David G Thompson MSc.
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PERSONAL DETAILS
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Date of Birth: |
28
February 1962 |
Nationality:
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British |
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Contact: |
david@diverdavid.co.uk
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EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS
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2003 - 2004 |
MSc
Marine Environmental Protection,
School of Ocean Sciences Menai Bridge, University of Wales
Bangor
I have a Masters
degree in Marine Environmental Protection.
The degree covered,
Coastal & Open Ocean Marine Biological Surveys.
Environmental Impact Assessments. Marine Law, Conservation &
Pollution. Fisheries, Coastal Physical Processes & Remote Sensing.
The course also included a substantial component of advanced
statistics and the use of computers, as well as laboratory and
fieldwork experience.
For my thesis I studied the
impact of live-a-board divers on coral reefs of the southern Red
Sea. |
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2000 - 2003 |
BSc (Hons) Marine
Biology, University of Portsmouth 2:1
The degree covers both
fundamental ecology, with a broad span from evolutionary aspects
to the structure and function of populations and communities and
its applications to conservation and environmental, and marine
biology. The course includes a substantial component of statistics
and the use of computers, as well as laboratory and fieldwork
experience.
My final year research project was, “Categorisation of the
behavioural patterns of four species of the Chromodoris
nudibranch”, which was done on the Coral Reefs in the Wakatobi
Marine National Park, Sulawesi, and received the “Barber Bequest
prize” for the best final year project which was an outstanding
piece of biology work in the field. |
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1999 - 2000 |
Chichester Technical
College |
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Foundation year |
Biology (73%), Chemistry (62%). |
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1979 -
1981 |
Carmarthen Technical College |
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City and Guilds
Catering |
7051, 7052, 7061, 7062
and 707 |
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1973 -
1978 |
Llandovery County High
School |
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CSE's
(1978) |
English (2) Geography
(3) General science (2) History (3) Arithmetic (1) Mathematics (2)
French (5) Craft and Design – Wood (4) |
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PADI Instructor
ratings: 911560 |
OWSI 16.7.95, MFAI
18.7.95, EFRI 18.01.03, MSDT 17.6.96, IDCS 28.11.96, MI 01.12.97 |
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Speciality Instructor
ratings: |
Nudibranch
(Distinctive), Night, UW Naturalist, Wreck, Oxygen 1st
Aid (Distinctive), Deep, Equipment Spec, Photographer, Nitrox,
Shark (Distinctive), DPV diver, Dry suit, UW Navigator, Rebreather
Dolphin/Atlantis (Padi), Gas Blender.
Coral Reef, Digital Underwater Photographer, Whale Shark
Awareness. |
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SDI/TDI Instructor: 11757 |
OWSI SDI and TDI nitrox instructor
SDI specialty instructor: Computer Nitrox,
DPV, Dry suit, Night-Limited viz, Research, Search and Recovery,
Marine EcoSystem Awareness, Underwater Digital Photography,
CPROX1st AED, Wreck, Solo Diving, |
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Non Instructor (dive
related) qualifications: |
RYA level 2 power boat
handler, RYA basic sailing certificate
Advanced Nitrox
diver IANTD |
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Certified students to
date: |
800+,
from Bubble Maker to DM |
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Number of dives to
date: |
approx. 7,500. From German lakes (and under ice) to Tropical seas |
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PUBLICATIONS |
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March 2007 |
Top Trumps Sharks
An educational book about sharks for
children 10+ |
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WORK EXPERIENCE
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July 1981 – June 1983 |
Chef, in various hotels
in England.
Working as a chef in hotels and a hospital on seasonal contracts.
Working my way up the ladder to second head chef, my duties
included organisation of staff in the absence of the head chef and
the ordering of supplies to maintain a functional supply of
healthy meals 24 hrs a day. |
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June 1983 – September
1985 |
Chef/waiter in Italy.
Involved seasonal contracts in restaurants in Italy. The summers
were spent on the Island of Elba as a chef in an Italian
speciality restaurant; my duties were the complete running of the
kitchen. The winters were spent in a ski resort as a waiter; my
responsibilities included cleaning the service area and the
organising of theme evenings for tourists and the general running
and billing systems of the restaurant. |
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1985 - 1995 |
Chef/waiter/page in
various hotels and a casino in Germany.
