Conference Speakers

Aaron Wong is one of the most published and recognised underwater photographer in Asia. With almost 2 decades of field experience, Aaron’s images and his trademark lighting techniques have won him acclaim the world over. A Nikon, Seacam and Scubapro Elite ambassador and member of the Ocean Artists Society, Aaron’s images have graced the pages of dive publication the world over. He also serves as the field editor for ScubaDiver and the official ADEX Ambassador of Photography (International).

Ace Wu was born in Taiwan and currently lives in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Specialising in black background and wide-angle underwater photography, he is entirely self-taught. From a curious novice, he is now an experienced photographer. As such, when introducing underwater photography to beginners, he uses simple methods, ensuring the theory is easy to understand. His goal is to show the breathtaking beauty of the underwater world through his images.

Adam Broadbent is the co-founder of ZuBlu, a travel platform helping scuba divers and marine enthusiasts discover and book their next underwater adventure in Asia. With its unique search tool, over 150 eco-friendly resorts and liveaboards to choose from, and a commitment to conserving the marine environment, ZuBlu helps you explore the blue and dive green.

Ahmed Gabr’s record scuba dive 332.35 metres into the Red Sea is the deepest ever. Making a stand for our oceans, he founded an organisation and mobilised 614 divers for the world’s largest underwater clean-up. As a technical diving instructor trainer he is backed by 20+ years experience in sport and military diving; an ex-Special Forces officer, a graduate of the US Combat Diver course, his passion for technical diving began soon after becoming a professional dive instructor in 1996.

Alan Lo is a commercial photographer based in Hong Kong and a scuba diving aficionado. He has been selected as one of the world’s top 50 underwater photographers under Blancpain’s Fifty Fathoms. Alan is the only spokesperson for Seacam Hong Kong, one of the World’s top underwater housing brands.

Alex Rose is a biologist, diver, musician, and underwater photographer. She is the Science Editor of Ocean Geographic Magazine, the Managing Editor of Ocean Geographic Explorers, and founder of ocean conservation company Blue Ring. Her driving goal is to find ways to protect our world’s precious marine habitats through diving, writing, photography, education, and research.

Alex is a commercial and technical diver. Together with his PHILTECH team, he works in harsh and peculiar environments which allow him to study predispositions to DCS and develop in-water recompression methods for rapid treatment. He has extensive experience doing deep recovery work for valuable objects and victims of drowning at sea. He has trained recovery teams from the Philippines and from overseas. A member of the Filipino Cave Divers, who study and preserve underwater caves, his true passion is cave diving.

Alexey Molchanov has set the new Constant Weight (CWT) Freediving World Record. The freediving superstar broke his own AIDA World Record in Constant Weight (CWT) by diving to 129m in 3min 50sec. Despite strong currents, this record beat his previous World Record depth of 128m set in 2013 at the AIDA Depth World Championships in Kalamata, Greece.

Alexis Chappuis is a French marine biologist, National Geographic Explorer, technical scientific diver and amateur photographer. He has conducted various marine ecological studies worldwide during his career, logging hours on and under the sea. After spending more than 4 years living and working in Indonesia for an environmental consulting company, he recently co-founded the French-based non-profit organisation UNSEEN (“Underwater Scientific Exploration for Education”). He uses close-circuit rebreathers for the exploration and study of poorly-known underwater ecosystems, particularly Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems (MCEs).

Award winning Underwater Photographer and Expedition Leader Amanda Cotton melds the human element with the beauty hidden within our oceans in an effort to educate and empower others to become personally involved in the fight to maintain our precious, yet highly fragile aquatic ecosystems.

An An is an 8 years old little mermaid from MissVsea mermaid academy. She is a Chinese Vietnamese mixed, and fluent in English, Chinese and Vietnamese. She loves swimming and diving. She dreamed to swim like a mermaid so that she could explore the ocean.

Born and raised in Singapore, Dr Andrew Chin is a researcher at James Cook University, Australia. He has won many awards for research excellence and science communication. The current president of the Oceania Chondrichthyan Society, Andrew is a contributor to SportDiving Magazine, and the editor for Pacific Conservation Biology, a scientific journal. Today, Andrew’s research covers shark and ray biology, ecology and conservation. He’s spent the last two years tagging hammerhead sharks and is the programme director of Shark Search Indo-Pacific, a region-wide programme that documents shark and ray diversity and values, country by country.

Andrew Lim published his first underwater photography book, Silhouette of Serenity, at age 21. Having donated part of the proceeds to charity, he was also invited to meet the (then) President of Singapore, Dr Tony Tan, in recognition for his work. The 26 year-old TEDx speaker and former national rock-climber strives to capture and unleash the incredible beauty of people that only underwater photography can provide.

Andrew is a long time diver, photographer and writer.  His work has been published in a wide variety of media around the world, but his true love is writing books.  The first of these was Legends Beneath the Waves:  Truk Lagoon. This book was very well received and its success has led to an additional six books in that series being committed to, with the second book on Philippine wrecks being released at ADEX 2019.  Aside from the shipwreck books, Andrew also writes dive guides.  His guides focus on small areas and seek to take the reader diving in that location in their mind.  The first of these is Let’s Go Dive Guide to Anilao, which he created with partner Ram Yoro.  Two more of these guides will released in 2019.  Andrew lives in Beijing with his awesome wife Dalice and two daughters Elly and EJ “Doomy”.

Anne K Adijuwono is a one of a kind, multi-talented artist from Indonesia who cannot dive without her compact camera. Not only being a professional underwater photographer, she also models, mermaidings and paints her vision of her connection to the underwater world on big canvases and fashion items. She also built huge coral reefs gates from trashed styrofoam and plastic bottles to create awareness. She became ADEX Ocean Artist in 2015. She has prepared 25 hand painted pieces representing the endangered species for ADEX 25th anniversary celebration.

Founder of Ocean Quest Global and ADEX Coral Reef Ambassador since 2013. Creator of the Seashepherd Dive-Coral Propogation Program. Manages Coral Rehabilitation Projects in the South East Asia region.

