wilco

Wilco left his home in Holland and joined the military.  He travelled all over the world and is a freefaller and ski instructor too.  He has many interesting stories from his 9 years in the military – ask him about the rabbit and the survival course!  After leaving he worked summers in Holland and winters in Tignes, France.  While running a chalet he carved up the slopes on his snowboard!

During a holiday to Costa Rica he learnt to dive and saw a turtle that was the same size as him.  He was hooked and realised that he could become an instructor too.  A new way of life was discovered!  

Wilco has now been teaching diving for over 8 years, he completed his dive master and instructor course here on Koh Tao which is where among many other friends he met Ayesha. He took a job working in Egypt where he stayed for a couple of years and trained as a technical diver too. An email from Koh Tao about the amazing wrecks that were being discovered brought him back to Koh Tao once again to explore the wrecks for himself. Ayesha and Wilco left Koh Tao to work in the Maldives for a year and enjoyed the diving immensely but ultimately Koh Tao was home and they returned to be among friends enjoying the unique Koh Tao lifestyle and fabulous technical diving.

If you can read Dutch, then have a look at his interview from his local paper – it will give you a taste of the life of a dive professional!

Wilco teaches in English, Dutch and German. But when he's not teaching, you will find him playing with the dogs on the beach or in his "cave", the equipment maintenance room. 

qualifications

padi staff instructor

Speciality Instructor in: Deep Diving, Digital Underwater Photography, Drift Diving, Enriched Air Nitrox, Fish ID, Multilevel Diving, Naturalist, Navigation, Night Diving, Underwater Photography & Wreck Diving.

dsat tec instructor

Tec Deep Instructor & Trimix Instructor.

PADI Tec Trimix Gas Blender Instructor.

ssi dive control specialist instructor

Speciality Instructor in: Boat Diving, Buoyancy, Computer Diving, Digital Underwater Photography, Deep Diving, Enriched Air Nitrox, Equipment Techniques, Naturalist, Navigation, Search & Recovery, Stress & Rescue, Waves, Tides & Currents, & Wreck Diving

emergency first response instructor

EFR Primary and Secondary Care Instructor & EFR Care For Children Instructor.

bsac

Equipment Technician - Aqualung.

Open Water Instructor, Advanced Mixed Gas Instructor, Accelerated Decompression Procedures Instructor, Technical Explorer Twinset Instructor, Deep Diving Instructor,
Wreck Appreciation Instructor, Compressor Operator Instructor, Nitrox Blender Instructor,
Oxygen Administration Instructor.