The good, the bad and the down right ugly!
Pictures for the mantlepiece…..they’ll keep the kids away from the fire!
DEBBIE WOODS
PADI Master Instructor.
BSAC Open Water Instructor.
TDI Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Instructor.
Debbie is the proud owner and driving force behind Dive Odyssea.
She has been involved in Scuba diving since 1989 when she gained her BSAC Novice Diver qualification. She then went on to obtain her Advanced Diver and Open Water Instructor, again with the BSAC then turned professional with PADI before going on to gain her current rating. Debbie has dived in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, South Africa, Galapagos islands, Indonesia, The Philippines,Thailand, the Maldives, the Red Sea as well as all around the UK. She is passionate about her diving and enjoys UK wrecks just as much as warm coral seas. Debbie has a very ‘hands on’ approach to all the courses at Dive Odyssea to ensure that they remain safe, and above all, fun.
Debbie has ‘home grown’ most of the Dive Odyssea staff, making sure her high standards are passed down, and dive students get the best out of their training.
Meet the Dive Odyssea staff (in no particular order!):
ROB KEYS
PADI Master Instructor
IDEST Technician
Rob joined us as a qualified PADI Open Water Diver back in 2007 after having started to dive in the Maldives. Having joined us he has devoted all his spare to helping us out and I think he has been on about every training weekend, UK and Overseas trip with us since then. He is now one of our Master Instructor and has also gained qualifications in Cylinder testing. He is a recognised IDEST technician. More about this on our equipment testing page.
A builder by trade Robs attention to detail is very important to him and this extends to all the courses he runs.
Rob has dived in the Maldives, the Caribbean, the Red Sea, Mediterranean, Canary Islands, the Philippines and the Galapagos.
He also dived extensively in the UK; Weymouth, Swanage, The Farne Islands, North Wales, Cornwall, Devon, Isle of Wight etc etc
ANGELA MUNRO
PADI Master Instructor.
IAHD Instructor.
Angela first came to Dive Odyssea in 1999 when she completed her Open Water course. Since then, Ang’ has been an ever present club stalwart attaining her current rating in 2005. Apart from Debbie she is the longest serving Instructor at the club. She is a care home manager during the day and has four children and six grand children so they keep her busy in her spare time. Most of her family are divers trained by us and we are still waiting to train the youngest. I am sure this will be the case in due course.
It’s fair to say, that no trip is ‘official’ unless Ang’ is on it. Angela motto is life is too short and dive whilst you can. She has dived in the Caribbean, South Africa, Egypt, Indonesia Australia, The Solomon Islands, Cyprus and the Maldives.
EDDIE DOWD
PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer
PADI Master Scuba Diver TrainerEddie, just like all of our other Staff Members has completed the Internship program here at Dive Odyssea. He is our first Scottish member of staff and he’s rather proud of it although he’s not overly fond of ‘Braveheart’ jokes for some reason (I can’t think why!)
Eddie came to us as a PADI Advanced Open Water diver after having initially learned to dive in the Maldives in 2000. After completing his Rescue Diver course with us, he then moved on to complete his DM Certification and then onto his current rating. Eddie is married to Sue and they have four daughters (so far) and it has been suggested that the reason he escapes into diving is to get some peace and quiet!! Surely not!
Eddie has dived in the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, the Florida Keys, the Canary Islands as well as the Maldives.
RIAN BISHOP-LAGGETT
PADI IDC Staff Instructor
Brian, or BBL as he’s known, came to us back in 2000 as a newly qualified PADI Open Water Diver and he’s been here ever since. He owns his own satellite and security installation company (BBL Aerials) but still manages to fit his diving around his busy schedule. Like all of our long term staff members, BBL gained a very thorough understanding of student diver training prior to reaching his current rating. BBL has been on a number of Red Sea trips and dived around the UK.
RICHARD BOUTCHER
PADI IDC Staff Instructor
PADI IDC Staff InstructorRichard first learned to dive in the Maldives in 1990 and does his best to fit his job as a projects manager around his diving. He has dived extensively in Malaysia and Indonesia where he was allegedly managing a project. He too has also dived the Caribbean, the Red Sea, Australia, New Zealand and all around the UK. Richard is an avid underwater photographer and is the guy responsible for a lot of the very impressive photographs in the shop. He was a worthy finalist in the 2006 Wildlife Photographer of the Year and, not surprisingly, conducts our PADI Underwater Photographer Specialty programme.
STEVE ATKINSON
PADI Assistant Instructor
EFR Instructor
Former IT Manager, Steve qualified as an Open Water Diver, May 2001. Since qualifying he has used diving as an excuse to travel the world, including trips to Australia, Thailand, Fiji, the Maldives, Hawaii, Central America, the Caribbean, Kenya and Egypt. Steve has lost track of the number of times he has been shouted at by confused American divers when rolling into the water in a baseball cap to keep the sun off!
