A.B. Lee
Marine Conservationist / Underwater Photographer
AB Lee is no stranger to many Malaysian and International divers. He is a passionate advocator for marine conservation, and a committed underwater photographer. Highly respected for his originality and innovativeness, AB constantly manages to produce some of the most impressive images of Malaysian waters and its stunning marine life. His illustrious works have earned him multiple awards and he continues to add to his vast collections of spectacular images. AB Lee’s highly popular underwater photography workshops for the past 16 years and marine conservation programs have been instrumental in making divers and non-divers more conscious of our local marine treasures and the need to preserve this fragile environment for our future generations.
Alvin Chelliah
Marine Scientist / Conservationist
Alvin Chelliah has been diving since he was in high school. He pursued a degree in Marine Science from University Malaysia Sabah and a Master’s Degree in the same field from the National University of Malaysia. He has been working with Reef Check Malaysia for the past 8 years, managing and leading annual surveys around the country as well conducting Reef Check Eco-Diver courses for Department of Marine Parks Malaysia, Sabah Parks, Dive Professionals and volunteers. He is currently based in Tioman Island heading Reef Check Malaysia’s 7 year program (Cintai Tioman) to increase the social and ecological resilience of the island.
Azua Shafii
Malaysian Female Freediving Champion / SSI Freediving Instructor/Founder of Apnea Odyssey
Azua Shafii is a Malaysian female freediving champion who holds multiple records for the freediving sport in Malaysia and South East Asia. She is the first SSI Freediving instructor in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. She founded Apnea Odyssey, a dive centre solely dedicated to the promotion and coaching in freediving. While being the first instructor in the country, she still remains the most experienced freediving instructor with over 300 certified new freedivers. In this capacity she is determined to promote freediving and encourage more Malaysian members to represent the country and compete in the international arena. As an educator and competitor, she believes that instructors should have strong work ethic and continuously strive to improve their skills in freediving.
Eric Goh
DIWA Underwater Photography Examiner / Photographer
Eric is a professional photographer. His underwater images have graced numerous international magazines and even a personal themed hotel room featuring all the top artists in the country. His work has been commissioned by major tourism campaigns and features prominently on graphic walls in city walkways and national billboards.
Ipah Uid
Photographer
Malaysian Photographer Ipah Uid became an underwater photographer after she left the Airlines in early 2000. An award winning photographer, a mother of six kids and a full time PADI Instructor, she also owns her Dive centre called UrbanIsland Divers in Pulau Perhentian Malaysia. Her passion of the sea started when she overcame her fear of water. Wanting to learn more about photography, she came up with her own sense of style pushing the limits to all compact cameras and showing the best way to get amazingly creative shots. Sharing knowledge about underwater photography and teaching new divers to appreciate life in the ocean to a whole new level are her main objectives nowadays.
Jeethvendra Kirishnamoorthie
Science Officer of TRACC / Conservationist
Completing his BSc in Marine Biology at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), Jeethvendra Kirishnamoorthie ventured into his career in Sabah with Tropical Research and Conservation Centre (TRACC) as a science officer. His research interests mainly cover reef restoration, Crown-of-Thorns starfish and sea turtles. He adopts non-invasive methods to study sea turtle population and distribution dynamics on reefs surrounding Semporna, Sabah. This involves the use of turtle facial photo identification system coupled with laser photogrammetry. On the research endeavor, he hopes to provide a better estimate of sea turtle populations in Semporna, which is a fundamental knowledge to conserve endangered species.
Lee Kian Lie
Underwater Cave Explorer / Advanced Trimix CCR Technical Diver / SDI Open Water Scuba Instructor / PADI Freediving Instructor
Lee Kian Lie is a technical underwater cave explorer. He had previously explored North West Malaysia, Ipoh, Kuantan (Malaysia), Sulawesi, etc. He is currently doing cave exploration project at Sg Lembing Malaysia with his exploration team. Sg Lembing Mines is one of the deepest (700 meter depth) Tin Mines in the world that had stopped operation since year 1986. He had found a passage to the Mining area which rated depth at 50 meter and few other potential passages that need to be explored further possible with CCR. Besides, he also discovered possible new species of underwater marine life which had yet to be identified. Mr. Lee will continue to pursue his passion in discovering the underwater world that yet been explored.
Mermaid Sabrina
Professional Mermaid Performer
Sabrina is a mermaid performer & educator from Malaysia. She started off as an unlicensed freediver since 12 years old and received her open water diving license in 2010 to explore the deeper part of the ocean. In 2017, she got her freediving license certified. She usually dives around Malaysia to experience, learn & understand more about the ocean life at her home country which happens to be a dive heaven. Besides diving, Sabrina was a shop owner & private tutor. She quit her job of 11 years to focus on mermaiding. These days she frequently travels around Malaysia to entertain & educate others about the ocean conservation through her performances & presentations. Sabrina’s motto: Believe in yourself & never give up!
Mohd Faisal Abdur Rani
Volunteer Leader of Trash Hero Kuala Lumpur / Founder of Malaysia EcoBrickers Community
For 3 years, Faisal has executed and implemented, green business development, community empowerment and development, sustainable waste management training and awareness programmes in companies, communities and schools. These programmes include waste audits, cleanups, report writing, and waste to wealth workshops such as eco-bricks, composting, and events waste management. With a total experience of 8 years in management, business development, and technical consultancy. The vast experience in the various industry, looking in optimization and sustainability development.
Nick Khoo
SSI Instructor Certifier & Shark Specialty Instructor / Shark Savers Malaysia Ambassador
A fascination for sharks started even before his foray into diving. It was only natural that sharks became a passion when he started diving. Being a diver and an eventually an instructor meant that he was able to talk about sharks to fellow divers and students in a manner that could help the plight of sharks. Working with Wild Aid in the early days formed his philosophy for conservation. He pushed on with the mantra that “when the buying stops, the killing can too”. He does this through specially organised dive trips or even snorkeling trips for non-divers to gain an appreciation for sharks. He volunteers with Shark Savers Malaysia to reach out to a wider audience.
Patrick Ong
Photographer / Writer
Certified to dive since 1997, his fascination with the ocean continues. In 2008, he began committing to underwater photography, like a love affair with the sea. ‘Passion’ is the word that has kept him going in this sport for 21 years. He is a strong influencer, leading the rest of the people who knew him to become divers as well besides spreading his knowledge on marine environment and conservation to many others around him.
William Sim
Night Dive Specialist / PADI Instructor / Managing Director of FDiver Diving Academy
William is a night owl, better to say he is born to be nocturnal. He started his career as a photographer and studied in Curtin University as a practitioner. His artworks were exhibited in the prestigious gallery such as Petronas Gallery and Balai Seni Negara. He also lectured photography subject in the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology as well as Tunku Abdul Rahman College. In 2017 he founded current company to operate scuba diving and explore night diving. William dives almost every night at his facility; eventually he developed a love in night diving, turning the dark underwater world into his darkroom by nature.
