We, Valentijn and Yvonne van der Valk, started GoPro Divetalk to share our experiences about becoming a dive professional. And we invite everyone else who´s Going Pro to do the same.

When we started our Divemaster Training we had so many questions. From what is the cheapest place to eat on the island till is it normal that I get entangled in my surface marker buoy when I inflate it for the first time... We figured we are not the only ones with those questions.
With this blog we hope to create a platform where a starting dive pro can get his or her information (and reassurance).

After cycling from Holland to Thailand we, like so many others, still didn´t want to go home. At the other hand the day that we would have to start working again came closer as well. What to do? We knocked on the door of Buddha View Dive Resort on Koh Tao and a few days later we were diving the clear waters of the Gulf of Thailand. 
In a few months time we hope to become PADI Master Scuba Diver Instructors, guided by the firm hand of course director Mark Soworka. What will it take and will we succeed? You read it in this blog.

Since we are not the only ones Going Pro at Buddha View every (future) PADI Divemaster, Instructor or Master Scuba Diver Instructor is invited to share his or her experiences here as well. Your future colleagues and we are looking forward to read them!
Mail your blog and photo(s) to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

A little bit more about us:

Yvonne studied journalism and worked for seven years as final editor of Duiken, the biggest diving magazine of The Netherlands and Belgium. She enriched her world in Australia by doing the PADI Open Water dive course. Since then she has been diving at some nice places on earth. The icebergs of Canada score high on her list of favorites. A quote from an article she wrote for Duiken about this experience:

'I touch her. Never before I felt something like this. Slowly I let my fingers glide over her soft forms. Cold, but irresistible. Suddenly the sound of a smothered bang, like rolling thunder. Frightened I turn to my buddy. In his eyes I read the confirmation I preferred not to see: The iceberg has spoken...

After everything turned out ok, we agree with each other: it is awesome to experience the power of nature as close as we did.

Valentijn studied at the Sports Academy in Holland and worked for a while as Outdoor instructor and hotel manager. From photographer for fun he quietly grew into photographer who got published in several magazines.

Under slight pressure of Yvonne he did his first dive course and continued for PADI Rescue Diver.
One of his best diving memories is a dive in Dutch water, the Oosterschelde.
'Yvonne and I seemed the only ones awake. For a moment the world belonged to us. The visibility was extraordinary good, hence we could not miss the Sepias. They were all around us, doing their thing...

When we surfaced the sky was completely pink as a sign of the beautiful spring day ahead of us. Suddenly a black silhouette turned up next to me, and disappeared again. I put my head back in the water, just on time to see a seal swimming underneath me. Unforgettable!'

The 15th of October 2008 we left Holland to cycle around the Mediterranean Sea. But the cycling trip became a bit bigger than we expected and fourteen months later we arrived in Thailand. On our way we dove in the Red Sea of Egypt and on the wrecks of Lebanon.

We kept a blog about those experiences on www.fietsenmetballen.nl.





Oops! We guarantee you some good laughs because of our English. Since our vernacular is Dutch, there will be some big and small errors in the text. If it bothers you, or you just want to help, please send us your corrections at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .