At PADI HQ, we’re big fans of sharing the love for our dive buddies. So, we asked PADI staff to tell us who they consider their favourite buddy, and why…
“My Favourite Dive Buddy Is…”
“My favourite Dive Buddy is my eleven year old daughter, Jolie. I taught Jolie to dive and despite her never ending chatter, she was so easy to teach and is a pleasure to dive with in open water. I love diving with Jolie because everything is still new to her and she get so excited to see just about anything under water. After many years of diving and teaching, diving with Jolie reminds me just how lucky we are to venture into the aquatic environment and how special what we see, really is.” – Erika Hoffman, Marketing Supervisor and PADI Professional Specialist, PADI EMEA
“My favourite dive buddy is my daughter Angelica (17 years old) because… she is my daughter! I love to dive with her, she is so good underwater (she did the PADI Open Water Diver course with me when she was 10 years old). It was really easy to teach her because Angelica was a synchronised swimmer until 2 years ago. So… she is my favourite buddy!” – Massimo Zarafa, Regional Manager, PADI EMEA
“My favourite dive buddies are the local PADI Divemasters and PADI Instructors. We can gain so much and enjoy a dive so much more by following someone who is an expert and a professional in the local area.” – Andy Aur, Regional Manager, PADI Asia Pacific
“My wife Hannah Ford is the best dive buddy. She’s my best friend and when we travel, we always like to plan a scuba diving adventure.” – Aris Ford, Social Media Executive, PADI Americas
“My son, Kieran (13 years). As a father, I have to educate my kids. As a diving instructor, my passion is teaching. Educating my son through my passion means Kieran gets first place of ‘best buddy ever seen’!” – Martial Warnier de Wailly, Regional Manager, PADI EMEA
“I have a ball anytime I dive with David Scanlan, mostly due to his fashion sense” – Tim Marshall, Regional Training Consultant, PADI Asia Pacific
“I just love diving with Timeena because the Blue Groupers at Shelly are so inquisitive about her purple flowing locks…” – Dave Scanlan, Graphic Designer, PADI Asia Pacific
“I love my buddy because we are taking care of each other while exploring and enjoying the underwater world together.” – René Bos, Territory Director, PADI EMEA
“I couldn’t choose between these two wonderful women. They are both PADI Course Directors and an inspiration to me. Minni was my instructor for the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course in Bali, and Isa is my buddy in the colder English waters.” – Serena Scatteia, Marketing Consultant, PADI EMEA
“Su-Li Wong (Regional Training Consultant at PADI EMEA and PADI Instructor) – for being a smiler, always helping out, and for her angelic patience in dealing with my general diving clumsiness (like when she dived for my weights after I dropped them during during my weightbelt exercise in my PADI Open Water Diver course). Thank you, Su-Li, you are lovely!” – Konrad Fraczek, Customer Service Consultant, PADI EMEA
“My best dive buddy is my beautiful, loving, wife. We seem to communicate better when we can’t hear each other.” – Paul ‘Tosh’ Tanner, Regional Manager, PADI Asia Pacific
“My favorite dive buddy is Jake because he saved my life.. a couple of times. If I haven’t thanked him enough on those occasions, thank you again Jake!” – Gina Park, Sales Support, PADI Asia Pacific
“My favourite dive buddy has to be Mark Evans, the esteemed editor of our partner magazine, Sport Diver – partly because if I’m diving with Mark, we’re a) probably somewhere pretty cool; b) most likely in a group with Sport Diver readers and/or Sport Diver staff, and; c) most certainly looking forward to some excellent après-dive activities!” – Simon Chance, Regional Training Consultant, PADI EMEA
“My favourite dive buddy is always excited and enthusiastic, even when it is cold or rough. She always comes up smiling and bursting to talk about what she saw. My favourite dive buddy is my wife!” – Neil Richards, Regional Training Consultant, PADI Asia Pacific
“Kim Ngan and Tim Marshall– for teaching us how to dive and making it fun. To master the art of putting on a wetsuit.” – Amanda Dorahy, Sales Support, PADI Asia Pacific
If you’re still searching for your favourite underwater companion, then check out this article on how to find a dive buddy and start planning your next scuba adventure together!