Beatrice is an active technical instructor on both open circuit and CCR. She holds a Masters Degree in Marine Biology and Oceanography and in 2013 co-authored the book “Biodiving”, a reference guide to the marine life in the Mediterranean. When she’s not teaching, Beatrice gets involved in exploration and research projects.

A fellow of the Explorer’s club, Belgium Ben Reymenants is probably best known for his deep dives, his work in the diving medicine and cave explorations. His career spans close to three decades. His exploits and teaching style makes him popular for technical courses. He owns a dive centre in Phuket, Thailand, where he runs technical instructor workshops and deep cave courses in the jungle. He was part of the initial cave rescue team in Northern Thailand, for which he was decorated.

Benjamin is a marine ecologist specialising in oceanic cetaceans such as whales and dolphins. He has lived and worked in Indonesia for close to two decades, and has an intimate knowledge of the Coral Triangle. As the director of APEX Environmental and co-founder of Planet Deep, he has partnered with government and industrial groups to protect oceanic hotspots for marine life migration in the region. He also serves on two IUCN Commissions and three IUCN Specialist Groups. In his free time, he is an avid diver, blue-water sailor, and novice kite-surfer.

Beth Neale is from South Africa and is a three-time freedive champion, master dive instructor and ocean conservationist. A modern mermaid at heart, Beth spends her time in the water using her iconic mermaid leggings with fins. Beth creates unique courses, based on building confidence as well as teaching freedive skills. She is known for her “one breath adventures”, inspiring children & adults to fall in love and care for the ocean. For the 25th anniversary of ADEX, Beth will teach up to 50 Children the dolphin kick in the ADEX Pool, using Finis Mermaids fins that can be kept. The children will also be issued a certificate by Beth.

Brett Lobwein is a passionate and environmentally-minded photographer from Australia. Whether shooting silky sharks in Cuba or fur seals in his native waterways, Brett aims to represent marine life in their natural element, without demonizing or sensationalizing an animal to gain attention to an image for the wrong reasons. Also, he is a strong advocate of protecting our oceans by raising awareness around the impact of single-use plastics. Resident photographer at Ocean Geographic, Ambassador for Isotta, owner of UW Images, and award winner.

An Indonesian actress and an activist for social justice working with philanthropic organisations, Chelsea helps create the poor to gain access to water, electricity, and improved education. As President and Founder of Youth Of Indonesia, she received the Innovative Young Leader award at the 2017 Southeast Asia Leaders Summit for her contribution to the youth community. Appointed the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Indonesia Sustainable Development Goals Mover and National Ambassador for Goal 14 & 15 (Life on Water & Life on Land), she works with the UNDP by using her massive social media following to raise awareness about sustainable development goals.

Cho is Scuba Diving/Free Diving instructor, Doctor of Animal Medicine, Director of SMD Brand International Marketing. Former Executive Director of Diving Diamond Center, her professional experience in animal medicine research has given her more attention and understanding of underwater biology than ordinary people. At the beginning of SMD, in order to provide more accurate data feedback, she did the underwater testing for each product. At the same time, as a professional manager of SMD's marketing department, she is committed to the promotion and dissemination of Chinese original underwater clothing in the world.

Christian Vizl was born in México City in 1972.  He has a degree in Business Administration, was certified as a Diving Instructor, Cave Diver, Rafting Guide, and Sailor. He was a member of CEDAM, a Mexican organization devoted to marine archeology, lived for a year in Germany (1993) a year in Akumal, southeast México (1997) and a year in Australia (1998). He has been an enthusiast photographer since he was 15 years old, and since 2010 he started underwater photography with a more professional approach.

Hailing from Denmark, Claus Rasmussen has been involved in the Asian dive industry working as an instructor or dive center manager in Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand since 2002. The last few years he has been working with Blue Label Diving in Phuket teaching Technical and Cave diving courses. He holds Instructor and Instructor Trainer ratings with PADI, SSI, TDI and DDI. In 2018, Claus was part of the team of international divers who helped bring 13 children out of a cave in Tham Luang, northern Thailand.

Born in Austria, Corinna Davids has been no stranger to the scuba diving industry since an early age. After cultivating her skills as diving instructor in Turkey and Egypt, she joined Scuba Schools International (SSI) as Regional Manager for the Philippines and Support Manager for the SSI operations in Asia Pacific. As SSI Instructor Certifier and International Training Director for SSI Swim, water safety has always been one of her passions. In 2017 Corinna was invited to be a leading developer for SSI’s Mermaid program. Being the first of its kind, the SSI Mermaid program is breaking boundaries and creating a whole new industry with an exciting prospective for growth. The Mermaid program has given her a much needed and wanted platform to not only promote water safety, but also to raise awareness on environmental conservation issues.

Dan Orr, President of Dan Orr Consulting, provides expertise to the global diving community. Retired from the position of President of Divers Alert Network, he has authored over 200 articles, books and manuals. He is the recipient of the NOGI Award and a member of the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame.

Daniel Geary, also known as Dr. Frogfish, is an award-winning underwater photographer, marine biologist, and PADI instructor. Originally from Florida, he moved to Dauin, Philippines five years ago. He is a frogfish expert who teaches an exclusive PADI Frogfish Specialist course and continually promotes environmentally-friendly dive and photography practices.

The Conservation Manager for Scuba Junkie SEAS on Mabul Island, Sabah, Malaysia, David hails from Ireland where he gained his BSc Marine Biology and MSc Environmental Management & Conservation Biology at Queen’s University Belfast. He spent more than a decade working in conservation in Ireland, New Zealand and Malaysia. A former divemaster for Scuba Junkie, he has over 7,000 dives logged in SE Asia, including thousands as a guide at Pulau Sipadan. His current work includes raising awareness of marine conservation issues, as well as developing and implementing solutions.

David is a British engineer and founder of Dive Systems Ltd.  He started diving in 1985 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and switched to rebreathers in 2008.  In 2014, he set aout designing and building his own deep bailout rebreather which became the Proteus P3 multi-purpose eCCR.

