Deutsch Français Russian Chinese English

Hall of Heroes - our former staff members

Tom, PADI Instructor.

Hi my name is Tom. I am a PADI Master Scuba Diver trainer. I have lived and dived in Cambodia for the last six years and I have local knowledge of all the best dive sites even in challenging conditions. This year's season 2018, I have joined The Dive Shop and I looking forward to experiencing more awesome Cambodian diving.

Languages: English.

Diving experience: In Cambodia 6 years.



Giorgio, PADI Instructor.

Giorgio has started his career as a Divemaster-Trainee with the DSC long ago, nearly 9 years, since then his life changed.

"I’m a dive center manager in Maldives now and a diving teacher: this is my greatest passion and my life. I’ve been moving from country to country to do what I do best, but I always come back to the DSC; my second home, my second family."

Languages: English and Italian.

Diving experience: Professional since 2009.



Yves, PADI Instructor & owner of Sleeping Trees.

"I was born in France in grew up in the mountains and did not know that I should become a diver finally, because I was attracted more by the thrill of the mountains."

After 10 years of traveling Yves tried diving in Koh Tao for the first time and immediately fell in love. Yves dipped further in Southeast Asia and what was a hobby at first, was a reason to travel. While he appeared with the turtles in Malaysia and in the wrecks in Coron, he understood that the sea is a very special place! So he went back to Koh Tao to go through the Divemaster training and shortly after he went to Bali to take the course with IDC Bali Breizh Divers and Course Director Guy Faisnel. Meanwhile, Yves lives in Cambodia to dive our pristine dive sites and to teach our students!

Languages: French and English.

Diving experience: 2 years.



Charles, PADI (part time) Instructor.

"I love diving because of the abundance of life under water, every dive brings something new."

I am originally from Texas in the U.S.A. I learned to dive on a holiday in Hawaii 20 years ago and now have well over a 1000 dives. I worked as a Divemaster part time in Texas before becoming an Instructor 5 years ago in Phuket Thailand.

Languages: English.

Diving experience: 20 years.



Jake, PADI Instructor.

"I love diving I love the ocean as well as the freedom to be weihghtless while diving. Also I have a strong passion for the oceans creatures and I love the tropics, the beaches, the people being around me on Cambodias islands."

Jake has been learning to dive and also became a dive professional in Vancover/Canada and has been leaving short after to the Carribean where he has been working as instructor. Afterwards, he has moved to Malaysia to dive instruct.

Languages: English.

Diving experience: 2 years.



Max, PADI Divemaster.

"Being raised in Long Beach, Southern California, the ocean has always been there since I can remember." Scuba diving was a natural progression from a lifestyle of living on the beach. I remember telling my Open Water Scuba instructor that scuba diving was fun but expensive. He told me to go pro, get paid to dive/that lives with me today. I made the choice 3yrs ago to return to my country of birth. After some research, Sihanoukville came close to being just like Long Beach, California; so I settled here. I went thru the PADI Divemaster training here, and have been diving here ever since. I have recently finished my EFR Instructor course with the DiveShop and looking forwards to serving the people of the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Scuba diving was the key to beginning a new life here in Cambodia. I am happy to show others the beauty of the Cambodian coast and the surrounding islands, from a scuba divers perspective.

Languages: English and Khmer.

Diving experience: 5 years.



Guillaume, PADI Divemaster & Manager at Huba Huba Bungalows.

"I love diving because there are so many things to see underwater and I love to find new creatures every time I am diving; the best thing is that I can switch off completely whilst underwater."

Guillaume, nicknamed Guiko, came to the Sunset Beach as part of the Huba Huba team in the first place. After doing his Open Water and Advanced course he got the diving virus and decided to sign in for the Divemaster training with The Dive Shop.

Languages: English and French.

Diving experience: 1 year.



Bradley, PADI Divemaster & Manager at Robinson Bungalows.

"One of the things I love most about diving is the silence, pure peace I like that every dive is different always a surprise even on the most frequently dived sites I like to take people diving and see the reaction when I am able to find something they havn't seen before."

Bradley came to the Sunset Beach in 2014 as a volunteer but decided to stay for a long time.

Languages: English.

Diving experience: 1 year.



Stephanie, Conservation Manager.

