The Team

 

Hamed and Liviu at the "Canyon"

Our Team !

The Reef 2000 Dive Club team with our experienced Divemasters, Instructors and Instructor Trainers are rigorous in their quest for the perfect dive.

Though safety is paramount at Reef 2000, the main emphasis is on giving you an underwater experience of a lifetime.

Even above the water our staff take great pleasure in making you feel welcome. We know the best bars and restaurants in town and will be happy to give you all the local information needed for the perfect diving holiday in Dahab!

Whether you are setting out to achieve instructor or divemaster status, taking a course or just messing around in the water, Reef 2000 as one of the premier Dahab Dive Centers will allow you to do so in a safe, relaxed environment.

We are passionate divers who love organising amazing experiences and adventures for other passionate divers and ocean lovers.

We are a multilingual and international crew from England, Germany, Spain, Egypt and Romania. We speak English, German, Spanish Arabic and Romanian.

Over the time, we will try to add all our team members, so you can read more about us … but you know how that is, it takes time ..lol  🙂

Cristian “Matador” Ortas

Dive Center Manager, PADI Staff Instructor, co-owner

Cristian spend his Childhood on the island of Gran Canaria, which marked him for a lifetime. By the age of seven he was already free diving at the rocks in front of his home (no, mom wasn’t too happy) and since then, the sea became such an important part of his existenc, that he knew since th, that his life will involve a lot of salt water. 😉
Cristian became a Divemaster and worked at different countries until he reached Dahab – Egypt, and started working as a full time PADI Staff instructor , IANTD Instrutor and live-a-board guide. (2009 till 2015).

As the Spanish leg of the team,Cristian has also good knowlegde of the Mediterranean Sea and has worked as well inthe Atlantic Ocean; apart from exploring expeditions to outstanding places as the Great Barrier Reef, the Indian Ocean or the Carribean Sea. In 2015 he decided to move on to the island of Lanzarote to run Northdiving Lanzarote with Floh. Cristian´s and Floh´s their friedship started much earlier when they met in Dahab. In 2014 they met Liviu as a technical student on one of Reef 2000 Normoxic Trimix Instructor / Diver course they did run at Reef 2000. This is how the three met …. in Dahab 🙂

In 2019 Cristian returned to Dahab to manage our Dive Club and this is where you will find him in the office or at the counter. He will (together with Floh) be the one that answers your emails.

Cristian has not become a non-diving manager, as so many – he loves diving! So there´s a chance you might even go diving with him and learn from one of Dahab´s most recognized instructors.

Cristian: “We’ve all being told there’s not only a stairway to heaven but also a highway to hell. But if you come visiting us at Reef 2000, you will discover that there’s a road we haven’t being told about:
The road to happiness is underwater!”

dive credentials Cristian:

  • PADI IDC Staff Instructor
  • PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer
  • PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer
  • PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor
  • PADI Specialty Instructor for: Deep Diving, Enriched Air Nitrox, Self-reliant Diver, Emergency Oxygen Provider, Night Diver, Underwater Navigator, Search & Recovery, Project A.W.A.R.E, Digital UW Photography, Peak Performance Buoyancy,  A.W.A.R.E Coral Reef Conservation
  • PADI EFR Instructor
  • IANTD Normoxic Trimix Instructor
  • IANTD Technical Instructor
  • IANTD Nitrox Normoxic Trimix Instructor
  • IANTD Nitrox & Advanced Nitrox & Advanced Recreational Trimix Instructor
  • IANTD Open Water Scuba Instructor

Florian “Floh” Herzberg

Tec Instructor Trainer Floh has been a professional diver since 1997. Most of the 4500 dives he has done were in the Red Sea and in the Atlantic, as he used to own as well Northdiving Lanzarote for 4 years and explored as well the waters around other Canary Islands. However he has also dived in the Galapagos Islands, the Azores, the Mediterranean Sea and has done some ice diving in Finland… and of course made some pretty cold dives in Austrian and German lakes loo 🙂 Floh teaches PADI Dive Courses from beginner level to PADI Divemaster and all kinds of Technical Dive and Instructor Courses. Most of this training has been done at the famous “Blue Hole” in Dahab. The 5 years before he returned to Dahab he was running a dive center on Lanzarote together with Cristian Ortas. Floh is also a professional cameraman who has recorded footage both above and underwater.

