 About
the Author John Williams
John Williams, born in California, USA, began diving
in 1975 at the age of 15 years. He graduated with a degree in
advertising and underwater photography from Brooks Institute of
Santa Barbara in 1983 and decided he liked diving so much, he
might as well see the world and work along the way.
Since becoming a PADI Instructor in 1983, he has
logged thousands of dives in a lot of beautiful tropical locations
around the world, including the Bahamas, the Red Sea, Australia,
Hawaii, Grand Cayman, Mexico, Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia.
John came to Thailand in 1987 and said, "Wow,
this place has potential!" and settled down. Over 20 years
later, after seeing a lot of changes–and being responsible
for a few–he is still here and still loves it. He was married
to a local girl, Ohn, in August 1996 and refuses to leave Phuket.
He's pretty stubborn, but it's a pretty nice place to live.
 He
has worked as a diving instructor, a live-aboard divemaster, a
tank filler, an equipment repair technician, a photographer, a
marketing manager, a web designer, and was managing director of
Siam Diving Center for seven years before he formed Siam Dive n' Sail with Bent Posejpal, a PADI
Course Director.
One of the first divers to explore the Mergui Archipelago,
he was one of the original people to get permission to dive there
back in 1997.  He
is also one of the few divers who has dived in "the good
places" in the Andaman Islands including Narcondam, Barren,
and South Sentinel Islands.
Now a Master Instructor, John does some work with
Bent on IDCs, but mostly manages the office here in Kata Beach.
He maintains these nice web pages we have, answers email and faxes,
and when he has time, writes stories for various publications
and writes the occasional dive guide.
He has had a monthly column in the Phuket Gazette,
and has written three guide books on diving in Thailand, including
the one that is included on this site, Diving Southeast Asia
published by Periplus Editions, and most recently, a guide
book for Lonely Planet. He hopes to do more writing in
the future where he's paid more. But, as we say in diving "Don't
hold your breath". |
