News
Buddy Dive Resort’s Course Director Achieves Highest PADI Professional Rating
Buddy Dive resort in Bonaire have announced that Pepe Mastropaolo, their long-time Course Director, has recently been awarded the prestigious Professional Association of Dive Instructors (PADI) Gold Course Director status for 2014. One of only 44 PADI Course Directors worldwide to achieve Gold status, Pepe has reached the pinnacle of PADI’s professional dive instructor certification.
Originally from Venezuela, Pepe began his dive career in 1989 and has been actively teaching ever since. With over 25 years of professional dive instructor experience, Pepe has taught more than 18 Instructor Development Courses (“IDC”) since 2010 and certified 108 students from around the world as PADI Open Water Scuba Instructors. He is also a certified PADI Tec Deep Instructor Trainer, allowing him to teach and certify new technical diving instructors.
As Buddy Dive’s Course Director, Pepe has elevated Buddy Dive to the premier center for PADI dive instructor training. Buddy Dive’s 100% pass rate for IDCs is a testament to Pepe’s tireless commitment to every student. Pepe’s teaching approach ensures that each IDC candidate receives the individual attention needed to successfully complete the course. When Pepe’s IDC candidates graduate, they are ready to immediately begin their careers as confident and prepared dive instructors. Pepe’s motto is “do what you love, love what you do” and this is personified in everything he does as Buddy Dive’s Course Director.
Buddy Dive’s next IDC begins April 30th 2014, and already boasts a roster of 10 students from around the world, including Curacao, Aruba, Bonaire, Holland and the United States. Pepe is looking forward to another successful IDC, and is already busy planning the graduation ceremony scheduled for May 13th 2014.
Buddy Dive Resort is consistently rated as one of the Caribbean’s top dive resorts, and enjoys a reputation as one of the leading IDC centers worldwide. Located on the sunny island of Bonaire, the shore diving capital of the world, Buddy Dive’s oceanfront location means it is only a few steps into the clear, calm and warm Caribbean waters. The resort also offers several swimming pools and an air-conditioned classroom equipped with the latest technology for its IDC candidates.
To find out more about Buddy Dive Resort, visit www.buddydive.com.
Over the next 12 months, specialist scuba holiday company Dive Worldwide will be supporting Bite-Back Shark & Marine Conservation with donations collected from client bookings to any one of its stunning dive destinations around the world. The independently-owned operator expects to raise £3000 for the UK charity.
Manager at Dive Worldwide, Phil North, said: “We’re especially excited to work with Bite-Back and support its intelligent, creative and results-driven campaigns to end the UK trade in shark products and prompt a change in attitudes to the ocean’s most maligned inhabitant.”
Bite-Back is running campaigns to hold the media to account on the way it reports shark news along with a brand new nationwide education programme. Last year the charity was credited for spearheading a UK ban on the import and export of shark fins.
Campaign director at Bite-Back, Graham Buckingham, said: “We’re enormously grateful to Dive Worldwide for choosing to support Bite-Back. The company’s commitment to conservation helps set it apart from other tour operators and we’re certain its clients admire and respect that policy. For us, the affiliation is huge and helps us look to the future with confidence we can deliver against key conservation programmes.”
To launch the fundraising initiative, Phil North presented Graham Buckingham with a cheque for £1,000.
Visit Dive Worldwide to discover its diverse range of international scuba adventures and visit Bite-Back to learn more about the charity’s campaigns.
MORE INFORMATION
Call Graham Buckingham on 07810 454 266 or email graham@bite-back.com
Free Octopus with every purchase of a SCUBAPRO regulator system
Just in time for the spring season, divers can save money with the FREE OCTOPUS SPRING PROMOTION! Until July 31st SCUBAPRO offers an Octopus for free
with every purchase of a regulator system!
Get a free S270 OCTOPUS with purchase of these combinations:
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with A700
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with S620Ti
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with D420
MK25 EVO Din mit S620Ti-X
Get a free R105 OCTOPUS with purchase of the following combinations:
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with G260
MK25 EVO or MK17 EVO with S600
SCUBAPRO offers a 30-year first owner warranty on all regulators, with a revision period of two years or 100 dives. All SCUBAPRO regulators are of course certified according to the new European test standard EN250-2014.
Available at participating SCUBAPRO dealers. Promotion may not be available in all regions. Find an authorized SCUBAPRO Dealer at scubapro.com.
More information available on www.scubapro.com.
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