Daniel has a passion for natural wines and music and he’s more than happy to recommend the best wine destinations to visit around your diving in South Australia. He also studies Archaeology and is looking forward to visiting Truk Lagoon for the first time.

Grant Moyle

PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer (MSDT)

Grant grew up diving in South Australia and has dived most South Australian dive sites. Grant is thé expert when it comes to diving in South Australia. If you’re after more information on a specific South Australian diving area (especially the Victor Harbor area) Grant can inform you about all the best spots!

 

Grant has a real passion for diving historical shipwrecks, and has not only dived the great ones here in SA like the Clan Ranald, but loves diving overseas to explore them. Truk Lagoon is one of his favourite trips and Grant can tell you all about the amazing historical background of each and every shipwreck.

 

Other than Truk, Grant has been on some amazing overseas diving trips like Christmas Island, Vanuatu, Fiji, Thailand, Borneo, Bali, and Malaysia.

 

You’ll most likely encounter Grant teaching Advanced or Specialty Courses like the Deep and Wreck Specialty course.

Kym Baldock

PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer (MSDT)

Kym has been diving since 2008, but was born and bred in the water, I mean Adelaide. He has worked guiding dives at 5 star resort Hayman Island in the Whitsundays and has spent a lot of his time on the various Great Barrier Reef boats from Cairns and Port Douglas!

 

Kym is one of Diving Adelaide latest additions to the team and with experience on the west coast, far north coast and of course our own southern coast of Australia, he has a wealth of knowledge of both local, interstate and overseas (mainly Bali!) dive sites! Known throughout the industry for his energetic and passionate personality, he has a love for Adelaide’s Rapid Bay Jetty and the Ex-HMAS Hobart wreck, but his all time favourite Australian dive site is Queensland’s 125+ year old Yongala shipwreck (go check out the massive green sea turtle that he says gave him cuddles and kisses – ask him about it at the dive centre, he’ll tell you all about it)!

David Zakarias

PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI)

David grew up diving in Adelaide, logging his first dive at the age of 13 at The Bluff in Victor Harbor. During uni, David was bit hard by the travel bug. He took a year off, venturing overseas, keen to not only explore the world above ground, but underwater too. Some of his highlights include diving the World War II shipwrecks of the Philippines, the coral playgrounds of Thailand and diving with pelagic Sunfish and manta rays in Indonesia.

 

In 2010, David entered into the professional world of diving. He returned to Thailand to complete his PADI Divemaster course on the tropical island paradise of Koh Tao, then continued working as a guide in Thailand’s Similan Islands, Indonesia’s Komodo, Sumatra and Gili islands and in Malaysian Borneo. David then completed his Open Water Instructor Course in Nusa Lembongan, which still remains as his favourite place in the world to dive.

 

David keeps his courses engaging and fun and was awarded the PADI Elite Instructor Badge 3 years in a row! Above the surface, he is quite an outdoorsy person and can usually be found rock climbing, rowing, surfing, skateboarding, twirling fire or planning for his next trip overseas. Ask David about his extensive dive travel experiences, as he loves to tell a good travel story!

Stefan Andrews

PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI)

Stefan grew up in Adelaide and always had a passion for the ocean, which resulted in becoming a fanatic scuba diver and studying Marine Biology at the University of Adelaide.

When Stefan completed his Open Water Instructor Course and studies, he moved to Cairns where he worked as an Open Water Instructor, where Stefan was able to use his Marine Biologist skills to educate people about the wonderful Great Barrier Reef.

 

Always inspired by other countries and cultures, Stefan decided to travel abroad to work as a diving instructor on the beautiful Thai island of Koh Phi Phi. Spending so much time underwater led to a concern about the destruction of aquatic environments and Stefan went back to Australia where he finished his honours degree in Marine Biology.

 

We are proud that Stefan was elected as “Our World Underwater Rolex Scholar” of 2013 and currently spends a lot of time travelling the world, participating in some amazing projects involving underwater research. Read about his experiences on the Rolex Scholarship Blog and watch some of his amazing videos on Stefan’s Youtube channel. When Stefan is not travelling the world you will find him right here in Adelaide, where he’s continuing his passion to teach people to dive and broaden their knowledge of their world underwater – you’ll know Stefan is here when you see his shiny dark blue Mini parked outside the dive shop ;).

Shane Lees

PADI Divemaster / TQS Service Technician

Shane came down to Adelaide a few years ago, sold his beloved motorcycle and jumped into diving with both feet (a giant stride so to say)! Shane has done a massive liveaboard up in Cairns, diving all the amazing spots up there and has dived all of the well known sites here in SA!

One site is his absolute favourite SA dive site though and for good reason! Shane served on the HMAS Hobart, before it was scuttled of the coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula and became the Ex-HMAS Hobart! He knows the ship inside and out and can show you all the well-known and lesser known spots on it! Apart from the Hobart, Shane loves to dive with leafy sea dragons at The Bluff and Rapid Bay and usually takes his whole family out to dive on the weekends!

His favourite overseas diving destination is Truk Lagoon! After leading the Diving Adelaide dive trip to Truk in 2015, Shane hasn’t stopped talking about getting back there and the liveaboard trip in Truk this year will be an awesome opportunity to do some more exploring! Shane is also a TQS Service Technician and looks after all our school and rental gear.

Diving Adelaide Divemaster Aaron Tero

Aaron Tero

PADI Divemaster

Aaron did his PADI Open Water Diver Course when he was 12 years old right here in Adelaide! Being born and raised close to the beach, has sparked his love for all things underwater when he was young. Since obtaining his open water certification, Aaron has dived on the Great Barrier Reef, Bali, Hawaii and of course he has done a lot of dives right here in SA.