"I came to Cambodia in May 2014 as part of my worldwide travel experience and was so captivated by the beauty of Cambodia I had to stay longer. I began my diving course late 2014, breath taken by the underwater world I decided to create my own personal marine project; documenting what was present at each dive site so we could make the diving experience even more fascinating by knowing what you are looking at. Over time this lead to recording both terrestrial and marine species and late 2015 a partnership with the diveshop was made to help protect the islands beauty that so many take for granted. Together we created ‘The Wonderful Wildlife of Samloem’ and we are striving to conserve the islands marine and terrestrial wildlife in balance with community living and education."

Languages: English.

Diving experience: 2 years.



Jinky, Barkeeper.

"Especially underwater photography is my favorite in diving. It allows me to capture the moment and gives me the opportunity to show natures beauty to others!"

Jinky has started working for the Dive Shop in our island base on Sunset Beach in the first place. When we took her for a dive, her passion for scuba diving awoke and it was just a matter of weeks until she has passed her Padi Rescue Diver course, now on the way to become a dive professional.

Languages: English, Philippino.

Diving experience: 2 years.



Lukas, PADI Instructor.

"Oh wow ! What an extraordinary journey it has become. I got certified as a Dive Master and now on my way to become an Instructor here at the Dive Shop. This is my story : About a year ago I decided to leave my country South Africa for Cambodia and I found this paradise on earth. I immediately knew that my new life as a diver would start here. After a few months I completed my Dive Master program. What a life change this has become for me. I learned a lot from numerous divers and I had the opportunity to learn about artificial reef building projects. Its really been a dream come true and im happy to say that soon I will be able to pass on this knowledge to new comers in Diving. For everyone involved in my life change experience , I cant thank you enough. "

Languages: English and Afrikaans.

Diving experience: 1 year.



Chris, PADI Instructor.

"I began my diving career in Vietnam three years ago and haven't looked back since! I first came to Cambodia more than two years ago as a backpacker, and after visiting the beautiful and majestic island that is Koh Rong Samloem on a day trip, I knew right then and there that I would be back to make that place my home. fast forward to now and my mission is accomplished! Excellent diving coupled with a great team and a laid-back, positive atmosphere ticks all the boxes on my personal checklist. This place truly is a dream come true, and there is no need to wake up any time soon!"

After a 5 year stint in the Canadian military, Chris gave it all up and ventured to South East Asia where he began his diving career over three years ago. The dive industry has seen him sent all over Vietnam, parts of Malaysia, and finally here in Cambodia, where he has made his home for well over a year now.

Languages: English.

Diving experience: 3 years.



Fabrice, PADI Instructor.

"I have been certified in 1993 but even before that I have been in love with the sea and spent hours of snorkeling in the Atlantic Sea. I have moved to Cambodia in 2007 and is scuba diving diving most of the time since."

Fab is probably the most experienced dive instructor in the whole of Cambodia. He has trained close to 1000 students in Cambodia alone whilst doing thousands of dives.

Languages: French and English.

Diving experience: 18 years.



Maxim, PADI Instructor.

"In 2014 I have not yet thought about diving, I remembered that I have done the Discover Scuba Diving program years ago and decided to give it a try again. On my first dive I realized that this is what I would like to do for the rest of my life."

In university Maxim graduated as a spacecraft and air space machine engineer, but afterwords he has been working in the IT industry for about 15 years and at one point he have decided to change his life and to spend less time in the office. He quit his job and was able to move together with his family to Cambodia where he have started scuba diving with The Dive Shop.

Languages: English and .

Diving experience: 1 years.



Erin, PADI Instructor.

"I felt in love with diving on Aruba during summer holidays. On the very first dive I took together with a PADI instructor, diving opened my eyes to a very different world so easy to reach."

In the following years the vacations were planed mostlt around scuba diving and Erin took more and more courses, mostly at the British Virgin Islands. She did her instructor training in Florida and is now happy to teach in the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Languages: English.

Diving experience: 4 years.



Aaron, Base Leader.

"I was born in front of the sea in France, and I can't live far from it! I think I can say that I'm a son of the Big Blue. I have been travelling since I'm 20 years old, and the dive Lifestyle has become my life. I like to share my hobbies and talk of dive stories in front of the sea, on a boat with other travellers and divers! I arrived here in April, and wouahouh....! I fell in love with the Cambodian islands, the place is beautiful... Koh Rong Samloem is truly a paradise island, we conduct interesting dives and the team is amazing. By now, Cambodia has become my second home!"