dive credentials Floh:

  • IANTD Normoxic Trimix Instructor Trainer
  • IANTD Technical Instructor Trainer
  • IANTD Advanced Nitrox & Advanced Recreational Trimix Instructor Trainer
  • IANTD Nitrox Instructor Trainer
  • IANTD Open Water Scuba Instructor Trainer
  • IANTD (Hypoxic) Trimix Instructor
  • IANTD Normoxic Trimix Instructor
  • IANTD Technical Instructor
  • IANTD Nitrox & Advanced Nitrox & Advanced Recreational Trimix Instructor
  • IANTD Open Water Scuba Instructor
  • IANTD EANx & Trimix Gas Blender Instructor
  • PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer
  • PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor
  • PADI Specialty Instructor for: Deep Diving, Enriched Air, Equipment, Night Diving & UW Photography
  • Prof. TV Cameraman. (Trained by the B.A.F – “Bayerische Akademie für Fernsehen” / Bavarian Academy for Television)
  • DAN Oxygen Provider
 Liviu on a tec dive at the "Little Canyon" in Dahab

Liviu Retegan

Partner

Liviu is a passionate diver, who started his technical diver training right here at Reef 2000. It was the great opportunity to meet Floh and Cristian and bond a friendship, that still evolves.

The lessons learned back then, were the foundation for Liviu´s personal deep diving career. He is mainly rebreather diving in the cold and murky waters of Romanian caves, having brought already his fair share in speleological deep underwater exploration.

dive credentials Liviu:

  • IANTD (Hypoxic)Trimix Diver
  • IANTD Cave Diver
  • IANTD Rebreather Diver

Salem “Fish” Hussein

Logistics, co-owner

Salem Fish has been part of Reef 2000 since the beginning and has been Floh´s (and in the old days Dave´s and Ahmed´s) business partner. Salem is a Bedouin and he has been growing up in Dahab all his life. He has seen this place develop from oasis at the sores of the Red Sea to what Dahab is today. Salem is an experienced diver with lots of knowledge about Dahab and the local enviroment. Salem´s main responibility is the organisation of taxi / car logistics and dealing with the Egyptian officals. If you need any information about the local culture, a taxi to go into town or simular – just ask him, he will be happy to help you.

dive credentials Salem:

  • PADI Advanced Open Water Diver
Amr & Salem

Amr

Compressor, Nitrox filling, Maintanance, co-owner

Amr is the “good heart” of the dive center and will always have an open ear for our guests and will help you if your personal dive equipment needs a service. Amr is a partner at Reef 2000 and has been working for with us for much more than a decade. He will make sure the air air is clean and tested, the tanks filled to exact 200 bar and the Nitrox mixes are spot on.

credentials Amr:

  • PADI Rescue Diver
  • PADI Equipment Specialist
  • Nitrox blender
Ibi

Ibrahim “Ibi” Owad:

PADI Divemaster

Ibi is a Bedouin from Dahab and one of the most reliable people we ve met in 25 years we´ve met in the Sinai. Ibi has been working for almost 2 decades with Reef 2000 and evolved into our main Divemaster. If you want a relaxed, safe dive and enjoy the Bedouin hospitality – he ´s the right guide for you. Ibraim started many years ago as one of our drivers and safari guides and over the years he became a very skilled diver and then a PADI Divemaster. Ibi is into chilled, slow, relaxed and safe diving.

credentials Ibi:

  • PADI Divemaster
  • Safari Specialist
 Liviu on a tec dive at the "Little Canyon" in Dahab

Hamed

Driver, Beouin Dinner & Mountain trip specialist

Hamed has been working as a driver for Reef 2000 since the beginning. Hamed is an important part of the Reef 2000 vibe  and we can assure you, you l like him too! He does not only make the best tea and arranges the best mountain dinners – he is as well aways there to give a hand when he´s needed. Just to mention: He´s Floh´s favouit driver for technical dives 🙂