
From: South Africa
Profession: PADI territory director
Specialty: wrecks
I first started diving in 1989 in Cape Town South Africa. I served as a Major the South African Defense force for 8 years. Since then I have managed and owned various businesses including Adventure tour companies and Photographic shops.
I became a PADI Pro in 2006 and went on to become a PADI Course Director 2009. I have managed and owned PADI dive centres in South Africa before I was appointed as a PADI Regional Manager.
I am a PADI TecRec Instructor Trainer and I have a love for deep technical diving (on both Open Circuit and Closed Circuit Rebreather) and cave diving.
My passion for deep diving and history has led to the discovery of 10 previously unknown wrecks off the coast of South Africa in 2 years including submarines, warships and passenger ships.
Presentations
2019
The ghost fleet of Durban (South Africa) |
There are a total of 141 recorded ship wrecks off Durban in South Africa. The first recorded shipwreck was a ship with the name “Good Hope” She ran aground off the Bluff IN 1685. Two years later the surviving crew had build a new ship which they named “ the Cuvier” and they sailed to Cape town. Patrick Voorma did a lot off research to find some off the shipwrecks in the Durban area. In the past years he discovered 10 wrecks witch include the WW2 British Submarine HMS OTUS and a WW1 submarine chaser ( USS Nahma ) He found also the ship on wich Sir Winston Churchill escaped after being captured by the Boers “ The Umzimvubu” Many off the wreck he found where on depth beyond recreational diving. |