jamie

Jamie was one of the original founders of Master Divers over 15 years ago.  He is a Thai diving legend and our scuba-diving-dad.  He now lives in the UK but is an honorary member of the team and still on hand with advice and support.

Jamie arrived in Thailand in 1988, back then Pattaya was where you went to dive.  He qualified as an instructor and taught all over Thailand even teaching the Bangkok ex-pat community in their pools.

Jamie has been responsible for starting up, partnering or developing some of the most recognisable names in the Thailand dive industry and you really don’t have to go far to find someone he knows and probably trained too.
He qualified as a PADI Course Director in 1998 and worked all over Thailand teaching hundreds of new professionals.  You’ll find these professionals all over the world, teaching or operating dive centres making his influence on the dive industry truly global!

Jamie brought some of the first divers to Koh Tao some 20 years ago. There were no buildings and visitors camped overnight for this 2 day dive trip. This groundbreaking trend has continued throughout his dive career when he decided to follow his passion of technical and wreck diving. Everyone told him that there were no worthwhile wrecks in The Gulf and that the water was too shallow and the visibility not good. He proved everyone wrong when on his vessels maiden exploratory voyage he located the WWII USS Lagarto, lost for 60 years at a depth of 70M. The discovery was so note worthy that many magazine wanted her story within their pages. Ayesha has been responsible for the writing and photography of the majority of features :- Lagartos Lament for Scuba Diver Australasia, Sub Vision off Koh Tao for Diver UK and she made is into Sport Divers 100 Essential Wreck Dives too.

Jamie is probably the longest serving PADI Instructor in this region and is certainly the only PADI Course Director still diving for fun on a regular basis.  He has certified over 600 instructors and over 100 technical divers and instructors too.  When not teaching he’s still out wreck hunting and loves nothing more than adding a new find to his long list!

Jamie has been so prolific in his achievements that The Undersea Journal, PADIs magazine for their professionals, have featured him a couple of times too. Once around his discovery of the USS Lagarto and then more recently for his dedication to offering top quality technical diving training.

We are very fortunate to be able to offer you this huge wealth of experience during your professional training.  Jamie will ensure that your professional training is fun, bringing his unique humour to liven up the room but he will also make sure that it is thorough and doesn’t just tick the boxes.  With this background you can rest assured that your training will not just teach you to ‘pass the test’ but will be full of real world practical knowledge and tips which will prepare you for your new career.

Click here to read an interview with Jamie in PADI's Undersea Journal 4th Quarter, 2010.

qualifications

padi course director

Speciality Instructor Trainer in: Boat Diving, Cavern Diving, Deep Diving, Digital Underwater Photography, DPV Diving, Drift Diving, Enriched Air Nitrox, Equipment, Multilevel Diving, Naturalist, Navigation, Night Diving, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Search & Recovery & Wreck Diving.

efr instructor trainer

EFR Primary and Secondary Care Instructor Trainer & EFR Care for Children Instructor Trainer.

dsat tec instructor trainer

Tec Deep Instructor Trainer & Trimix Instructor Trainer.

PADI Tec Trimix Gas Blender Instructor Trainer.

other

Jamie also has various other CCR and Cave diving Instructor Trainer certifications.