Our Crew
We have the best boats and equipment but the most important part of what we do is the crew who represent us everyday. We are extremely lucky to have a team of passionate, kind and friendly crew. When diving with us, you will receive the safest, most comfortable dive trips available on Grand Cayman. Join us onboard and enjoy the local knowledge and dive skills of this incredible team.
Our crew love what they do and are unmatched in their patience, understanding, professionalism, friendly banter and above all, their dedication to safety. By choosing a team of highly qualified PADI professionals that share these qualities together with their love of diving, we are able to provide our customers with a world class product.
Christian
Originally from the south west coast of England, Christian has been in the service industry his entire life. Christian started out in the night club industry of a British seaside town. In his early 20’s he got the travel bug.
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So he quit his job, bought a round the world ticket and began his adventure. Christian’s Cayman time started in 2004 on Cayman Brac. This was his school for the dive industry completing his dive master and instructor certifications. After this he went on to work in the BVI’s and Turks and Caicos returning to Grand Cayman in 2008 where he has made his home. Christian spent 8 years in dive ops management on island before joining us as our team leader in 2016. His credentials are as long as they are impressive. There is not a single area of recreational and technical diving that Christian hasn’t dipped his toe in. This gives Living The Dream Divers and incredible depth of experience and knowledge. Onboard he’ll keep you smiling with a laid back, kind and funny persona.
Christian has now become a full naturalized citizen of the Cayman Islands. This makes him part of the island and means he can be an excellent wealth of knowledge for you about all things Cayman.
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Ty Neiser
Our West Coast Canadian has many years experience working in the Cayman Islands dive industry. From Ty’s first breath under Cayman’s warm waters in 2010 he knew this was home.
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Having worked for one of the original dive centers for many years Ty moved to the Cayman Aggressor liveaboard. A year of sea time was the perfect training ground for his boat driving. At Living The Dream Divers you will see Ty driving all of our boats but his favorite lady is Our Boat Too. Ty is a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer with many specialties under his weight belt. Ask Ty for his favorite dive in Cayman and he will say the one I am doing next. In the water he gives calm and interesting tours of Cayman’s stunning reefs. With as much bubble time as he has you will feel in safe and competent hands.
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Warren Preston
Born and bred in South Africa Warren is full of life and passion. He started his diving career at 16 and has spent the last 14 years working and breathing scuba diving.
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Starting as a dedicated dive instructor, Warren taught over 1000 students to dive and became a PADI IDC Staff instructor. That is an incredible amount of certifications in such a short time and a highly regarded rating.
When you dive with Warren you know that safety is on the top of his list. The skills he has developed with over a decade of diving and nearly 10 thousand dives are clearly evident every time he puts his fins on. Nothing is easy about diving in South Africa. The surf entry, cold water, strong currents and low viz make this harsh environment a challenge for any diver. These skills have stayed with Warren as he went on his dive travels around the globe. He went to Thailand, Australia all over Africa and the BVI’s.
They say that every cloud has a sliver lining. The extremely dark cloud of hurricane
Irma that devastated the BVI’s in 2017 put Warren out of work. The sliver lining is he found Grand Cayman and has now made it his home.
Warren is an amazing diver but his natural skills at boat handling make him our key Boat Captain. Its like the boat is an extension of his body as he drives to sites that are special to him and a little off the beaten path. In the water, you will be guided by a pro and on board you will be entertained by his briefings and stories. Just remember to bring your South African translation book!!!
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Kyle Stryczek
Born in the Windy City of Chicago, Kyle loved the ocean from the moment he first dived. Since then he has lived and breathed the flip flop life.
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Kyle had an amazing, inspirational and slightly different journey to become part of the LTDD Team. His first Cayman Dive trip was with his parents when he was 12 years old. His Mum and Dad loved Cayman and made it a regular trip on the family vacation schedule. Kyle loved each and every trip! Kyle completed his Advanced certification with us during one of those trips. The joke onboard soon became, when you turn 18 you should “buy a ticket, get instructor certified and move to Grand Cayman and work with us” …. Well….Kyle did just that. One day he made that call to us after he got certifed as a PADI instructor and got some experience teaching in Roatan. We welcomed Kyle and are so lucky and proud to have him as a member of our team.
Having worked with Kyle since he joined the team in 2017 we are not sure we have ever seen him not smile. Everyday he brings passion and energy to our crew. He is literally Living His Dream Diving! Plus, his Mum and Dad have the best excuse to come visit their favorite island and dive with their son. His sister even got married on island at our resort Ocean Cabanas! Kyle and his family are truly part of LTDD Family.