With a background in military, commercial, recreational and technical diving, David Strike is a regular speaker and presenter at regional and international diving events. A former Field editor for Asian Diver Magazine who has authored several hundred articles about diving and organised several world class technical diving events, he is the recipient of the ADEX ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ for contributions to Technical Diving, and a Fellow of the Explorers Club of New York.

A dancer since the age of four, Deva’s mastery of dance has evolved from traditional dance, modern dance to fusion and now dancing underwater as a mermaid. Her career as a dancer skyrocketed when she joined Orange Production, the largest dance company in Bali, as a professional dancer 16 years ago. Based in Bali, she has been touring Asia since 2007. An accomplished director, show conceptualiser and costume designer, Deva started Mermaid Deva in Bali two years ago. Mermaid Deva not only makes mermaid tails, they provide and groom mermaid talent by providing mermaid courses as well.

Dharshana Jayawardena is a pioneering solo underwater explorer in Sri Lanka. He is the author of Ghosts of the Deep – Diving the shipwrecks of Sri Lanka and has identified the origins of several mystery wrecks in Sri Lanka and discovered its first underwater cave system.

Dr Hutchinson has worked as a marine ecologist in the Asia-Pacific region for almost 20 years. He is based at James Cook University in Singapore, coordinating the environmental science program and conducting research on coastal marine ecosystems.  Currently he studies near-threatened sharks and raises awareness of their status in Singapore.

Ellen Cuylaerts relocated from Belgium to the Cayman Islands in 2009. She studied history in Antwerp and Leuven and got her Masters in Modern History and Education. She started diving and underwater photography in 2011. Rather than using images to document encounters, she tries to capture the emotions she experiences and hopes to touch hearts and get more people to care about our oceans.

Ernest Goh is a photographer and visual artist whose work looks at natural history and ecological relationships. His animal portraits have been published in The Fish Book (2011), Chickens(COCKS 2013), and The Gift Book (2014). In 2015. Ernest presented Breakfast at 8 Jungle at 9, a participatory artwork interpreting the great British naturalist and explorer, Alfred Russel Wallace’s time in Asia. His work has been commissioned by and installed at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, Singapore, collected by the Multimedia Art Museum Moscow, and also resides in corporate, public and private collections internationally.

Eve Young is a freelance writer, Sea Shepherd’s Ocean Quest Trainer, and Ambassador for Swarovski Optik. She is also partnering with Swarovski Optik Marine Conservation Education Programme. She founded the MissVsea Marine Solution Workshop, where she organizes marine conservation forums, sharing research on marine conservation efforts and raising awareness for the protection of the ocean.

A diver with disability (paraplegia), Faisal overcame depression following his disability from a horrible car accident to start Alfaisal Universal Centre – the biggest health institute in the field of physiotherapy in terms of vision and concept. Faisal enjoys diving because he can feel free underwater. In August 2018, he became the Guinness World Record holder for the fastest 10 km scuba dive with an amazing time of 5 hours and 24 minutes in Hurghada Egypt. His triumph over his disability has rebuilt his confidence and made him a motivational speaker and trainer.

Gabriel earned BSc in Chemistry, BBA in International Business and MBA degrees from Harding University. He started diving in 1990 and is currently certified as a TDI Advanced Trimix Diver and dives a rEvo rebreather. Gabriel works as Shearwater's Marketing Manager.

Gareth Lock is passionate about improving diving safety. Recognised as a human factors expert in diving, he has used knowledge and skills from high-risk domains to create and teach a globally unique programme which change attitudes towards the causes of diving incidents and accidents thereby leading to safer diving.

Born in the UK, raised in the Mediterranean but currently based in Hong Kong. Gary is best known for his work exposing the shark fin industry over the past 12 years. His images and videos have appeared on tabloids and news networks as well as in several movies. He is known for his no compromise, no BS approach to conservation issues. Until recently Gary headed up Sea Shepherd in Asia, however at the start of 2019 he established OceansAsia, a new not-for-profit based in Asia for Asia to directly investigate and address local ocean conservation issues in the region.

Gemma, has a PhD in Organic Chemistry and started diving after moving to Singapore in 2008 and was immediately hooked. She loves the sea and diving gives her the opportunity to travel and explore the world. Gemma decided to follow her real passion for teaching, not only she is a certified tech and cave diver, but she also became the first female GUE instructor in SE Asia. She has been actively introducing GUE recreational programs to Singapore and other parts of SE Asia for 3 years.

An instructor trainer at the CMAS Germany (FST) dive association and Instructor at Scuba School International (SSI), Nowak is a photo instructor in several associations, Trimix and Rebreather divers, as well as an impassioned ice-, wreck- and cave-diver. He has worked continuously for the German and international diving press for many years and is a regular photographer of the magazines Tauchen, Unterwasser, Silent World and Divemaster. He has won prizes in several national and international photography competitions.

Gideon Liew has been diving since 1984. He began his experience in awe of the diverse environments to be found in Southeast Asia, from pristine reefs to mysterious wrecks. In 1994 he began pursuing a career in the diving industry, working with different operators in the developing experience guiding and teaching from liveaboards and land-based centres. His desire to dive beyond the limits of recreational diving led him to seek further education, to explore new environments, especially deep wrecks in the South China Sea. The GUE approach opened up further experiences around the world.

Mermaid Ginger is a professional aquatic performer, published model, actress and conservationist from Hollywood California, USA. She is best known for her on-land and underwater mermaid imagery and live performances. She also spreads conservation awareness with her online voice, inspiring others to help protect the planet in small but impactful ways. Ginger has performed in five countries including ADEX 2018 in Singapore and China. She recently was involved in a TV commercial in Brazil.

Glenn Yong is among one of Asia's frequently published photographers with publications with Asian Diver, Scuba Diver, Asian Geographic and many others and with a career with various prestigious manufacturers like Zeiss Camera Lenses, DJI and many others in the region. His love for the Oceans is what kept him going on and on, and through the years of diving in Asia, he has accumulated a unique set of stories featuring the best of diving in Asia and beyond. Glenn's professional photography career has seen him accepted into the prestigious Master Photographer's Association in the UK, and continues to work with various agencies and agencies in search of exciting content and stories to continue to inspire a generation of courageous dreamers like Glenn himself.