Aaron, our new French instructor, who started diving around 6 years ago in the Forra Dive Center on Koh Lipe in Thailand. After this he travelled Asia for a while and dived in most of the sea around. He started his professional diving career 2 years ago as a PADI dive master in the Philippines.

Languages: French and English.

Diving experience as a professional: 3 years.



Lee, PADI Divemaster trainee.

"I have started diving on Koh Tao not so long ago. Diving is great, the silence, serenity and the beauty of the creatures living in the ocean took me straight away. Now I am planing to become PADI Divemaster and make my passion a job."

Lee came to Koh Rong Samleum together with his girlfriend Erin and decided to stay with us on our lovely island. By now his Emergency First Responder and Rescue Diver courses and done and our instructors already taught the first parts of the Divemaster course.

Languages: English.

Diving experience: 1 year.

Sothea, Head Accountant.

Sothea has been with the team since the Dive Shop opened in 2008. She works with her heart and soul and always has time for our guests and the team alike. Sothea was married last year, which all the Dive Shop staff helped celebrate, and has just given birth to a beautiful baby girl named Hannah. Congratulations and well done Sothea!

Languages: English and Khmer.



Kheng, Dive Shop Staff.

Kheng is with us since 2014 when his relative, our general manager Sothea, introduced him into the Dive Shop family. Kheng is married to Zia, our Office Manager. Kheng is helping his brother Sina with daily tanks operations.

Languages: Khmer and English.



 

Sina, Dive Shop Staff.

Sina is the young brother of Kheng and with our team since 2014 as well. Sina fills is responsible for filling our tanks and helps with overall transport of guests. Sina is married to Smey, our cook.

Languages: Khmer and English.





  

Smey, Island Staff.

Smey is our cook, and responsible for our guests lunch on the boat as well as our local’s staff meals. Smey has been with us from late 2014, and is the wife of Sina.

Languages: Khmer.





Tha, Housekeeper.

Tha has been working for the Dive Shop for a long time already. Her main duty is to keep our office in Sihanoukville clean and tidy. She sees our team kind of like a second family as she does not have children and her husband is living and working in Thailand.

Languages: Khmer.

Zia, Office Manager.

Zia is our Office Manager and joined us in 2016. Shortly after Kheng and Zia got married in Kampot. Zia was born in South Africa and worked as an Avionics Engineer as well as served some time in Afghanistan.

Zia’s brother, one of our previous Diving Instructors introduced Zia to The Dive Shop, and Zia has been passionate about the staff and daily operations of the Office, our Island and off course, Scuba Diving and has since completed a few courses, and will soon start her Dive Master Training as well.

Languages: Afrikaans, English, Khmer, Pashto, Dutch and some Sinhalese



Srey Na, Head Accountant.

Srey Na loves to work in The Dive Shop because she likes to meet travelers from all around the world spending their holidays in Cambodia. She likes to listen to the storys and tales our divers tell about their adventures. Srey Na takes swimming classes to be able to take place in one of our Open Water Diver courses.

Languages: English and Khmer.



Mao, Captain.

Captain Mao is born in Kampot Province and has been working on a fishing boat. He has just one child who is 6 years old and already attending the primary school.

Languages: Khmer.





Thary, Dive Shop Staff.

Thary has been with us since 2011 already. Before he has been serving in the Cambodian army, before he worked as a bodyguard and has also been famous in Phnom Penh for his material arts skills. Apart from his enormous strength he has a good knowledge about the local wildlife and is great in spotting any kind of animal.

Languages: Khmer.



Linna, Manager at Happa Garden Resort.

Linna has been running the Japanese restaurant Happa in Sihanoukville for 10 years but has recently moved to the Sunset Beach to run our new resort. Linna has been living in Japan where she has mastered to combine local- and Japanese foods in a mouth-watering fusion.

Languages: English and Khmer.



Kunthea, Chef at Happa Garden Resort.

Kunthea is the cousin of Linna and has also been working in the Happa restaurants in Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh for many years. She is a very talented chef and is able to create very delicious Japanese and Khmer dishes.

Languages: Khmer.



 

Pov, Chef at Happa Garden Resort.

Pov is the sister if Linna and the wife of Majesty Seth. She has been working together with her sister in the 'old' Happa Restaurant for almost 10 years. When we moved to the island she is helping out during the high seasons; during low season she is spending most of her time at her home province Prey Vieng.

Languages: Khmer.



Aka, PADI Divemaster Trainee.

