About me ...

Gabriel is a PADI Instructor and EFR Instructor originally from Belgium. Speaking fluently French, Dutch and English he has also some basic knowledge of German and Spanish.

Since a child, when living close to the sea, he has always been passionate by the ocean and everything what lies beneath. After graduated in tourism and recreation management, he started his career in the tourism industry. He worked around the world in countries like Egypt, Thailand, Indonesia, Greece and Spain. He discovered scuba diving 6 years ago while working in Egypt, Gabriel has now more than 1000 dives under his belt. Traveling and diving around the world made him discover not only different languages and cultures but also different world-class dive sites.

After several years of recreational diving, Gabriel decided to relocate to Thailand for 6 months to become a dive Professional. There he passed his divemaster course and later on his instructor examination in the gulf of Thailand. Patient, sociable and dynamic. He is able to let anybody interested in diving to discover his passion.

Wreck dive 'Um el Faroud'

The Um el Faroud was an old Lybian oil tanker. Due to a gas explosion in a harbour of Malta during maintenance work in 1995, it was decided not to repair her. She was scuttled off the Southern coast of Malta as an artificial reef and now has become a big dive attraction for the area.

The wreck sits upright on the sandy seabed at a maximum depth of 35m. She is 110m long and weighs about 10.000 ton. I ve never dived a huge wreck like this ! Its just a mad feeling when you approach her and start to view the contours. We did two 45min dives with some penetration at the back of the ship. Its very easy to penetrate the Faroud because of her size, although unexpirienced diver should NOT attempt it! Most dive centers in Malta will explain you that you need to be at least Advanced open water and/or be certified as a wreck diver.


This is my very first underwater video ever made, enjoy! ;)

The DSAT Gas blender course

It has been 3 weeks now since I arrived in Malta, or was is 4 ?.. well... it doesnt really matter its like what they say when you enjoy yourself time flies by. As a diving instructor, you need to know the fact that the more qualifications you have, or the more languages you speak the better it will for your carreer in the industry. Those qualifications will make that the divecenter manager will rather choose YOU than the person who sended his cv 2 hours earlier.

Here at H2O Malta, the divecenter where I work, I had the opportunity to start the DSAT Gas blender course. (some of the staff have recently become gas blender instructors, so they are very happy to teach us as their first students hihi...)

With this course, I will be allowed to use the compressor to fill diving tanks, also I will be qualied to provide specific gas mixes to certified divers such as Enriched Air Nitrox (or EANx how we call it).
I have to say its funny how some of the topics of this course remember me my time at highschool :)

Here are some other tings you learn during this course:

• how to oxygen clean equipement
• different blending methods
• compressor use
• what is oxygen compatible air?

If everything goes well, the course can be done in a day or less

for more info, have a look at PADI dsat gas blender or contact H2O Malta if your planning to come to Malta soon.

Scuba tank explosion

Ok... after studying the gas blending I thought I could show you this little video

This is real footage (no special effect) of what happen when a scuba tank expodes!

In this video people are shooting at it, but this is what can happen as well if you dont take propper care of your tanks.
Some main conciderations are:
- never let your tank in direct sunlight (heat will increase the pressure in the cylinder)
- dont fill your own tank unless certified to fill
- make sure the tanks you use have been visually inspected and hydrostatic tested

The use of an SMB

Using an SMB or (Surface Marker Buoy) is a very usefull tool in Scuba diving. An SMB alerts boats on the surface of the presence of divers below.

Night diving

Ever wanted to dive into the dark, explore the underwater world during the night with a torch in your hand and see amazing creatures you will never see during the day ?
Then a night dive is deffenetly something you want to try !

Many underwater animals, which hide during the day, come out to feed at night and can be easily spotted in a diver's torch beam. At night, the clarity of the water is often very good, and this sensation is heightened owing to the fact that the diver's horizon is restricted to the penetration of his torch beam. This causes the diver to concentrate in the objects that his beam of light shines upon.

Once certified as a Padi Open Water diver or diver level 1 from an other organisation (CMAS for example). A huge amount of new challanges are waiting for you, night diving is just one of them.  

What you will do during a night dive,

Fist of all after checking your torches and equipement you will descend slowly into the depth. In most case you will use a line to help your descend. Once on the bottom, your instructor will take some time for you to acclimatise on the bottom, relax - look around you with your torch. You will be amazed of what you see ! After that your guide will take you for a guided tour around the dive site. Swim slowly, the slower you go the less air you will use and the more things you will be able to see under water. Follow your instructor and look when he/she is pointing to something generally it means there is something very nice to see.

 

Some considerations during a night dive,

light...

stay close 

depth

plan - mp of divesite

emergency