Born in Nice, Guillaume has broken several records, earning a world championship title in deep-sea freediving (-126m), Guillaume continues to explore the human limits and the unknown world of the deep-sea. He writes and creates images that combine aesthetic style and high performance, such as Free Fall, Ocean Gravity and his latest project, One Breath Around The World.

Hidy started her modelling career when she was just 18, quickly moving on to acting where she starred in eight films. Diving for 13 years, she became a qualified Dive Instructor Trainer by National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI), thereafter being named the NAUI Worldwide Ambassador. At the same time, she is a qualified SSI Dive Instructor. Finding her passion for the ocean, she became the 2011 Miss Scuba International Ambassador.

HRH Princess Zatashah received the French highest recognition award Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour) for civil merit in 2017. She is also an environmental activist in Malaysia with her campaign #sayno2plastic since 2016. She has been actively campaigning to the public and has shown tirelessly through her social media to #stopsingleuseplastic. She is also passionate about wildlife preservation and loves to dive; she is currently Sharksavers Malaysia Ambassador against no more sharks fin soup with #ImFINishedwithFINS. Furthermore, she launched her initiative #zerofoodwastage in 2016 getting hotels and supermarkets to channel their surplus food to Kechara Soup Kitchen to feed those in need.

Asia’s most internationally published underwater photographer, Imran Ahmad has been capturing the magnificence of life below and above the water’s surface for over 20 years. Known for his experimental photography with light and motion, Imran spends much of his time as a professional photographer giving presentations promoting photography in all its aspects.  He leads exclusive photo trips, runs photo workshops on wildlife, creative, conservation, underwater and travel photography around the world.

Indonesia Mermaid Pod is a community of free divers bonded through their affection towards mermaids. Their main occurring event is the community’s Bi-annual “Ocean Clean-Up” trips, diving trips with an added Ocean & Beach Clean-Up session and knowledge sharing. Through travelling and learning together about ocean plastic and the environment, they aim to share an understanding of what everybody can achieve as a community. They have found that more and more people are willing and eager to take part in a bigger common purpose: safeguarding the ocean and our home.

Through her photography she hopes to share not just the beauty of the underwater world, but reflect the natural behaviour of marine creatures and raise awareness of how fragile the environment can be. Indra’s passion for her wildlife was ignited at an early age by Sir David Attenborough, who she finally got to meet in person when she won the underwater category of the BBC/Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

At just 23 years old, Jade Hoksbergen, is an up-and-coming underwater photographer, model, and travel journalist from a highly international background. Her distinctive style of capturing the underwater macro world is largely influenced by her art and painting, and while she only started underwater photography in 2015, her work has already been honoured in several competitions including the prestigious UPY. Her work has also been internationally published. She is currently based in the Philippines and shares a love of the sea with her husband, Henley Spiers

Passionate and very active professional Freediver since 1989, JP participated to numerous Freediving International competitions and many World Championships with the National team of Belgium; He is also an experienced Scuba Instructor and a former competition swimmer. JP is now based in Asia since 2010, and very active in the Philippines since 2012 where he founded Freediving Planet. His business partner Suzanne Lim joined him in the adventure at the same time. He has already taught hundreds of Instructors, students and AIDA Judges from all over Asia.

Jean-Claude Monachon from Switzerland started diving at the age of 14 before moving to the Maldives and working as a diving instructor and dive centre manager. In 2014, he joined Scuba Schools International (SSI) Worldwide as Vice-President. The passion, vision, state-of-the-art programme developments and training convinced JC that this was the place for him. As an avid triathlete, runner and certified personal trainer, JC is also part of the driving force behind the newly-launched SSI Lifeguard program.

Jill Heinerth is a veteran of over thirty years of filming, photography and exploration on projects in submerged caves around the world with National Geographic, NOAA, and television networks worldwide. She is the Explorer in Residence for the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, recipient of Canada’s prestigious Polar Medal and the diving world’s highest award from the Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences. Partnering with Penguin Random House in Canada and Harper Collins in the US, Jill will soon be releasing four new major-market, non-fiction and children’s books.

Jim loves extreme sports and underwater photography perfectly combines adventure and art creation. Since starting underwater photography in 2008, Jim strives to capture transient beautiful moments more precisely every time he dives. Up to now, his works have won 43 domestic and foreign awards and been published in magazines and newspapers. He has also been interviewed by notable publications such as British Daily Mail and Apple Daily.

While a student, Jonathan first picked up freediving in Australia and is now a PADI Master Freediver Instructor. He formed the Apnea Association of Singapore, an organisation focusing and supporting the growth of freediving in Singapore. As a competitive freediver, he currently holds all six Singapore National records, four of which are currently Southeast Asian records. When not freediving, Jonathan can be found playing underwater hockey and underwater rugby.

Former holder of several French records in deep-sea free diving (-68m), Gautier expresses herself through her underwater cinematography. The Reunion Island native shoots unique images in apnea, using her artistic flair and the infinite freedom of her movements. Top-side, Gautier is an author and a director. Her sensitivity explains her attraction to the world of fiction, as shown in Narcose.

Kaeshi Chai is a New York City based artist who integrates dance, theatre and teaching to empower and shift consciousness through performance projects such as “Ocean Stories” and PURE (Public Urban Ritual Experiment). She produces the annual PURE Conference focused on topics like Love, Peaceful Warrior and the five elements. She is the artistic director of Bellyqueen, the school and dance company, and facilitates creative labs in which participants generate full-length theatrical dance shows in three to four days.

A former TV Artiste, Kent in love with the ocean after his first dive. Quitting his job to focus on diving, he became a diving instructor and is now an underwater videographer and creative director.  He plans to bring a creative underwater video production to the commercial market.  He has collaborated with TV  broadcasting companies and different media outlets to bring his creative vision to the public.