Studying a Bachelor of Science in Animal Behaviours at Flinders University has opened his eyes to how fun the animal word and especially diving is, and in doing so completed his PADI Divemaster Course with us at Diving Adelaide during his first year of university. Aaron loves all things sharks and wishes to pursue a career in shark research.

He loves diving at Rapid Bay and Edithburgh! His most memorable dive however, was a dive in Bali at Manta Point, where he saw 5 manta rays swimming together, including a baby manta! Aaron would love to dive the SS Yongala wreck in QLD as well as the reefs in the Red Sea in Egypt to see an oceanic white tip shark!

James Whitelaw

PADI Divemaster

James learnt to dive in 2018 on the Gold Coast, QLD and was instantly hooked. He had been wanting to dive ever since he was a kid and jumped at his first chance. He has always been in love with the ocean growing up surfing and snorkelling with his family.

James’s favourite local dive site is the Aldinga Pinnacles because there’s always something new and cool to see. He is currently studying a degree in Marine Biology at Flinders University and is fascinated by everything underwater.

He would like to learn as much as he can about the ocean, so he can spend the rest of his life swimming in it. James has spent the last few years working as a swimming instructor and lifeguard, so becoming a PADI Divemaster was a natural next step for him. Outside of diving and university, he spends all of his time outside: rock climbing, surfing or camping!

Sharon Beckmann

PADI Divemaster

Sharon learnt to dive here in Adelaide about 8 years ago and hasn’t looked back! There’s just so much to love about being underwater and not knowing just what each dive will bring. Rapid Bay remains one of her favourite dive locations with such diversity … leafy sea dragons are truly mesmerising but even without seeing one on a dive there, it is a most spectacular site. The look on divers faces the first time they dive there is such a treat!

 

Other local favourites would have to include Edithburgh jetty, HMAS Hobart, the Star of Greece and the Dredge.

 

Sharon especially enjoys helping divers improve their skills and confidence underwater and running refresher courses. She is also a member of Flinders University Underwater Club and gets to enjoy some great diving with them. With a couple of awesome overseas trips coming up this year (Tulamben and Truk Lagoon!) the excitement of diving continues for Sharon!!

Daniel Kinasz

PADI Divemaster

Daniel learned to dive at Edithburgh Jetty on the Yorke Peninsula, so this jetty has had a special place in his heart ever since, particularly with its ever spectacular night diving. Daniel dabbles in underwater photography, cavern diving, assisting in marine projects and generally having a great time. Most of his regular dive buddies will tell you that he can usually be found with his fins up with his head in a crack searching for the unseen.

 

His favorite dive to date was night diving the USS liberty in Tulamben (Bali), and Daniel is currently working towards diving Truk Lagoon (Micronesia) on trimix.

Paul Snyders

PADI Divemaster

Born in the Netherlands but growing up on the west coast of SA near Streaky Bay, Paul always loved the ocean, either surfing, fishing or snorkeling! Paul got his Open Water certification while on honeymoon in Koh Tao (Thailand) in 2010 and continued diving at lots of different locations throughout South East Asia. Paul didn’t get his advanced open water till 2013, but this is when his wife and he didn’t look back, completing several specialty courses and diving lots of local spots in SA!

 

They continued on and recently completed their PADI Divemaster course with Diving Adelaide. Paul loves exploring wrecks and would like to continue with cave and technical diving. He enjoys nothing more than showing other people what South Australia has to offer. Most weekends, you will find Paul and Shelley out diving – usually looking for the little critters!

Robert Paton

Divemaster

It has been almost 25 years since Rob learned to dive, and since then he has dived most dive sites in South Australia. Those are not only the well-known dive sites, but include anything you could think of diving! During those years Rob has developed a keen eye for spotting critters. Even those perfectly camouflaged creatures like Warty Prowfish, Anglerfish, Pyjama and Dumpling Squid, Seahorses and Leafy Seadragons are not able to hide from Rob. It is therefore not more than normal that Rob developed a huge passion for underwater photography. 

Rob is always looking for dive buddies so he can snap the perfect shot. Rob’s looking forward to do more overseas travel in the future, but so far his favourite dive site was Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea.

After being an avid diver for so many years it was only natural for Rob to progress to Divemaster level in 2010. You might spot Rob while leading a dive or on one of our weekends away. If you are a photographer yourself and want a guide to find you the best creatures, make sure you ask for Rob Paton!

Chloe Williams

PADI Divemaster

South Australian Chloe has been a water baby since she was little; competitive swimmer, body boarding and surf skiing have always been her passion. She follows in her father’s and sisters footsteps who were both Scuba Divers and became a diver in 2013. Chloe’s spare time has always been in the water, spending most summers at the beautiful Yorke Peninsula. Her favourite interstate spot to dive is in Ningaloo Reef W.A. where she experienced swimming with the Whale Sharks and Manta Rays.

 

In October 2021, Chloe become a PADI Dive Master and has ambitions in the near future to complete her PADI Instructor course. She has a wide range of experience with open water, free diving and rescue diving.

 

Chloe’s was a pool lifeguard for 11 years and has a background in horticulture, zookeeping and vet nursing. Chloe has volunteered as a snorkel guide for over 4 years taking participants to meet the Australian Giant Cuttlefish and Port Jackson sharks. You might occasionally hear Chloe on ABC radio as she is a regular guest radio presenter talking about all sorts of things to do with marine life.

 

Conservation has always been a topic of interest for Chloe. She regularly attends and organises  beach and underwater clean ups, so keep your eyes open for the next one!

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