Due to my long-term friendship with David Wiewel I have been asked by DOCT to give some insight about the David I knew.
David was a true “Flying Dutchman”; he left his home and family when he was only 18 years old. His first stop was Sweden were he stayed for nearly ten years, working in restaurants and later onboard ferries between Sweden and Finland. During that time, he became fluent in Swedish (actually, I usually consulted him about Swedish grammar). In the early 70’s he took up scuba diving, and soon became a PADI Instructor. First working part time as an Instructor in Sweden, he later left for the Red Sea where he stayed for a couple of seasons. During that time, he heard about a group of islands in the Indian Ocean called the Maldives, a place where few had visited and the diving was great.
He went there for a holiday and ended up staying for more than 15 years, first working as an Instructor, later as a Base Leader, Training Manager and during five years also managing his own dive center on Vellassaru Island in South Male’ Atoll. He was one of the earliest Instructors working out of the Maldives, and his contribution to the development of the Dive Industry in the Maldives is significant. At the time in the Maldives all dive operations were managed and ran by foreigners. When David became a PADI Course Director in the early 80’s, he approached the Maldivian government with a plan to bring more Maldivian nationals into the diving industry, which was much appreciated both by the government and by all Maldivian Instructors he certified during the years.
The PADI system was introduced to Sweden the in early 80’s, David, commuting between the Maldives and Sweden, was one of the leading figures to make that happen. He was at the time regarded as “THE GURU of PADI” in Sweden and his IDC’s were in great demand. PADI noticed his achievements and offered him a top position in PADI Europe, but after many years in the tropics, he felt Europe was not the place to stay and he declined the offer.
In the early 90’s he felt that is was time for a break from scuba diving, sold his dive center in the Maldives and moved to his final destination - Thailand. He settled down in Chiang Mai, where he met his wife Tu. For a while, he just enjoyed life, but when he felt it was time to start working again, he decided to develop an old hobby he had enjoyed in Sweden and entered into a new business venture – horse trekking. The idea was to bring tourists on horseback along the foothills of the Chiang Mai mountains. He built up a quality operation and managed to get a two-page presentation of his operation in one of the more prominent European travel guides. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, he had to close down the business.
David moved to Phuket in 96 and together we formed the Get Wet Company. The business was a true success for a couple of years. Then David had a terrible motorcycle accident and needed a long recovery period. As a result, he sold his shares of the company to me. After Get Wet, he took on the assignment to manage and establish the Euro Divers new operation at Club Med in Phuket. Thereafter for the last three years, he worked as the Training Manager for Marina Divers.
I have known David for more then 25 years, we have been business partners in both Sweden and Thailand and have gone through good and bad times. During all the years, I do not remember that we ever have had an argument, it was a true pleasure to work with him; he was honest, organized, correct and very funny.
David, my mentor, business partner but most of all - my friend, I miss you dearly.
From Thomas Kroon