Laurent Ballesta is a French naturalist photographer. Among many photography and film projects, he has led four GOMBESSA Expeditions: the study of the deep coelacanth in South Africa, the mating of the groupers and the grey sharks hunts at night in the south pass of Fakarava in French Polynesia, and the exploration of the deep ecosystems of Antarctica. Every new mission is in the lineage of the previous ones and strengthens the three pillars of all Gombessa expeditions: a scientific mystery, a diving challenge and the promise of unprecedented animal images. His book, 700 Sharks Into The Dark, provide astonishing testimonies of life, death, innocence and violence in the heart of sharks packs in French Polynesia.

Louise Hardman is an Environmental Science/Chemistry teacher, started Plastic Collective in 2016, to provide waste plastic solutions for remote and islands communities through education, technology and empowerment. Her goal is to provide Resource Recovery micro-enterprises for the 4000 inhabited islands throughout Asia-Pacific region where waste plastic pollution is prolific.

During a trip to the Palau in 2006, Lynn found a passion for underwater photography, especially macro objects, and it was love at first sight. She has won 53 domestic and foreign awards and been published on magazines and newspapers such as the German Hörzu Wissen magazine, American Nature's Best Photography magazine, Daily Mail ,Taiwan Apple Daily, TVBS, Yahoo NEWS, Kairos NEWS and many more.

~ Professional Mermaid Pioneer since 2004 ~ Ocean Conservationist ~ Creative ~ Innovator of the world’s first Mermaid Fin 2006 ~ Trailblazer of ‘Mermaid’ as a functional watersport lifestyle Mahina Mermaid is one of the leading pioneers of the mermaid industry. Trail blazing the professional career of mermaiding, in 2004 Mahina, became one of the first Real Life Professional Mermaids in the world. Mahina is highly sought after for film, TV, advertising commercials, music videos, commercial, photographic and environmental campaigns. As a result of her passion to share the experience of mermaiding with the world, and to inspire a culture of connection and care with our natural water environments, In early 2006, Mahina went on to innovate and design the world’s very first functional mermaid fin. The famous, multi award winning MerFin is regarded the most functional, highest performing & safest mermaid fin available on the market today. A passionate and focused craftswoman, Mahina ensured her MerFin would gift others an authentic feeling of swimming with a sense of fluidity, freedom and connection with oneself when entering the water. Encouraging a spirit of care and responsibility towards our ocean, MerFin’s became the worlds first eco-friendly/ recycled rubber fin ever produced. A true water woman, Mahina was pulled by her desire to bring more women into the water and to contribute to the growth of women’s watersports by innovating a staple, efficient, quality and safe piece of water equipment that would last well into the future. Early on in her design faze, Mahina’s focus shifted away from creating full leg enclosed mermaid tail costumes and instead became about reshaping the way women and girls connect with the water; Today her unique, functional and elegantly beautiful expression of the MerFin has become a global trend throughout surf, lifestyle, sport and swim fashion culture. Mahina articulates and names the difference between ‘mermaiding’ as an underwater performance art in a full tail costume; and what her mission remains to be; developing ‘Mermaid’ into becoming a functional, practical, accessible women’s water sport culture, and an activity for holistic and wellbeing lifestyle. For Mahina, ‘Mermaiding’ is a playful meditation; a deep reconnection to our natural living world. Sharing this enriching water device and activity with others has been her calling, and a way to inspire greater awareness of our human role in caring for our oceans and advocating for the preservation of marine life and reducing marine debris. Mahina’s mission remains to continue to spread the message of what it means to have a true mermaid heart … one who is attuned to her environment, creates beautiful waves in the world and is an integral steward of the sea..

Mark is the C.O.O. of Halcyon Dive Systems and a Board of Directors member of Global Underwater Explorers. He has nearly 50 years of dive experience and three decades of diverse business experience. As an avid cave explorer, he has “added line” to many systems in both Florida and Mexico. He is an accomplished entrepreneur creating and leading companies in locations around the world. He has contributed to articles and photographs in assorted publications such as Avian Biology, Time/Life and National Geographic magazine. Mark now lives in North Florida with his wife and dogs, where he continues to teach cave diving and jump out of perfectly good airplanes when given the opportunity.

Mark Rausch, (HSA) Handicap Scuba Association Course Director, a Michigan native, started travelling the world, putting Handicap Scuba Association (HAS) programmes into the lives of the people after his son was born with disability (and subsequently passed away.) This was so that they could enrich the lives of disabled individuals through the recreational sport of Scuba Diving. An old man once told Mark when he was diving in the Maldives: “A person can do great things, if they don’t care who gets the credit.”

Markus Davids, SOC specializes in underwater cinematography as well as underwater photography. He has worked for ESPN, FOX, NBC, USA Network and has done camerawork for directors such as Willi Bogner (James Bond), Robert Peters (Ocean's Eleven), and David Staiton (NBC Heroes). He recently completed the feature film "BoardRoom" as the underwater cinematographer and director.

Artist Mary Sayre is known for her sea life and waterscape paintings. Her love of the ocean is illustrated in oils on canvas and acrylics on marble. Her innovative art form utilizes the veins of the crystalline in the marble creating an elegant yet organic canvas. Her works are exhibited and collected internationally. Scuba diver, sailor, avid traveler and passionate artist, Mary recently traveled to Indonesia serving as “Artist of the Exhibition” with the Ocean Geographic Elysium – Heart of The Triangle Expedition.

Matt is the leading technical diving maritime archaeologist in Australasia and is passionate about combining maritime archaeology and technical diving. Matt has worked on and led maritime archaeological projects in 12 different countries and is an International Fellow of the Explorers Club and the Research Director for the Major Projects Foundation. Most recently, while undertaking his PhD, Matt was a specialist presenter on the television series ‘Coast: New Zealand’, a spin-off from the BBC-produced UK series ‘Coast’.

