The Atlantis Dive Team Profiles

Richard is one of the Resort Managers in Puerto Galera. After completing his divemaster course in the UK, the warm waters of the philippines were more appealing for his Instructor and MSDT! The majority of Richard's diving has been here in the Philipines where he has visted Tubataha Reef in the South China Sea, Apo Reef, Boracay and Dumaguette including Apo Island and Siquior.

Born in South Africa, but lived mainly in the UK, Richard's love of the sea and sunshine has brought him to Atlantis Puerto Galera to join the managment team. He has a degree from the UK in Law and Criminology, with past management experience; when not working you will find him underwater or occassionally at the 50 bar where he is always happy to buy you a cold beer!

Bigsy or Mam Bigs as she’s fondly referred to by Dumaguete staff has been with Atlantis since May 2007. She came to the resort first as a guest and loved the place so much that she decided to move here and take on position of Resort Manager. Not only is she resort manager, but also an accomplished PADI Instructor, successful business owner, and overall guru of the dive industry in general.

Bigs has been a dive shop owner/operator for 10+ years, and has dived all over the world’s best rated dive destinations. Although originally from Germany, Bigs lived in Sydney, Australia for 12 years and will be the first to state that she’s an Aussie at heart.

You’ll find Bigs around the resort chatting with guests, and always putting a smile on people’s faces with her attempts at the local language “Sus talaga”!

Among young active Course Directors in the world, probably very few grew up on a beach in the Philippines. Pedro is locally raised in and educated and begun his career as a tank boy in 1993. Today he is training other instructors and running one of the most successful dive teams in the country.

Like so many in our team in Puerto Galera, Pedro has amassed thousands of dives in the area and his claim to fame is the sunfish he once spotted at Dry Dock. He's known for his cheeky smile and will be around to make sure your dive trip runs smoothly - if you can't find him in the dive shop, sniff the air for pizza and that will lead you to Pedro. Pedro is still single so watch out!

Rufo Magsino joined Atlantis in early 2003, and has rapidly become one of our most popular dive guides. His laid back attitude, together with his ability to find underwater critters makes him your perfect buddy! Finding tiny critters for macro photographers is what he loves most.

Rufo is from Big Lalaguna, just around the corner, and married with two young children, Janssen and Joanne. He plays the guitar and enjoys the occasional game of chess when he's not working. He's also a very keen runner, sometimes those running shoes come on twice a day.

Marco's background in marine biology made him the perfect choice for the dive team in Atlantis Dumaguete.

Despite this being his first foray into the recreational diving industry, Marco is no stranger to the underwater world. He has been diving around Central Visayas as a field research assistant for the Silliman University Marine Laboratory and for Project Seahorse Foundation for Marine Conservation.

He has also done some diving in Northern Palawan, where he worked for a pearl farm. Guests who dive with Marco always know when he’s found something good! You can hear his giggle from meters away underwater when he’s excited!

Most Philippino Divemasters have a nickname, Juderson was renamed “Bala” a long time ago. It means Bullet and the reason for it is something you'll have to ask Bala about on your next visit.

Bala became a Divemaster in Puerto Galera early 2005 and devotes most of his time to diving. However, since his wife blessed him with a baby girl, he spends more time at home. We are pleased to see that baby Jasmin Iris has inherited her good looks from her mother!

Favorite divesite is Hole in the Wall, because Bala likes it when there's lots of schooling fish everywhere, in particular the shy Clown Triggerfish.

Some of you might have been diving with Gaby many times in Dumaguete and recognize his big smile, but it’s not until recently that he has become a regular member of the dive team. He has Divemaster experience from most dive areas in the Visayas.

Gaby enjoys shallow water reefs but admits to also like the adrenalin pumping dives at drop offs or in strong drifts.

Gabi is engaged to his longtime girlfriend Elfie and the two are expecting the arrival of their first child in late 2008.

Funny man Ambo used to be our worst boatman, so we decided to promote him to divemaster instead! If there is something Ambo is very good at besides diving and boat driving, it's making people laugh.

He's a local from Puerto Galera, even though he went to school in Manila, and is married to Grace with whom he has Thristan Emmanuel, who is cute as a button.

He enjoys the good things in life – singing, dancing, eating chicken Adobo, and meeting new friends of course! His lifestyle reflects on his diving, he prefers shallow and easy dives like the Sabang wrecks where he can hover calmly over frogfish and seahorses.

Ginie has been with us for a while. He’s one of the first generation divemasters here and knows all the spots like the back of his hand. Like all divemasters here he has a very good eye for the small stuff.

Before his dive career, which is already 20 +years, he was a spear fisherman. He spends a lot of time in the water and doesn’t seem to get tired of it, hence his nickname ‘Gin Gin divemachine’.

When not diving you can find him spending quality time with his wife and 2 kids.

Rustian Malibiran is one of our youngest local divemasters, brother of Rolando and a local talent – both when it comes to diving and entertaining in the bar in Puerto Galera!

His favorite dives are adrenaline pumping drift dives with big trevallies but he also enjoys sandy bottoms where he can find critters that are very well camouflaged. Being a divemaster allows him to meet lots of people – which he loves – talking and sharing his culture with guests.

Outside Atlantis, Rustian is a big basketball fan, he plays in the local team, but he's also quite happy to relax in front of the TV.

Vernie has been a Divemaster in Dumaguete since 2005, after some years divemastering all over the Philippines. His nick name is “Eagle Eye”, because Vernie knows how to smell, detect and spot even the tiniest little critters hidden underneath the sand.

