Sometimes there are occasions when a fun dive literally becomes an unforgettable event. Freshly certified as advanced open water divers, my three students, Julie, Joe, Tim and I went for an additional afternoon dive. Since it was Julie’s birthday all of us tried to make her day special and eventually she has probably gotten the biggest surprise ever!
After snorkeling at Mango Bay and enjoying the swim in the sun we’ve been heading to Twins and preparing for our fun dive. At the end of a brilliant dive surrounded by blue spotted stingrays, moray eels, blue ringed angelfish and “Nemo”, the stage was all prepared for Joe. Kneeling down in the sand, he took a slate out and started writing. But Julie was just staring at him – did she not get the question or did Joe maybe change his mind last minute?

“Do you wanna marry me?” was standing there in big letters. And here it finally was, a big smiling face, nodding head, followed by the “you are crazy” signal. Back on the surface we’ve got all the other divers on the boat welcoming us with a Mexican wave and celebrating with the freshly engaged couple. The perfect day finally ended with a little party at DJL bar showing the video of the underwater engagement of two people probably never forgetting their very special dive on Koh Tao!

Hi,

My name’s Neal. I’ve recently joined the team at DJL diving, and I’m excited to be here. I’ve been coming to Thailand either travelling or on holiday for over a decade, and am now finally, I’ve moved to Koh Tao.

I have been involved with diving for over ten years; I still have fond memories of my own Open Water Course in the Red Sea back in 2001. Since then, diving has been my reason to visit some of the most amazing, exotic places all over the world; including Australia, Bali, Egypt, The Emirates and of course Thailand.

Over this time, I’d always been mulling with the idea of ‘living the dream’ and chucking in the day job back home and pursuing diving full time. In 2008, I finally plucked up the courage to do so, and have not looked back since. I completed by Divemaster Internship and Instructor training in Egypt, where I worked teaching and guiding and gaining invaluable experience for two incredible years.

Then I decided it was time to seek new challenges, and have new settled in beautiful Koh Tao, with the fantastic DJL team. That’s the great thing about diving as a career, you can take your skills with you and live and work in so many different places.

I’m looking forward to meeting and teaching all you lovely Open Water students, and passing on the knowledge I’ve gained to our Divemaster Interns. Joining the Divemaster Trainee Internship Programme at DJL is one of the best ways you can gain invaluable dive experience, clock up a serious amount of underwater time, and learn from spending time with our experienced Instructor Team.

I’m also looking forward to expanding my own adventures and training, moving up to the next level in Instructor Training – The Staff Instructor Course, and getting into Technical Diving.

I can’t wait to meet you guys; fun divers and students alike over the coming months!!!