Who we are at Dawn Dives

Hervé

I discovered diving 36 years ago, when I was very young, during my time in the fire service. It was a demanding start, but it gave me a very strong foundation and a deep connection with the water.

Over time, diving became a real passion. I am drawn both to the discipline it demands and to the calm it brings. Underwater, I feel that everything fits.

In 2012, I joined Dawn Dives as an employee. Here I learned a lot and met the people who are now my partners and friends.

What stayed with me most from the beginning was seeing how many divers come back year after year. Many arrive as clients and end up becoming friends. For me, that shows that what we offer here is not just diving, but a real experience.

In 2017, I became a co-owner, and I still work with the same idea today: to offer diving that feels more human, more personal and more centred on each person.

Pepe

I grew up in a coastal city, and from a young age I was fascinated by being underwater because of that feeling of weightlessness, silence and calm that you only find there.

One day I decided to do the Open Water course, and I never stopped. Very soon I realised that, as much as I loved diving, I also loved teaching.

I enjoy helping people build confidence in the water, overcome fears and discover a completely new world.That is why I became an instructor in 2009.

I came to Lanzarote in 2010 and knew I wanted to live on this island. I made that happen in 2012 and, since then, I have stayed at this same centre, where today I am a co-owner.

These days, one of the things I focus on is training diving professionals as an SSI Instructor Trainer.

The best part of this job is seeing how diving can become a turning point, both for someone starting from zero and for someone ready to take the professional step.

Óscar

Hi, I’m Oscar, and if someone is looking for me, I am probably underwater.

My story with the sea began when I was a child, in the tidal pools of Gijón. That is where I discovered a world that stayed with me forever.

By the age of 10, I was already freediving in the Cantabrian Sea and, although life took me in many directions, diving was always the place I came back to when I wanted to feel right.

After a trip to Thailand, I realised I did not want the sea to remain just a hobby. I wanted to make it my way of life.

I trained as a Divemaster at Dawn Dives, a centre that ended up becoming my home and where today I am a partner. Later I continued my training in Dahab, Egypt, where I qualified as an instructor.

After thousands of dives, I still feel the same every time I put on a wetsuit: that strong desire to get into the water.

Rinus

Hi, my name is Rinus and I am from the Netherlands.

For years I worked in a family business and had very little free time, so I used every trip as a chance to explore the world with a mask and snorkel in my bag.

In 2001, during a trip through Central America, I decided to do the Open Water course. I did seven dives in two days and got hooked immediately.

I went back home and, within just a year, kept training all the way to Divemaster, while also adding more than 100 dives in rivers and lakes.

In 2003 I came to Lanzarote to do the instructor course, and that changed my life.

I stayed on the island, where I have now worked for more than 22 years, and I have spent the last 11 at Dawn Dives Academy.

What started as a hobby became a passion. And even now, I still enjoy every single time I get into the water.

Claudia

I am from Turin, in Italy, and the sea always fascinated me, even though I grew up far from it.

In 2015 I started diving, at a time when I was also changing my life and leaving behind a job that did not feel like my own. From then on, I understood that I wanted to teach, but in a very different way from what I had imagined before.

In 2018 I came to Lanzarote to become a Divemaster. In 2019 I joined Dawn Dives, became a diving instructor and have worked here ever since. I also manage Dawn Dives’ social media.

The best part of my job is introducing people to the world of diving and seeing that change happen in them. The smile they come out of the water with is still one of the most rewarding parts of all this.