Alex and Irina are from Russia but work as performers in China. They represent a true love story between a Merman & Mermaid. Originally a swimmer and a synchro swimmer, they fell in love with each other creating “Mermaid -Couple” and performed around the globe. An actor, Alex has appeared in several productions while Irina is a photographer and creates jewellery from natural materials. Their aim is to inspire people to fall in love with the underwater world and marine life. Now they create unique short underwater performances (“Alice in Waterland” and “Spiderman saves the Ocean”).

Nina, also know as SG Lil Mermaid, was born in 2011. At the age of two, she fell in love with Ariel from Disney’s The Little Mermaid. At the tender age of four, she attained her first certification by the National Water Safety Programme, SwimSafer Stage 1. Currently, she constantly strives to train and achieve more advance certifications. She believes she is, and has always been, a mermaid with a duty to uphold and protect marine life by educating all land-folks on the importance of water safety and making the ocean clean and safe for all.

Surrounded by the glistening waters of Lake Michigan, Mermaid Phantom proudly declares Traverse City, Michigan her home. Unlike many professional mermaids, she is unable to swim with children due to her poor eyesight. Because of this, she adds magic to the world in other ways. Phantom is the face behind “The Magic Crafter,” a weekly YouTube show that features realistic mermaid and fairy videos, fairytale craft tutorials and informational content for aspiring mermaids. She aims to build a community of free-spirited individuals that share her love for the natural world, creativity and that spread kindness and joy everywhere they go.

Tama and Tami are twin sisters from Indonesia. Both started their Mermaid journey only recently. Tama is working as a Business Development Associate in one of the biggest e-commerce company in Indonesia whilst doing her passion as a mermaid. Tami is a marine conservationist and currently undertaking a master degree in Environmental Management in Australia and. From time to time the Mermaid Twin is featuring in the only underwater theatrical show in Jakarta.

Michael Menduno is an award-winning reporter and technologist who has written about diving and diving technology for 30 years and serves as the executive editor of Global Underwater Explorers’ (GUE) new blog “InDepth.” He coined the term “technical diving.” His magazine “aquaCORPS: The Journal for Technical Diving (1990-1996) helped usher tech diving into mainstream sports diving. He also produced the first Tek, EUROTek and ASIATek conferences, and organized Rebreather Forums 1.0 and 2.0. Michael received the OZTEK Media Excellence Award in 2011, the EUROTek Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012 and the TEKDive USA Media Award in 2018.

Co-founder of Reef Watch Marine Conservation, prolific ad-film producer Mitali Dutt Kakar, has been actively involved in creating awareness in the marine conservation scene through initiating education programmes, documentaries and research. An avid diver, she has also logged more than 5000 dives and has also trained both local and international students over 2 decades. In 1998, she produced the award winning film “Troubled Waters” to highlight the effects of global warming on coral reefs in the Lakshadweep islands and has also been involved in several environmental television film series. Combining her passion for films, marine conservation, photography and scuba diving, Mitali is focused on educating the younger generation to be socially conscious individuals.

Exposed to the ocean since young, Chin is an avid scuba diver diving for 19 years. After 2 years massively volunteering with Trash Hero Borneo, now she set herself onto a bigger platform – Marine & Environmental Research, Education & Conservation Centre at Dinawan Island.  As an influential Women Diver in North Borneo and conservationist, she wants to inspire more people raise awareness to protect the underwater world and educate the young generation.  She quoted Ocean is not our Garbage Bin!

Nathalie Lasselin is a multi-award winning underwater cinematographer. As a technical diver and instructor, she has filmed and explored deep wrecks, caves and body of water in more than 50 countries including the arctic. Nathalie pursues better understanding of our planet through documentation and shares her concern for our fresh water resources through her films, articles in international magazines, and with event lectures. Her drive is to bring people together and empower them through better relations with their own environment ultimately for a higher quality of life. Her latest project Urban Water Odyssey embraces all her goals and philosophy.

Oli Christen is a Freedive Instructor Trainer and the owner of Freedive Flow Indonesia. As a leading Freedive Educator, he is a contributing author of the Molchanovs Wave System, author of the AIDA Manuals and a former member of the PADI Freediver Advisory Board.

Paul Tanner, affectionately known as Tosh, is the Territory Director for PADI Asia Pacific. Paul started his career in the Dive Industry over 20 years ago as a PADI Dive Instructor. Since then he has been a PADI Examiner, PADI Course Director and a PADI Regional Manager. Throughout his career he has worked in several exotic locations in the Caribbean and Asia.

Former Freediving champion Pepe Arcos is a full-time photographer and filmmaker. An award-winning, multitalented shooter, he captures unique images of ethereal calm that even the fastest scuba diver will fail to capture.

Pete is one of the world's leading underwater specialist photographers. He focuses on capturing wide, panoramic images using various techniques in light painting, time exposures, stitching and off board lighting to capture large wreck and cave vistas. He works fulltime in the diving industry as a Technical Rebreather Instructor Trainer and is owner of Lust4Rust & Shock&Awe Big Animal Diving Excursions.

Mermaid Pia is a professional mermaid based in Jakarta, Indonesia. She is a performer at the first combined theatrical underwater show in the world. The show takes place before and behind the tank window. An underwater model, Pia is a freediver and PADI Divemaster as well. With her passion for educating people, mermaids, oceans and marine life, Pia’s aspiration is to set up her own mermaid school in Indonesia, where she can pass on her mastery of mermaid manoeuvres and swimming in a fun and safe way.

Founder of India’s first Scuba Diving school – the Lacadives Diving School in the Lakshadweep islands, Prahlad Kakar, an advertising film professional, discovered his passion for the deep seas by accident after a nerve wrecking dive in Mauritius. That experience led him on a journey to become a pioneer of recreational scuba diving in India. He has since gone on multiple diving escapades as a certified CMAS Master Level diver to several islands and together with his diving school, Prahlad has trained and certified more than 6000 divers, many of whom have went on to establish their own diving centres.

