Tim Kemeling is hard to miss at Big Blue Diving. As the tallest member of staff, even when he tries to sneak around, you can see him from a mile away. And since he’s a Dutch scuba instructor, don’t be surprised if he tries to hand you liquorice underwater. But don’t let his pine tree height and dinner plate-sized hands fool you – he’s a teddy bear at heart. A teddy bear who LOVES to scuba dive.
In this blog, we’re going to get to know Tim a bit more. Let’s ask him some questions!
Where are you from? And what languages do you speak?
I am from a lovely, small and cold country called The Netherlands, and before you ask, no I am not from Amsterdam. I am from a small town called ‘s-Gravenzande which is located in the southwest corner of the country. I speak Dutch (duh) and English. I also understand enough German to know if you’re making fun of me.
When did you first visit Koh Tao?
I first came to Koh tao in 2016, back when travelling didn’t involve quarantines, I wasn’t in my twenties yet and facemasks weren’t always within arms reach. I got to Koh Tao with the intention of just doing my Advanced course and maybe some fun dives before continuing my travels around Southeast Asia. In the end, I fell in love with the island and diving and decided to stay and become a pro diver.
What was it that forced you to come back to (or stay on) the island?
Initially, I stayed because of the island culture and atmosphere (read: cheap beer and good friends), and diving of course. After about a year and a half, the travel bug inside of me started to stir again and I felt like I needed to leave Koh Tao and get a change of scenery so I decided to continue my adventure somewhere else. I took a job in Koh Phi Phi, which sadly didn’t turn out as I wanted it to. After that, I tried finding a job in Indonesia, but that pesky Agung volcano started spewing out hot flaming rocks and it shut down tourism before I was able to find a job. Next, I managed to get a job in Koh Lipe where I worked for about 4 months at which point the season ended and I had to move once again. Luckily the diving season in Malta was just about to start so I decided to try my hand at non-tropical diving over in the Mediterranean. That was a great experience that lasted 6/7 months. After some time off and visiting family, eventually, I figured out that none of those places and jobs compared to working at Big Blue Diving on Koh Tao. So I decided to come back and become Big Blue Diving’s one and only Dutch scuba instructor.
Did you naturally take to scuba diving, or did you struggle with it at first?
Being Dutch, I learned how to swim at a very young age. I also grew up close to the ocean so when I was travelling and got the opportunity to do my Open Water course in Indonesia it seemed like something that would be cool to do and shouldn’t be too difficult. The first pool session I remember being weirded out by the mask because I couldn’t breathe in or out of my nose, after that I had some trouble with equalizing my ears because I had just had a cold and everything felt a bit weird. All of that went away the moment I put my head underwater in the ocean and took a breath from the regulator. Immediately I forgot all the issues I had the day before and was just in awe about the experience as a whole. From that moment on it was all pretty easy for me.
What do you miss most from home?
Liquorice! I love it and we have tons of different kinds in Holland so it’s great for me when people come over and bring some with them (wink wink nudge nudge) next to that of course my family and friends but luckily I can call them and talk to them when I want, which makes it easier.
If you had to leave the island, what would you miss most about Koh Tao?
Since I have done this before it’s an easy question to answer. The thing I missed most when I left and would miss the most if I leave is the people and the lifestyle (again, cheap beer and good diving) we have. Koh Tao has this funny effect on people where we almost always have something to complain about, but after a few minutes, you realize you live on a tropical island and you have the best job in the world. Next to that in a very short period of time you’ve probably managed to build up a group of very close friends that are basically your second family. And when you stop and think for a minute, suddenly that sand that is coarse and rough and always gets everywhere, doesn’t really matter anymore. So the people that make up my second family and the people that make me stop and think is what I would miss the most.
How did you become interested in tech diving?
I saw some people diving in sidemount when I was doing my divemaster training and thought it looked cool. I decided to take the sidemount course myself and it was a whole new way of diving and thinking about diving in a different way too. Put that together with being able to push conventional limits and challenge yourself to be better and better every time you go diving and you have tech diving. I like pushing myself to be better at something I do so tech diving turned out to be a logical step for me to take.
What is the best thing about working for Big Blue Diving?
That second family I talked about for me is mostly people from Big Blue Diving. One of the nicest things about working at a bigger dive school is that there are almost always new people coming through to add to that family. Sadly people also leave, but that’s part of life on Koh Tao.
What do you hope to do next at Big Blue Diving?
I would like to keep working on my tech diving skills and become a full-fledged Dutch tech instructor. It will take some time to get to that point but I’m very happy to put the work in that I need to put in to get myself there.
What makes a Tim Kemeling course different from a normal course?
Trust me, you’ll never forget a course with a Dutch scuba instructor. One of my special abilities is relating to people of all ages. I’m 24 according to my passport but at heart, I’m actually a 65-year-old man. This helps me every day when I am teaching diving. I also try to make sure people know why they’re doing something. I think that’s very important as a diver. Without that people might leave something out of their equipment checks because they don’t know why that thing is actually important. By teaching people why they do something I try to avoid mistakes like that as much as possible, no matter how old you are of course.
While you’re planning your vacation away from the Netherlands, make sure to plan a week on our beautiful island of Koh Tao. And stop into Big Blue Diving to sign up to do your Open Water course with Tim! Or any one of the multitudes of other courses that he loves to teach. Get in touch with us today and book your course with our incredible Dutch scuba instructor!
Not sure if there are enough activities on Koh Tao to keep you busy for a whole week? Check out the Koh Tao Complete Guide and read about all the awesome activities the island has to offer.