Just ask him, and he will find you almost anything to fill up your camera card. Vernie is married to Estrella, and they have three girls, Verchi, Kirsten and Chawa.

When Henry was driving boats for a neighboring dive shop in Puerto Galera, they taught him to dive as a special treat – but without actually certifying him. When we threw him in the pool on his OW course, our jaws fell down with amazement at how good he was.

Now a Divemaster, he doesn't just have supreme buoyancy but is also very lucky: One of very few who's seen a manta ray in the Canyons. Not surprisingly, he likes big fish – trevallys, sweetlips – whatever you can find on deep drift dives.

When he's not around, he can be found playing basketball in one of the local teams, or watching movies at his parent's house in Big Lalaguna.

Wennie has been diving the Dauin area for a long time. He is also one of the first local dive guides and instructors and feels very much at home on all our dive sites.

He’s favorite things to do while diving is showing all the wonderful little critters. He also loves dogs as he has 7 of them and when not in the water he will be playing with the dogs and spending quality time with his lovely wife and two kids.

Also known as “GOTO” which is a local name for a Monitor Lizard in the southern part of the Philippines. Raised in the province of Bicol which is well known for the majestic Mayon Volcano, whalesharks and Manta rays. He started diving when he was 14 years old , has a degree in marine transportation and worked before in a resort in Masbate and diving with manta rays and whalesharks.

He loves the rush of adrenaline in drift diving and always mesmerized by the magnificence of the Alma Jane Wreck. You will always recognize him for he will surely greet and chat with you, and always give you a smile. You can always find him in the multimedia room in front of his computer.

Junnar has been with us since 2005 and started working as a boatman. He’s a Duain local and lives right next to the resort with his family.

He’s always been curious about the underwater world and he has joined the dive team in 2009 as a dive master. He love looking for the small critters and showing you his beautiful backyard.

When not diving you can find him playing basketball and spending quality time with his wife and son.

Originally filling tanks in 2005, Jerry was so keen on diving that Atlantis just had to let him get on with it! A few months later he shaved his head and became a proper member of the diving staff in Puerto Galera...

Jerry is happy to chat to divers from different places when he's not diving, but sometimes he'll be playing chess, scrabble or basketball with his friends or just stay at home reading and listening to music.

A big fan of wall diving, Jerry will take you to Sinandigan wall and play with the Clownfish there. Why? “There so cute!”.

Ask any Atlantis Dumaguete guest who has dived with Wing Wing before, and they will most certainly tell you that this guy has an eye like no other. Also known as “The Hawk”, Wing is the fellow you want to dive with if in search of the well hidden, and well camouflaged. Not only does he spot these critters, but he does it from 10 meters away!!

A Dumaguete local born and raised Wing has been diving around the Visayas for many years. Prior to becoming a divemaster Wing used to work as a fisherman and so his knowledge of the water and ability to read conditions from the boat is invaluable. Wing is always willing to hang out in Toko’s bar after a day’s diving to chat with guests and make new friends and on his off days, he opts for rest and relaxation with his girlfriend Merlinda.

'Babyface Norms' was born and raised in Sinandigan next to Sabang Beach. After Joining Atlantis as a 'Tank Boy' and mastering speedboat driving he quickly moved through the ranks to become one of the very best Divemasters.

With Norman's young eyes he will find almost anything you could wish to see.

Norman enjoys the strong drift of the Canyons and West Escarceo, but his favourite divesite is Verde Island, he loves the Drop-Off but those that know Norms, are sure its because of the lunch!

Norms is young, not married and single.... Watch out girls!

Jes joined us in 2009 and is originally from Malapascua. The great diving of Dumaguete and Dauin brought him to us and he is quickly gaining a reputation of being an eagle-eyed guide.

He can spot the smallest of critters and will remember exactly where they are on your next dives.

Ask him anything that’s on your wish list and he’ll try to find it for you.

Alex is the Photography Instructor at Puerto Galera, as well as being one of the Instructor Team. He completed his divemaster course in the UK in 2002 then travelled for 2 ½ years working as a divemaster in both Thailand and Western Australia. He completed his instructor and MSDT course at the beginning of 2007 in Thailand where he worked for 1 ½ years before heading to Borneo working as Trip Manager on a live-aboard. Alex has dived in numerous places around the world including the UK, Malta, Egypt, Thailand, the Bahamas, various places in Indonesia and around Australia.

Alex was born and raised in London, but as the diving is not too good there, has now moved to Asia where he can dive regularly and follow his passion for underwater photography. If Alex is not busy working you’ll find him underwater, camera in hand looking for that special image.

Steve is the photo pro in Dumaguete, ask him anything about photography and he’ll be more then happy to give you an answer. He fell in love with the ocean at an early age through surfing and then later on couldn’t resist seeing what was beneath the surface. After his first dive in New Zealand he was completely hooked and realized this was something that was going to change his life dramatically.

He first started in Atlantis in 2004 after traveling all over the world. He then went on to do some more travels but was drawn back to the beautiful Philippines and doesn’t have plans to leave. Being really passionate about the ocean and nature, he loves sharing this with everyone whether it is through his pictures or teaching dive courses.

He was born in Antwerp, Belgium but prefers the climate here where he can be more involved with his passion for underwater photography. When not working you can find him hanging out with his wife Whitney and their dog Haya.