Sea Bees Team

Alex is our all-rounder who is always in a good mood. 26 years old, he likes teaching courses but is also just as happy on Marco Polo in the Similans. His first few dives courses took place in the good old Franconian Baggerweihern (small lakes in Germany) and then in 2005 he came to Sea Bees to take his three-star, his assistant and his IDC. Alex has about 900 logged dives, one of the best of which was in Hin Muang - 50 minutes dancing with a Manta. Generally, he is a big fan of pizza, good atmosphere and nice people. His life follows the motto: Take it easy, if it is easy take it twice ;-)

Mikel is our technical jack of all trades, is 41 years old and knows everything about compressors and boats. Unfortunately, he made several attempts at diving but eventually abandoned it altogether. One of his most impressive dives was made in January 2005 in Chalong Bay, where we recovered an air compressor. Michael has been in Thailand for 17 years in Thailand and came to Sea Bees in 2002. He is a big fan of cold beer, but he doesn't like the rain in the shipyard at all

Herbert is our almost always good-humored Bavarian, sometimes he seems a little cranky, but that is not how he is - deep down inside he is very nice. 'Herbie' started diving in 1986 and two years later completed his instructor course. In 1996 he came to Thailand and he already worked for Sea Bees as a freelance instructor by the year 2000 - he has been one of our permanent staff since 2005. Some of the best dives he has experienced were in the Philippines in Jabak, and at Richelieu Rock, here in Thailand.

Born is one of our instructors, who has got her own fan-club on the Sea Bees Blog. She is now 31 years old and was born and raised in Thailand. She started working as a dive guide in 2002 in Phuket and came to Sea Bees in 2006. So far she has done 4780 dives and still loves every day that she can spend in the water. She speaks English well, is very patient and loves a friendly atmosphere.

Denny is our office manager's assistant in Chalong, Denny is 36 years young. She is an Advanced Open Water Diver and has about 15 dives. Her favourite dive destination is Racha Yai when she gets to dive there with turtles. She grew up in Germany, returned to Thailand in 2004, and has worked with Sea Bees Diving in Chalong since 2006. In general she loves the food in Thailand as long as it does not include any fish.

Volker is our SSI certifier and dive shop manager in Chalong. A long time ago he used to work as a dive master in Australia, then went to Bali, the Maldives and the Philippines, has been to the Red Sea, went to Sri Lanka, then to Burma, and finally came to Thailand in 1996. He did his Instructor course in Phuket that year and altogether has around 3,000 dives. One of his best was in 1997 at Richelieu Rock with three black spotted rays, two whale sharks, a few hundred stingrays on the bottom (the whole sea bed moved when you approached it), a seahorse and many more things. He has worked for Sea Bees since 2002. People know about Volker that he likes his beer after a long working day - even if he's not a Bavarian - and he likes it good and cold. Also he likes to spend time with his wife. Volker is always good for a laugh and is a good humoured person, but there are things for which he has no patience, including warm beer and when people get stressed about nothing. Volker is mostly calm and patient even when everything goes pear-shaped. In general he worries about problems when they actually arise and not weeks before.

Chris is 35 years old and started diving in 1996. In 2003 he went to Thailand to do his assistant instructor course with Sea Bees, and to date has approximately 4,500 dives. As he spends most of his time on Marco Polo, almost all of his dives are great. 'There is always something new, you just need to open up your eyes'. Chris likes good food and is not averse to beer - and unfortunately we can then see how much he likes it all... He is especially knowledgeable about macro life on the reef - he likes to look for angler fish, ribbon eels and nudibranchs. Diving courses are not particularly his thing - he has much more fun showing the reef to people and passing on his knowledge.

Florian is our sunshine and girls love him. Flo is 28 years old and has been one of our Sea Bees Instructors for 4 years, and now works mostly in our Chalong office. He came to Thailand in 2004, to do his instructor assistantship with Sea Bees. Flo has approximately 1,650 dives and one of his best was in January 2005, at Hin Daeng, where he dived with a Minke Whale. Our Flo loves chocolate more than anything, but night dives are not for him.