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Lauren
In her heart, she is an island lady. Born in the north of England, her family moved to the Isle Of Wight. A super small island known for the famous music festival in the 70’s, the UK’s Woodstock, which is still happening yearly. Water and islands are in her blood. Her first visit to Cayman was with her father to get certified. She loved the island and its amazing fish critters. Having finished school she decided to take a gap year and come work in Grand Cayman, that was eight and half years ago! She says she is now going for the gap decade!
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A super skilled instructor still actively teaching beginner to advanced, she is now following her family’s boating passion. She is a dedicated Boat Captain leading trips for us daily. Lauren’s local knowledge having been diving here for so long is a bonus to any trip she leads.
Outside of scuba she is in love with her pet parrot, ask her about it!
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Matt Clarke
Matt jointed our team in 2018 having been in Australia prior. Originally from the a small town called Rugby in the north of England. Matt has had an interest in teaching. After school he went on to graduate with a NCFE in sports leadership. This course ignited his passion. It was at this stage Matt learned to dive. One breath under water and that was it, Matt was hooked.
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Matt’s passion for scuba diving is magnetic. He delights in sharing the sport and Caymans dive sites. Diving with Matt is like nothing else. It doesn’t matter how many dives you have, you are guaranteed to learn and see something new.
As a PADI IDC Staff instructor Matt is one the most qualified dive instructors in the PADI system. His polite, kind and informative approach makes him the perfect instructor.
In Matt’s time with us he has not just excelled in teaching and guiding dives, but as an anchor to our business. As such he is relied on by us to over see things on shore, and make sure our teaching standards are up to date with the latest guidelines.
It’s hard to put into words how much of a pillar Matt is to our operation. He embodies the spirit of Living The Dream. It’s said that it takes 10,000 hours to master something, Matt has exceeded this mark with ease.
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Daniel
Dan or Danny Boy is From Liverpool, the home of the Beatles in England. Dan is full of energy. He joined our team after Covid in 2021. The man was born to take people diving, this he knew from the minute he got certified in Maldives. But it was confirmed when he spent the covid lock down working for Amazon.
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Starting by teaching diving and leading dives it was soon clear that he wanted to learn to drive the boats. Dan has become one of our boat captains and is running trips daily.
When not at work Dan has become an avid cyclist, runner, and swimmer. He competes in local triathlons and running races.
Join Dan on his underwear adventures and learn all about the fish and creatures.
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Ethan
Our South African crew has grown with Ethan coming to join the team. He is from Cape Town where his family have a working farm. Hard work and diving go hand in hand. Growing up on a farm taught him hard work and his travels around the world have taught him about diving.
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In South Africa is very different from the Caribbean. High surf entires, cold water, strong currents and strong winds are juts a few things Ethan learned to handle when he was training in SA. Loving the work but wanting to explore he decided to head off on his travels. His last dive work has on a shark diving live aboard in the Bahamas. He was the first mate onboard a large dive vessel. He has the most “amazing” shark stories of any human I have ever met!!!
Now part of the LTDD team we could not be happier to have his fun, and talented skills on our boats.
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Vee
We call him Vee but his name is Wynand Gerhardus Van Der Westhuizen, and there are bonus points if you can pronounce it right, none of us can!
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Born in South Africa the red meat, rugby and sports of the nation run through Vee’s veins. He has also spent many years traveling the world and has a huge amount of amazing stories and knowledge that came from those travels. He worked for the traveling circus in America, spent time looking after private yachts in Hong Kong, and has worked in Africa as a dive instructor, to name a few of Vee’s past jobs.
We are super happy he has joined our team.
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Anniesha
A true lady from the islands. Born in Jamaica, now a full time resident of the Cayman Islands. Anniesha, pronounced A-ni-sha brings a wealth of customers service with an island feel to our company. We are so happy to have her as part of team. As part of our Ocean Cabanas team you will meet her when you check in.
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Her pedigree in the hotel business is amazing. She brings experience from high end hotels, and the airline industry. She is a fountain of knowledge for restaurants, island activities, who gives the best message, or which is the best beach to enjoy. Need something in your cabana? Anneisha is on hand to help.
It’s impossible not to see her smiling, and happy.
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Maui
Our dive dog joined the family in December 2010! Born on a working farm in the north of England, Maui is a pure breed British Chocolate Lab who comes from a long line of winning dogs. He stole our hearts and some shoes!!! and totally loves the water.
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He doesn’t join us on our dive trips but he is our loyal shore support and is often in the bus when we are picking people up, or waiting on the dock or in the dive shop with his tail wagging as he sees Our Boats and divers coming back in from an awesome Cayman Diving trip.
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