About us - Dive St. Maarten

Willem

Did you know Sint Maarten – Saint Martin has some unique diving sites to explore. If you like to visit the underwater-world check out Dive Sint Maarten in Philipsburg.

Owner Willem Dekker is a retired Dutch Marine that has lived in the Caribbean for over 40 years. As a marine he was stationed in the Caribbean but soon decided he never wanted to leave. After his carreer as a Marine he owned and operated the radio station Dolfijn FM in Curacao for many years, before moving to SXM 19 years ago.

Willem has a passion for horses and so started at Lucky Stables and the bay side riding club (now Seaside Nature Park). He also operated as a Boat captain for parasailing and Octopus diving in Philipsburg before deciding to take over the dive company

Under a new name “Dive Sint Maarten”, Willem and his team took the challenge upon themselves to become one of islands finest Dive centers. Operating from Philipsburg they take people on Diving excursions at many of the great dive sites in SXM. They are also certified for diving or refreshment courses to teach you everything from A to Z to go in the water safe and secure. More recently, Dive Sint Maarten developed a separate team that assisted in salvage diving and wreck cleaning in the lagoon for the NRPB.

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Natalie

Now 25, Natalie started diving at 16, in a cold dark lake in Virginia. She got certified as a marine biologist.

In 2019 she earned her Bachelor’s degree from William and Mary, Virginia. and after graduation drove 16 hours to Florida where she received PADI instructor certification.

Her passion in Marine Biology and has spent quite some time doing research for a dolphin communication project in Florida and in Bimini, The Bahamas.

In 2020 she was about to move to Hawaii to start her career as a dive instructor, but due to covid-19, had to stay behind in Virginia Beach. She then became a dive instructor at the very same store she received her Open water certification when she was 16. She dove in the dark lake for about a year and a half until she found the opportunity to move to the Caribbean where she became a Dive instructor here at Dive Sint Maarten.

In her free time, she enjoys long walks on the beach, hiking, writing, and reading but her biggest passion is diving and under water sea life.

Dagmar

Dagmar (26) started her dive adventures with us in 2023 with getting her Open Water certification. After getting certified, she immediately knew this was where she belongs.

After only visiting the island of Sint Maarten for short periods of time, she decided it was time to come here for longer and get to a pro level. In March 2024 she got certified as a Dive Master.

You can find her in the office on the main land and of course, in the underwater office as well!

In her off time she enjoys to have good food, read books and play some sports.

Kirsten

Now 26, Kirsten started her diving journey at age 10 in the cold waters of Cape Town, South Africa. At age 18 she became a PADI instructor and set off to go and work in the Caribbean on a big dive liveaboard where she worked her way up from Dive Instructor to Engineer and eventually became a 200 ton Captain in 2021.

During covid everything shut down but Kirsten and Willem continued to take out divers that concisted of all the medical staff sent down to help with Covid. Since covid Kirsten has been helping out at DSM when season gets busy.

Her passion is with the water and she is happy to be above or below the sea.

In her off time Kirsten enjoys Sailing, hiking and traveling.

Roland

Our Austrian diving instructor Roland, 51 years old, discovered his passion for diving on his first dive 29 years ago in Hawaii/Oahu Northshore. Many dives in the South Pacific, Australia, South East Asia, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, Central America and the Caribbean followed. Roland completed his Divemaster in Playa del Coco in Costa Rica and was certified as a diving instructor in Roatan (Honduras). Roland teaches in German and English.

He has remained true to his passion of teaching people and being in nature his whole life. In addition to being a diving instructor, Roland is also a skipper, ski instructor, mountain guide and musician. As a professional musician, Roland has toured all over Central Europe with his accordion.

Roland is the father of three adult children. For 20 years he was a tourism manager in one of the largest skiing and hiking regions in Austria, the Montafon, before devoting all his energy to outdoor sports and teaching. The centre of his life is still in Bregenz, in the four-country corner of Austria, Switzerland, Germany and Liechtenstein directly on Lake Constance.