Ram is a full-time underwater photographer/writer based in Anilao. He is a proponent of Bonfire Diving, a tool for documenting plankton. As member of the Filipino Cave Divers and Philtech Divers, he actively documents Philippine underwater Cave systems and wrecks. Together with Andrew Marriott, Ram co-authored the "Guide to Anilao" and an upcoming Philippine wreck book.

Randy Thornton, is a prolific explorer with an interest in cave and wreck diving. As CEO of SubGravity, Randy is intimately involved with the design of closed circuit rebreather systems as well as other technical diving equipment. As an instructor trainer for over 20 years, he travels extensively to offer training in various disciplines of technical diving. Randy currently serves as a member of the TDI Training Advisory Panel and is in demand as a presenter at various technical diving conferences and events worldwide, including TEKDiveUSA of which he is a founding member.

A fellow in the Explorer’s Club, Kohler is an author and shipwreck explorer with 40 years of diving experience. He discovered lost ships such as the Andrea Doria, RMS Titanic, USS Murphy, USS Lagarto, U-215 and U-869. His explorations were detailed in documentary films, television programmes (he hosted 56 episodes of “Deep Sea Detectives” on History Channel) and a NY Times best-selling book, Shadow Divers, by Robert Kurson. In 2017, his first book Mystery of the Last Olympian, detailing his work on the HMHS Britannic, was published.

Robert Scales is a Canadian living in Bali since 2011. He is the co-founder of Ceningan Divers and Ceningan Resort, a Green Fins eco-friendly PADI 5 Star Dive Resort based on a small island located on the east coast of Bali. Scales is a former media executive and college professor. He is passionate about sustainable development and conservation. Robert is a repeated ADEX speaker, over the past years he has shared his sustainable tourism and best business practices knowledge with our audience. He is the co-founder of the Trash Hero Ceningan chapter, they conduct weekly street, beach and mangrove clean ups. He describe himself as a simplicity expert, resort owner, scuba diver, dungeon master, renaissance man & bon vivant!

Roger is a British, Emmy award-winning underwater cameraman, based in Sabah, Malaysia. Specialising in natural history filmmaking, Roger was one of the principal cameramen on the BBC’s recent Blue Planet II series. One of the notable sequences include a tusk fish exhibiting tool use. An underwater cameraman since 2001, Roger’s specialty is crafting complex, character-led stories.

Ronny Roskosch is a Diving Professional, deep sea commercial diver with almost 9000 working hours, sports diving professional pioneer as dive center owner, course director, examiner and handicapped diving with more then 30 years of experience and serves today as business consultant to mayor players and is committee member of the DEMA Association.

Sarah-Jo Lobwein is an avid SCUBA diver, marine scientist, volunteer, teacher and traveller, and as a passionate conservation educator she has globally experienced first hand the beauty and pressure fragile marine and coastal environments face, and believes education is essential for attitude and behaviour change. Founder of Ocean Tidings, and the Australian non-profits Plastic Free Sutherland Shire and SO Shire, she promotes and advises initiatives to increase the sustainable practices of businesses and individuals in their journey in waste and pollution reduction, focusing on ocean positive and marine debris #swapforthesea solutions through the awareness of alternatives or ‘simple swaps’ to single use disposable plastic consumption in our everyday lives to stop the seas drowning in plastic.

Scott was first handed his underwater camera at the age of 16. Decades later, his passion for photography has brought him on amazing journeys. From throwing himself into a feeding frenzy to dangling off a line in open water at night, his photography has been recognised by the Palme D’or at Antibes festival for his book Anilao, which he co-authored in 2000. His latest books, Blackwater and Open Blue, have won awards and are sold out worldwide.

My name’s Shang Bohan. I’m 10 years old. I’m a little merboy from MissVsea merboy academy. I want to be a biologist, because I’m very interested in marine organisms. In my spare time I’d like to read books about the ocean. I’ve taken part in the Little Ocean Guardian Program, to tell people around me to protect the earth and the ocean and reject animal shows. I hope I can travel around the world.

Sherin Tang, Miss Scuba International (Hong Kong), ADEX Mermaid Ambassador (Hong Kong) and second runner-up of the 2017 ADEX Mermaid Challenge, is an actress and performer with a glowing stage record. Previously a backup dancer for Hong Kong stars such as Aaron Kwok, Leon Lai and much more, currently an actress and hostess in movies, musicals, and TV shows. Sherin now promotes mermaids, freediving, scuba diving and marine conservation through her book on her ocean adventures as a mermaid. Sherin also took part in a TV show ‘Mermaid’ which broadcasted on Guangdong Radio and Television in 2018 Summer. Furthermore, she took part in a micro film shot by Kent Yeung about marine conservation in HK called 'Dive. Hong Kong' is shown in ADEX too.

Over the last 25 years, Simon Pridmore has pioneered mixed-gas deep diving in Asia and been involved in technical diver training, exploration and equipment manufacturing. Today, he writes books for divers, most recently “Scuba Exceptional – Become the Best Diver You Can Be” and “Dining with Divers – A Taste for Adventure”.

Stephen Frink is among the world’s most frequently published underwater photographers with a career spanning four decades. Starting out with a small studio in Key Largo, Florida Keys, in 1978, he started writing and shooting for dive publications. He was a photojournalist for Skin Diver magazine for 17 years and was Director of Photography for Scuba Diving magazine. For the past eight years, he has been the publisher of Alert Diver Magazine. Besides teaching Master classes in underwater photography, he has shot for clients such as Scubapro, Victoria’s Secret and Rolex.

Steve Lewis is a best-selling author, expedition leader, and life coach. He has written several diving textbooks, has served as a training panel member for TDI and RAID, and is a product consultant for equipment manufacturers. A popular speaker and storyteller, this will be his first ADEX.

Spiri (Sun Ping): Present amphibious photographer, underwater commercial photographer, ADEX (China) Ambassador for Photography, JD.com Travel Channel cooperative photographer, Ctrip.com cooperative photographer. Formerly, Spiri is a fashion commercial photographer, shot for "VOGUE", "BAZAAR", "FHM" and had shot dozens of famous stars of China. She also used to be the exclusive photographer for "Traveling Masters".