Now retired, when not travelling the world in search of dive adventure, Steve is the resident “death watch beetle” infesting Dive Odyssea.
(It now transpires that Steve’s forebears were of Celtic origin: although entitled to wear Gordon tartan he has yet to try diving in a kilt!)
PAUL BUDD
PADI Assistant Instructor
Paul started diving in the same way as many people; a try dive on holiday back in 2009. From then he was hooked and has continued to dive as often as he can, combining this with his enthusiasm for photographing the underwater realm.
In 2017, Paul decided to join the professional ranks of PADI, and became a Divemaster in 2018 and most recently, an Assistant Instructor!
Paul has dived all along the south coast of England and as far North as Northumberland (to experience the mesmerising play of grey seals) and continues to enjoy UK diving greatly, exploring the many wrecks scattered along the UK coastline. His dive travels have taken him to the Maldives, Mauritius, Mexico (Caribbean), Cozumel, Aruba, St Lucia, Bahamas, Jamaica & Egypt. Perhaps his most memorable dive adventure was travelling to and diving in the Galapagos archipelago to witness the spectacle of schooling Hammerhead & Galapagos sharks and experience the sheer thrill of seeing marine iguanas diving from the surface to feed on the marine grasses below.
JAMIE KEEBLE
PADI Assistant Instructor
PADI Assistant InstructorJamie learnt to Scuba here at the Club in 2012 and completed his PADI Open Water Course on a club trip to Cornwall in a sheltered bay. Since then he has risen through the ranks at the club to achieve his PADI Assistant Instructor rating, Jamie likes to dive both in the UK and Overseas and his been on several overseas trips with us including a number of Red Sea trips; land based and Liveaboard charters and Tobago.
Jamie loves to go skiing most years and has an adorable Retriever dog.
KARL PRUST
PADI Assistant Instructor
Learnt to dive back at Stoney Cove back in the summer of 2000, and started diving in Egypt pretty much right away (Egypt being a place he seems to spend a lot of time, who could think why!!) Karl really started diving just as a holiday diver half a dozen or so times a year.
Then Karl got the bug: he loves diving in the blue a shorty being his favourite attire but Karl did give UK diving a try thinking it would not be for him, but how wrong can he be: he discovered there are some great dive sites around the UK.
Places he’s dived include, St Abbs and Eyemouth, The Farne Isles, Cornwall, Eastbourne, Dorset and Devon and, well, Egypt of course, Malta, Greece, Ibiza, The Philippines, Mexico, Barbados, Cuba Cant think of any where else at the moment, but we’re sure the list is not complete.
Ian Parsons
PADI Divemaster
Ian Joined Dive Odyssea in 2013 and completed Open Water with us before heading off to the Maldives.
Since then he has risen through the ranks to become a PADI Divemaster. There’s not many weeks where you won’t see Ian helping out at Pool Sessions. Although he enjoys all levels of training he is also great with students wishing to extend their knowledge and practical application in Technical diving. He enjoys diving on his Rebreather and has obtained a 100 metre depth certification.
Ian has dived extensively in the UK and travelled to the Caribbean, Galapagos, The Philippines, Red Sea, Malta and Sardinia.
Ian is in a relationship with Claire who gives him the Freedom to go diving.
He has two daughters and a German Shepard called Juke.
CRAIG BRADBROOK
PADI Divemaster
Craig is a motor mechanic by trade. He is married to Sarah and together they have two boys, one almost 10 waiting desperately to dive with Daddy. Although Craig has dived around the world his heart lies in UK Wreck diving enjoying areas such as the Isle of Wight and the wrecks of the Sussex and Cornish coast lines. He is very passionate about his sport and is a very active and popular member of our dive club. He likes a practical joke, which often back fires on him which makes it even funnier, but when it comes down to the safety of the dive he is one of the best buddy’s to have around.
Alex Trevenen
PADI Divemaster
Alex first qualified for her PADI Open Water with Dive Odyssea in August 2016 at Stoney Cove, having craved the life of a scuba diver for many years. Alex was very quickly hooked to all things scuba, and since qualifying she has dived in the UK at Swanage, Lundy Island (fabulous seal encounter!) and abroad in Spain, the Red Sea, the Maldives, the Bahamas, Barbados, Antigua, Grenada, Jamaica and most recently the Socorro Islands, with many more adventures to come!
Now a Divemaster (also attained at Stoney Cove!), Alex loves assisting with students of all ages and aims to be a PADI Scuba Instructor one day.