Markus is 43 years old, did his assisting time in 2001 with Sea Bees, worked as a tour leader on Excalibur until 2005, and since then has been our service technician. Markus has done approx. 1,357 dives and one of his best was at Anenome Reef where he dived with a whale shark for 20 mins during the Dive Instructor exam. He likes lentil soup but does not like chillies at all. Markus is famous for his constant smiles, but people also know that sometimes he can get very agitated.

Pat works for Sea Bees in Amari Coral Beach Resort in the dive shop. She is now 35 years old and was born and raised in south Thailand. She did her first dive in Phi Phi Island in 2000, loved it and decided two years later to get certified. She has done around 200 dives in Phi Phi, the Similans, Koh Tao and in Indonesia. She worked for a travel agency and then joined Sea Bees in 2006. She likes traveling, the outdoors, beach life, reading a good book, chill out music, and of course diving! She also likes to play guitar, work in Amari and give advice on traveling. She is not fond of corruption, selfish people, racism, discrimination or snakes! Her motto is 'keep smiling'.

Maritta - diving is her life. She learned to dive in Spain in 1971 - after 60 immediate dives, her addiction was clear! She quickly completed many diving qualifications, and soon founded her own diving company. At the time there were no underwater models, so she volunteered. She appeared in many photos by well-known underwater photographers and also assisted with lighting set-ups. She also appeared in many movies hosted by wildlife documentary film-maker Heinz Sielmann, which appeared on German television. During all of this time she was also still working as a Dive guide. In 1973, she set up the first dive centre in Phuket (along with her former husband). There you had the first organised dive trips to Phi Phi and the Similan Islands, as well as special dive trips to Indonesia. She worked full time in diving until 1998. Today she appears at Sea Bees 'only' around 5 days a week, 'just for fun' and she still gets to show her diving enthusiasts everything that Phuket has to offer. Maritta disappears every year for about two months, to dive the most beautiful dive sites in the world with her friends - but then she dives with a guide, well, after 24,000 dives that's probably allowed. If you want to know more about Maritta, then simply ask for her on your next holiday in Phuket - you'll most likely find her on Excalibur.

Frank is our Marketing Manager, is 41 years old and has been in Thailand since July 2008. Shortly after arriving he completed his open water course with Sea Bees. So far he has only 6 dives logged, but there are certainly more in the near future for him. His best dive was the last, where he finally removed the mask without swallowing any water. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses - in general our 'New' one is a good guy, but waiting is not his strong point - most of all he likes tiramisu, and as quickly as possible!

Stefan is now 47 years old, started diving in 1984, and in 2001 he came to Thailand to do his assistant instructor with Sea Bees. He successfully completed the 1-star instructor, the year after that continued with the 2-star, and in 2003 became a 3-star instructor. Altogether Stefan has about 4,500 dives under his belt. One of his most exciting dives was at Shark Point in 2004, where he experienced the tsunami under water. In the past year, he dived with dolphins for the first time at Racha Yai - very impressive. Stefan is always good for jokes, Bavarian food, animals, motorcycles, scuba diving and playing drums. What he doesn't like at all are cold feet, rice, drugs or Schnapps. He is known for his versatility, but also for his stubborness and that he can be a little blunt - he's just a real Bavarian and does not mean it as it sounds. Actually, he started diving because he had heard that everything looks 1/3rd bigger underwater and because his mother said that since he kept sinking during swimming lessons, he would be better off diving ;-)

Hilla is our e-mail fairy, mostly staying above the water as many of you already know. Fish she sees only occasionally, on her Sea Bees screen saver between queries and bookings. But sometimes she does get into the water. With a total of 70 dives, her favourite spot is Anenome Reef - she loves the variety of colours and the big schools of fish. She has lived in Thailand for over ten years now and has buzzed with Sea Bees for six of those. On top of her extensive list of favourite things are her kids, her grandchild, her darling, her cat, Thailand and it's people, her work, all the nice customers and colleagues, the yummy food, having fun, laughing, and many, many more things. Things that she doesn't like about herself or others is being sad, bad moods and lies. We especially like about our Hilla that she can interact very well with other people and is a very good listener. Sometimes she gets a little too involved and handles criticism badly. She likes it when people just accept her and like her as she is.