SSI Announces 2017 Platinum Pro 5000 Divers and Instructors

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SSI Announces 2017 Platinum Pro 5000 Divers and Instructors

October 25, 2017 - 13:16

Scuba Schools International has a rather neat diver recognition award, and what makes it special is that it is all about diving.

And it doesn't matter what kind of diver you are, ie who you have trained and qualified with. This award is open to any diver who has trained with any agency. Leading explorers and unsung divemasters can both earn this award in exactly the same way - by diving 5,000 times.

Logging 5,000 dives takes some doing. You could dive 500 times a year for 10 years, or dive 100 times a year for 50 years. Which ever way you cut it, that is a lot of dedication and commitment to our amazing sport.

Some of the world's most prominent dive leaders, scientists, photographers, manufacturers, retailers, and resort operators have received this award.

This year respected names include 'Bluebird' recovery diver and wreck explorer Sally Cartwright, 'Shadow Diver' John Chatterton and Sherri Ferguson, Director of the Environmental Medicine and Physiology Unit at the Simon Fraser University, Canada.

The professionals have not been forgotten either. Noted industry divers include Fredrik Lovstad Waldegren (former PADI consultant and is now Business Development Director for a Nordic scuba distribution company) and Martin Sampson (author, and owner of Anglesey Divers).

The cannot be purchased. There are two ways individuals can qualify for the card:
1. Make 5,000 or more dives
2. Make 2,500 dives and document a significant contribution to the recreational scuba diving industry.

Each application must also be supported by letters of recommendation by two Platinum Pros. Applications are then reviewed to ensure they qualify, and over the years many have been rejected.

Many congratulations to the following inductees!

The 2017 Platinum Pro 5000 Diver inductees are:

  • Fernando Aguilar
  • Roberto Baracho
  • Luiz Costa de Moura Bartolomeu
  • Stuart H. Benge
  • Joe Blackstone
  • Patrick E Blaney
  • Buddy Brown
  • Ricardo A. Carrio
  • Chauncey Chapman
  • Russ Conway
  • Scott M. Crawford
  • Jen Darby
  • Siamak Derakhshan
  • Matthias Dorsch
  • Scott M Edwards
  • Jose Rafael Esteves
  • Scott Evans
  • Nicholas Khalil Fazah
  • Massimiliano Finzi
  • John Flanders
  • William A Fox
  • Axel Georg Frueh
  • Lloyd Garrard
  • Miguel Garrido
  • Liber Garrido Barnet
  • Gregory Gilkey
  • Mark Gresham
  • Marcelo Guimaraes
  • Guy Harvey
  • Fernando Hernandez
  • Tom Hicks
  • Anders Holmberg
  • Alec Hutchinson
  • Frank Jakobi
  • Shin Jin
  • Dan Johnson
  • Young Choen Kang
  • Brian Kinley
  • Jeffrey Kline
  • Leeroy Kufstein
  • Donna Lattin
  • Daniel J Lennon
  • Sebastian Lindner
  • Frederic Loreau
  • Patrick Madden
  • Sandra A MacDonald
  • Anita Marshall
  • Jeffrey B McNutt
  • John Miller
  • Eugenio Mongelli
  • Ezequiel Moreno
  • Michael W Morris
  • Shawn S Nasseri
  • Mary Catherine Oberle
  • Zachary OHara
  • Steve Olfe
  • Fred Overwater
  • Peter Palsrok
  • Paula Pessanha Loque
  • Margo Peyton
  • Michael Phillips
  • Russell G. Potocki
  • Thomas Powell
  • Hui Qin
  • Antonio Portugal Ramirez
  • Patricia Ramirez
  • Anita Rosenfeld
  • Phil Rudin
  • Alberto Sanchez Marquez
  • Eugenio Mongelli
  • Pepe Salcedo
  • Sonia Scott
  • Earlena Seward
  • Mark Slingo
  • Mark A Sommer III
  • Mark Soworka
  • Ben Stevens
  • Thomas Sullivan
  • Jeremy Tanner
  • Toyah Tomkins
  • Jeff Torode
  • Leo Tournier
  • Rene Trost
  • Saralynn Turner
  • Ginette Valin
  • Martin van Gestel
  • Neil van Niekerk
  • Rani Veitch
  • Jose Mario Roberto Ventura
  • Otto von Loewenstern
  • Christian Wendt
  • Jimmie Wheeler
  • Samantha Whitcraft
  • Hunter Winfrey
  • Benny Wiratno Bunadji
  • Byoung-Seon Yoo

The 2017 Platinum Pro 5000 Instructor inductees are:

  • Osama Abdalla
  • Lawrence Babcock
  • David Berniger
  • Pamela Bradley
  • Chad J Carney
  • Giovanni Cozzi
  • Paul Rodriguez Delgado
  • Fausto De Nevi Herrera
  • Julien Dubois
  • Matthew Eker
  • Frank W Filbert
  • Dato Mohd Zahrin Hashim
  • Dean R. Hollis
  • Brandon Houser
  • Harold Tom Huff
  • Hiroo Iizuka
  • Errol Kalayci
  • Saar Kara
  • Peter Köppchen
  • Mathis Kaufmann
  • Fredrik Lovstad Waldegren
  • Jose Masia Martinez
  • Carlos A. Martinez Pedroza
  • Walter Maurer
  • Dean Owen McConnachie
  • Hans-Joachim Meffert
  • David R. Patterson
  • Michael Peikert
  • Miguel Portillo Ruiz
  • Michael Ray
  • I Wayan Sabra
  • Masashi Sakamoto
  • Martin C Sampson
  • David Scuba
  • Anthony P Sung
  • Frederick F Trapp
  • Manfred Uhl
  • Anamarija Urh
  • Steve Whitaker
  • Dawn C Williamson