Meet our team of award winning Master Instructors
Meet the team
Alex Arnold – Master Instructor
Alex is a PADI Master Instructor #466079.
He has been diving for 11 years, 9 of which he has been an Instructor. He received the Master instructor Rating in 2005 and currently holds 14 different specialty instructor ratings. He has lived and worked in Nuweiba, Sharm el Sheikh, Similans islands, Germany, Malaysia and has now returned to Koh Phangan, Thailand and opened his own dive shop. Alex is a Level 2 TDI close circuit re-breather diver and avid videographer. He is one of the most experienced Instructors on the island.
Rachel Arnold – Staff instructor
Rachel is a Staff Instructor since 2003 & EFRI Instructor.
She has also completed her TDI Technical deep diver and extended range diver courses. She has spent the last 10 years of her teaching career in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. She came over to Koh Phangan when she got married in 2007 and set up the dive school with her husband Alex in June 2007. She is the backbone for the daily operations for Sail Rock Divers.
NUI – Open Water Scuba Instructor.
Nui is Sail Rock Divers Thai partner and One of the first Thai Instructors on the island. He has lived and worked on Koh Phangan all of his life. Nui has a lifetime of local knowledge. Nui has been a professional diver for nearly 9 years and still enjoys guiding and teaching.
Neil Richards – Master Instructor
Neil has been Instructing for 7 years and has been a Master Instructor for a year. He also worked as an Instructor in Sharm El Sheikh Egypt where we all met. He and his wife Monique came and join our family in January 2008. He also has experience working as an instructor in Australia, Taba, Thailand and Mexico.Neil is a partner in Sail Rocks Retail shop and Gemini bar.
Monique Richards – Staff Instructor
Monique is a Staff Instructor. She is Sail Rocks Marketing and customer relations manager. Monique became an instructor 7 years ago and has experience diving in Taba, sharm el sheikh, Australia, similan islands, mexico and Thailand.
Dave Arnold – Master Instructor
Dave has been a Master Instructor for 2 years, he is also a Tec Rec Instructor. Dave started diving 15 years ago and has followed a professional career for the last 8 years. Dave has dived all over the world and is one of the most experienced instructors at Sail Rock. Dave has a passion for deep technical diving.
Caro Balschun – Open Water Scuba Instructor
Caro joins us with many years diving experience in Hondres,Mexico, Malaysia, Indonesia and Koh Phangan. She is a NACD full cave diver,and brings us the ability to offer courses in both German & English.
Russia – Open Water Scuba Instructor
Evgeniy or Russia to his friends is fluent in both Russian, Bulgarian and English and is the latest addition to the Sail Rock team after recently passing his IDC course. Russia has been diving for many years & he has dived in many places around the world and has vast experience in different climates. Russias passions are for photography and videography.
Alex ” No Hair” Attewell-Dean Open Water Scuba Instructor
Alex joined the team in late October to start his Dive master course.
He first completed his Open water back in 2003 with Alex in Sharm El Sheikh and thanks to face-book found us again to start his Dive Master course, Alex is now Sail Rock divers first and only Open water diver To gain the coveted Instructor certification and all at the age of 18.
Tara Hanna – Assistant Instructor
Tara has just completed her Assistant Instructor and is looking forward to becoming a PADI instructor in the next few months. She first started diving in sharm el sheikh with dave and has now meet up with us again to pursue a professional diving career.
Eva – Open Water Scuba Instructor
Eva is one of our home grown Instructors. She first came to Koh Phangan as a rescue diver on holiday and soon returned to complete both the Divemaster course and the Open Water Scuba Instructor course. Eva can teach in both English and German.
Steve Goodwin – Dive Master
Steve came to Koh Phangan for a holiday and hasn’t left yet. He started his diving career in June 2009 and is now a PADI Dive master. Steve has his sights set on becoming an Instructor and continuing his career as a dive professional.
Haz- Assistant Instructor
Haz Lister is from London and started his dive career in 2005 in south Africa. He has just finished his Assistant Instructor course and is training to become an Open water scuba Instructor, Haz is an experienced yachtsman having spent many years traveling the worlds oceans. He is a great addition to the Sail rock team as he brings both Italian and Brazilian languages to the table.
Eike – Assistant Instructor and marine biologist
Eike started diving 1994 on Koh Tao, Thailand. Hooked ever since, he dived in South-East Asia, Central America and Europe, including research dive training on Elba, Italy. He studied marine biology at the Centre for Tropical Marine Ecology in Germany and is currently establishing a coral research facility with Sail Rock Divers, whilst doing his instructor training.