Born and raised in France, Suzy is a Sino-Cambodian who now lives in Hong Kong, France and the Philippines. A former scuba-diving instructor, competitive swimmer, scientist, and pharmacist, Suzy started freediving in 2012 and co-founded the Freediving Planet, a freediving school dedicated to providing worldwide quality freediving education and equipment. As Hong Kong’s only English speaking Master Freediver Instructor, Suzy created one of the first freediving clubs there. In 2017, Suzy became an athlete freediver, competing internationally under France or Hong Kong. She is a two-time gold medallist and holds three Women Hong Kong records in depth disciplines.

Singapore's first ever professional mermaid, Syrena is the founder of the Singapore Mermaid School and is forging a new mermaid movement in Asia that champions strength, beauty, and love as its core values. The Singapore Mermaid School is the first of its kind! Blending mermaid theory and physicality, it immerses students in a holistic mermaid experience of a lifetime.

Terrence (Terry) Cummins is President of Dive Queensland and a prominent figure in the global dive community. He is known as a diver, photographer, writer, and educator, and as a senior executive of diver training agencies. He sits on several Australian Government, NGO and business advisory committees relating to diving, tourism and business sustainability. Terry has a long list of prestigious awards and accomplishments, including an ‘Order of Australia Medal’ for his contribution to scuba diving.

Founder of Seven Clean Seas, Tom has lived in S.E.A for 6 years and travelled extensively off the beaten track. Having encountered shocking amounts of marine pollution seemingly everywhere, it was clear that he needed to join the fight against ocean plastic. Seven Clean Seas has removed over 12,000kg of plastic from the marine environment to date and are just getting started.

Tobias Friedrich started taking pictures with a DSLR underwater in the year 2007. His Images have been published in prestigious scuba diving magazines and newspaper around the world. Several underwater photographic competitions, have honoured his work, resulting in over 50 awards with nearly 230 1st places. Lately he has been names “Underwater Photographer of the Year 2018” in the prestigious UPY London competition. He is SEACAM equipment for his Canon EOS 1DX Mark II and 5D Mark ll DSLR.

A SSI Mermaid Instructor, Venisa participated in Poly Yunan Property’s promotional film and the promotional film of China International Tourism. Venisa believes that life has a limit but knowledge does not. With the universe so endless and life so limited, she hopes to explore the magic that the universe gives to nature in her limited time on Earth.

William Tan has been fascinated with the creatures of the sea since his childhood. He travels extensively throughout the Pacific region, judging underwater photo competitions, and photographing marine life for tourism organisations, scientific research groups, dive magazines, camera manufacturers and resorts.

One of the pioneers of technical diving in China, Wu Lixin is a professional underwater photographer who has many accolades to his name. A contact photographer with Chinese National Geography magazine, he has filmed documentaries for China’s major television media such as CCTV. Lixin also works for National Oceanic Research Institute and the Underwater Archaeological Research department.

Xiao Jia is a mermaid coach from Miss Vsea and is in charge of the Chenzhou store. She is responsible for teaching basic Mermaid techniques and overseas traveling. She hopes that all of us who loves the sea can swim freely and protect the ocean.

Y.Zin Kim is introducing high quality underwater photography and model training also working as commercial photographer. She has been working on photo shoots on TV shows, movies, advertisements, magazines over many years and she got World Records on First women SideMount Trimix 101m depth diving in 2015. Currently she is advertising and the East Sea of Korea and Jeju Island to abroad. and also promoting about culture of Hae-Nyeo (Sea women) worldwide from 2012. She was appointed Ambassador of the Year at the Asia Dive Expo in 2018. She is an influential artist who takes the lead in promoting Asia's technical diving, marine conservation and maritime culture.

Yanitza, founder of Save The Plastic, is a marine conservationist. Since 2013, she has devoted her life to protecting the ocean with the New Heaven Reef Conservation Programme in Thailand and Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii. With an Ocean Policy degree from the University of Hawaii, she has decided to combine, develop and apply her experience to follow her heart and spread her knowledge and respect for the ocean by giving communities the skills they need to implement change. Marine plastic pollution alleviation is her motto!

Yorko Summer is a well-known underwater photographer from Taiwan, with nearly 20 years of scuba diving experience.  Multi-talented Yorko aside from being an underwater photographer, is also a travel journalist, photography lecturer and highly sought after as photo competition judge at international shows.  He has collaborated with reputed brands, and has been invited by Marianas Visitors Authority as a Mariana Ocean Ambassador to promote these beautiful islands.

My name is Yu Ruofei, I am a pupil of grade five. I like travelling and I like marine organism. Diving is my favourite sport. Through diving, I learned that human littering causes serious pollution to the ocean. Global warming leads to massive coral whitening. I want to protect the beautiful ocean. So on my eleventh birthday, I joined MissVsea mermaid school and became a real little mermaid. I am determined to be a volunteer to protect the ocean!

Yue Hong Jun began his journey into photography in 1984. He is currently a member of the Chinese Photographers Association, a member of the Royal Society of Photographers, and a deputy director of the Shenzhen City Entrepreneurs Photography Association. He has held several solo photography exhibitions in recent years, and many of his works have been nominated for and won awards at various national and international competitions.

Yuri Chan is the founder of the Mermaid Star (Hong Kong) Academy, a film actress, singer, and an ex-TVB artist. She has longed to become a mermaid since young, and fulfilled her dream by starting a mermaid course in 2016 – the only mermaid course available in Hong Kong. Though still active in the entertainment industry, Yuri aims to promote the art of mermaiding all around the world.

Yvonne Press is currently the only female TDI Instructor Trainer and Advanced Trimix instructor in Southeast Asia. She is a PADI TecRec instructor and has been managing Two Fish Tech in Amed, Bali, Indonesia since late 2015. She started diving in Scotland in 2003, going full time into diving in 2010. She became a tech diver in 2011, moved to Bali in 2014 and became a tech instructor and cave diver in early 2015 in Thailand. She qualified as a TDI IT in late 2016.