Aka started diving long before joining our Dive center. His father was a Khmer style commercial diver and Aka has been fascinated by the underwater world all his life. The outcome has been to study hard to finally become a PADI certified diver.

Languages: English and Khmer.



Phong, PADI Instructor.

"I believe what i'm doing right now is right, making money by scuba diving, doing what i like. I was born in a big city but small country with 90 millions of people surrounded. It's really hot in the city where i live, so swimming naturally became my habit but since i was born i knew that i love outdoor sports and nature(i think because of the city sickness). So I only had a chance to know about scuba diving through TV, and my thought was like "What if i can make money by that type of sport, just go underwater, explore the ocean and being able to swim free all the time, and get paid for it", so i started looking on the internet about it and found out the diving industry is everywhere around VietNam. So after highschool, not alike other kids, going to take a gap year for traveling or go to college or university, straightaway i took a diving license in Nha Trang beach city and fell in love with it,and that where and when everything started"

Phong is our new PADI scuba instructor from HoChiMinh city, Vietnam! A Young guy with talent, he started his diving education in 2013 just right away, after finished his highschool. After 2 years in diving around Vietnam, with an "ok" experience he confidently took the PADI Instructor training program in Malaysia last April and succeeded.

Languages: English and Vietnamese.

Diving experience: 2 years.



Kem, Dive Shop Staff.

Kem has had his own business at the Otres Beach. He is a skilled longtail-boat driver and has a passion for snorkeling and freediving, this is why he had an interest in scuba diving and decided to join the Dive Shop family.

Languages: English and Khmer.



Steve, Instructeur PADI.

"J'ai commencé avec la plongée à Koh Tao en vacances en Thaïlande en 2001. Je suis immédiatement tombé en amour avec la plongée sportive et la maison beaucoup plus immergé au Cap en Afrique du Sud et j'ai appris que j'étais enfin Divemaster. Deux ans plus tard, je suis à nouveau rendu en Thaïlande pour devenir instructeur de plongée sous-marine."

Steve a travaillé principalement en Thaïlande, sur l'île de Phuket, en tant qu'instructeur et des centaines dans ses dernières années en Thaïlande la plongée enseigné. Après 12 ans en Thaïlande Steve est maintenant déménagé au Cambodge pour explorer les zones de plongée presque inconnus dans le Royaume du Cambodge.

Langues: Anglais et Afrikaans.

Expérience de plongée: 13 ans.



Nek, Divemaster PADI.

"Je suis fasciné par l'eau, depuis que je suis un petit enfant. Plongée avec équipement de plongée a changé ma vie, d'être en apesanteur et voler dans la situation est une chose très spéciale et je ne peux pas obtenir assez de lui."

Nek a travaillé sur un bateau de croisière avant de venir au Cambodge pour prendre sa formation PADI Divemaster en attaque. Tout en travaillant sur le navire de croisière, il a dû trouver un emploi dans son propre bonheur cirque du navire, où il a travaillé en tant que plongeur de soutien au spectacle acrobatique.

Langues: Anglais, Grec et Espagnol.

Expérience de plongée: 3 ans.



Mao, Chef Capitaine.

Mao est notre capitaine de tête, connaissant tous nos sites de plongée depuis des années. Il est la bonne personne avec qui parler de bateau en toute sorte. Il a été formé à la plongée par nos instructeurs et de temps en temps, vous pouvez le trouver sous l’eau profitant d'une journée de plongée. Mao et son épouse Ramy forment une bonne équipe sur les voyages en croisière, partis pour explorer les sites méconnus des îles extérieures.

Langues: Anglais et Khmer.



Rami, Schiffsmädchen & Live-an-bord-Köchin.

Rami ist unsere Kapitänsgattin und der beste Schiffsjunge, äähh sorry - Schiffsmädchen, das sich eine Tauchbootmannschaft nur vorstellen kann. Sie ist eine brilliante Köchin und oberster Kombüsen-Chef auf all unseren Tauchsafaris und sorgt dafür das Niemand hungrig bleibt.

Sprachen: Englisch und Khmer.





Seth, Multi-talent.

Seth a été notre chauffeur à Sihanoukville pendant un certain temps mais a montré une grande habilité pour réparer toute sorte de machine. Depuis que nous avons déménagé notre centre de plongée à ‘SunSet Beach’ sur Koh Rong Samleum, il vit sur l'île de manière permanente.

Langues: Anglais et Khmer.