I speak the following languages:
Daniel "KID"
PADI Course Director / Owner
PADI Number:
#417153
🧹 Loves things tidy – but somehow leaves his stuff everywhere
🤿 Loves diving – but hates swimming
♥️ Passionate about PADI professional training
Daniel discovered his passion for diving here in Cyprus at the age of 19. Since 2020, when he and Tamara took over the Cyprus Diving Centre, he has mainly dedicated himself to professional dive training.
In March 2026, Daniel reached the highest level of recreational dive training with PADI, successfully completing the Course Director course in Kota Kinabalu.
In addition to his professional training focus, Daniel is also a passionate sidemount and technical diver, and he is strongly committed to marine conservation around Cyprus through the Project Xenios initiative.
I can train in the following specialties:
Interview
What did you do before you started diving?
I completed an apprenticeship as a chef and worked in the profession for several years. I then joined the military, where I ultimately served as a commissioned officer on a contract basis.
Where are you from? Where did you grow up?
I originally come from Schlieren, in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland.
How did you get into diving?
I started diving at the age of 19 - right here in Cyprus at Green Bay. However, for a long time I was just a recreational diver, or not even that. At one point I didn’t dive for two years, then did a few holiday dives, then stopped again.
I originally trained as a chef, but later joined the military, where I became an officer and initially planned a career as a professional military officer. However, that life never truly felt right for me.
When I went travelling with my then partner Tamara, the dream of living by the sea resurfaced. By chance, we came across the dive school Ban’s on Koh Tao, where Tamara and I first completed our PADI Divemaster course, and a year later our PADI Instructor certification.
What was your best experience in the water?
One of my best dives took place in 2019 on Koh Tao. I had just recently become a PADI Instructor, and we were conducting a PADI Advanced course at the well-known Sattakut wreck. The visibility wasn’t great, and I honestly even caught myself wondering why I hadn’t just stayed in bed that day.
As we surfaced after the dive, the boat captain called out that a whale shark had been spotted nearby. Just seconds later, a huge water spout appeared behind us… and we immediately knew it couldn’t be a whale shark. So we quickly adjusted our masks and got our heads back underwater - and couldn’t believe what we saw: two Bryde’s whales right next to us.
We were incredibly lucky to spend a full 10 minutes in the water with them, observing them up close. It’s one of the reasons I love diving so much - you never know what’s coming next.
