Tekdive ambassadors continue to promote the event within the technical diving world. They have been speakers, exhibitors, sponsors or media partners of the event and they believe in the value a conference like Tekdive brings.
Ambassador: Ellen Cuylaerts (Cayman Islands)
Ellen is born in Belgium but is now living in on the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean Sea. She started with snorkling and underwater photography but has then switched to technical diving, in particular sidemount diving. She holds a full cave certification.
Her pictures are published worldwide and since a couple of years she is a member of the New York Explorers Club. She is a well known member of the “Woman Divers Hall of Fame“.
Ellen is a fierce defender of the environment and of animal rights in particular.
Ambassador: Peter McCamley (Ireland)
Peter has been an experienced tech diver and expedition leader for many years.
Every year he organizes various expeditions to dive on deep wrecks. Most of these dives happen in Ireland (Malin Head). In 2017 he brought a team together to dive on the wreck of the Lusitania. This expedition was a success and in 2018 and 2019, two more expeditions were organized by him. 3D images of the wreck and many underwater photos were made during these expeditions.
In daily life, Peter leads the various companies that he owns.
Ambassador : Sabine Kerkau (Switzerland)
Sabine is born in Germany but has been living in Switzerland for several years, where she works as a pharmacist.
Sabine is one of the most experienced technical divers and participated in countless expeditions all over the world. She went to the Britannic but also did several dives in different mines in Germany and Switzerland.
Sabine was already present during the first TekDive event in 2011 as a guest speaker. In 2019 she was invited for the second time to give a presentation on ghost fishing nets in the Baltic Sea. Sabine is also a member of the “Woman Divers Hall of Fame” in the US.
Ambassador: Marcelo Bussotti ( Italy)
Marcello is one of the most experienced scuba diving instructors in Italy. He has trained hundreds of technical divers in his home country.
He participated in many expeditions to important ship wrecks. As one of the first divers on the Geierfels and the Freienfels wrecks he reached a depth of 130 in the Mediterranean Sea. He was even diving to the Graf Zeppelin (aircraft carrier) in the Baltic Sea.
Ambassador: Phil Short ( UK)
Phil is a real professional in the tech diving sport. He has been training hunderds of tek divers all over the world.
For years and years he has been involved in many international projects in multiple countries.
Several universities rely on his years of experience in the underwater world. Not too long ago he was active in Finland to investigate the Gribhunden wreck with a team of experts. The wreck dates back to the year 1495 and is considered one of the most important archaeological underwater discoveries of recent years.
Ambassador: Xavier Méniscus (France)
Xavier is one of the best known underwater explorers in France. He is one of the few cave divers to do explorations at a depth beyond 200 meters.
He is a professional diver in daily life. However, it is in his spare time that he undertakes extreme explorations in the various cave systems in France. During his deep dives he uses a dual or triple rebreather to extend his diving times.
Xavier was a guest speaker at TekDive 2019 where he explained how to map deep caves with a computer program.
Ambassador: Alex Santos (Philippines)
Alex first experienced scuba diving in a pool when he was 9 years old. In 1991 he reached the top Naui level when he became a recreational diving instructor trainer at the Guam U.S Naval Base. In the same year he started technical diving. In 1992 he was certified technical diver in Guam. Alex is currently an IANTD cave instructor.
He is also the founder and CEO for Philippine technical divers ( www.philtech.net)
With this company he is doing recovery work from shipwrecks. This can be recovery of valuable objects or victims of drowning. He was involved in many disasters at sea and awarded by the government for his work. Alex is also a practitioner of hyperbaric chamber therapy. He has also used oxygen in-water treatment to save a number of divers from DCS.