Working as a chef in Hotels on seasonal contracts later switching
to the duty of restaurant manager in the same hotel chain. In 1990
I moved to a casino in southern Germany as a page, where my duties
were to generally maintain supplies of “chips” to the roulette
tables, serve snacks and drinks to customers, but also to act as
security in the cases of disturbances and fraud. |
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1995 - 2003 |
Diving instructor in
Egypt/Malta/Maldives and England.
This work entailed the organisation of classes and the teaching of
all levels of dive skills. I also was involved in the running of
the daily boats and the guiding of qualified divers on both daily
trips and live-a-boards (for 1-2 weeks). During my degree I kept
my hand in by helping a local dive centre with courses and
equipment sales during the summer and weekends. |
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1999 - 2003 |
Customer advisor for an
electricity supplier.
During my degree I worked for a local electricity supplier in
their call centre. The job involved the entering of data into the
customer database for the correct billing of the accounts and also
the advising of customers as to how best to pay their bills. I
also was trained in the emergency centre to take calls from
customers off supply and the co-ordination of engineers to solve
the problem. |
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July 2002-September
2002 |
During the summer I was involved in the project Wallacea on the
island of Hoga in the Wakatobi National park in S.E. Sulawesi. I
was able to do my final year project studying the behaviour of
nudibranchs on the reefs, as well as helping with other ongoing
project. One of which was the study of crinoid behaviour and the
other was the study of brittle-star behaviour. All three projects
involved the collecting of data and the entering of this data into
statistical software. Most data was collected in-situ using
scuba. and then studied in the laboratory. |
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June 2004-December 2004 |
In order to collect data for my Masters Thesis I worked as a guide
on live-a-board ships in the southern Red Sea Egypt. The project
looked at the impact/damage caused by SCUBA divers to the coral
reefs. |
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March 2005 – November 2005 |
I was working as an
Instructor on the island of Gozo (Malta). Teaching SCUBA courses
from entry level to Dive Master. I was also conducting guided
dives to all of the local dive sites. I was also responsible for
the blending of Nitrox tanks and the servicing of SCUBA equipment. |
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December 2005 – November 2006
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I worked as a scientific
and technical assistant for the Foundation Huinay, in the
Chilean Patagonian fjords. My job was to help
visiting scientists with their projects, accompany them on dives,
drive the dive boats, logistical support before, during and after
their visits, maintain and repair diving equipment, enter data
into the scientific data bank, purchase lab equipment and
scientific materials, fill tanks, construct equipment for
scientific projects and many other tasks to ensure the success of
the projects. |
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February 2007-May 2007 |
I worked in Malaysia on the Perhentian Islands
as an Instructor, conducting courses from Bubble maker to Dive
Master. |
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May 2007- 31st December 2008 |
On the 16th of May I started work as an Instructor with Centro de
Buceo Atlantica on Lanzarote, Canary Isles. During the months of
February and November 2008 I ran the dive centre as base leader,
during the month of November 2008 I was completely alone in the
dive centre. I was also responsible for the maintenance of our 2
ribs, compressor and dive equipment. |
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1st March 2009 - 30th April 2010 |
I was working in the dive centre Lanzarote Ocean's Divers in
Matagorda, Puerto del Carmen Lanzarote as dive centre manager. I
basically ran the place as the owner had a newly born child and
didn't do much in the centre. Due to bad financial management on
behalf of the owner he could no longer pay me so I left. |
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July 2010 |
I start working for Calipso dive centre in Costa Teguise
Lanzarote, one of the oldest and best run dive centres on the
island. |
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OTHER SKILLS |
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Driving |
Clean car and motorbike licence |
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Languages |
Fluent in English, German, Italian and Spanish and conversational
knowledge of French and Arabic (Egyptian) |
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Computing
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General experience of word processing, spreadsheets and data
handling packages (Microsoft Office ), also the statistical
packages Minitab 13 and Primer 5 |
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INTERESTS
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Photography |
I
try to take as many photos as possible both above and below water
and many of my photos have been sold at high prices. One of my
photos won 1st prize in a Spanish national photo contest, see
www.abajoelagua.com |
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Sport |
Keen off-roader (both motorbike and 4wd). In 1990 and 1991 I
organised 2 trips through North Africa, the second of which went
from Tunis to Lomé and back, which involved coordination of
several motorbikes and 2 support vehicles, the obtaining of visas
and the necessary documents for entry into several different
African countries, as well as the general logistics for food and
fuel.
I
also play squash and pool. I am a keen swimmer, skier and snorkler.
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REFEREES
(references are in PDF format) |
