Location: West End, Tortola
The sun is shining, the team is smiling, and the good ship S/Y Aloha is ready to set sail! Aboard for this session are Skipper/Dive Instructor/Medic Cate (CiCi), Dive Instructor Gene, and Dive Instructor Katie. We have been working hard to get everything shipshape and ready for the session, and we’re really looking forward to the shipmate’s arrival and first dives. The tanks are filled, the flags are flying, and we are ready for session 2!
Cate (CiCi) Hayward – Skipper/Dive Instructor/Medic.
CiCi joined the AQ team in 2021 after sailing across the Atlantic Ocean in a 44ft yacht. She’s no stranger to the water, having first tried sailing aged three weeks old, and hasn’t looked back. Since then, she has sailed over 10,000 nautical miles and worked in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, and the UK. CiCi also started scuba diving at a young age, getting her open water aged 11 and then 14 years later becoming a scuba instructor in Thailand, where she participated in a coral restoration program. She is now a Master Scuba Diver Trainer and can teach eleven specialty certifications. CiCi is passionate about marine conservation, and when she isn’t on the water, she enjoys skiing, snowboarding, hiking, horse riding, and cooking.
Gene Williamson – Dive Instructor
Gene is a Dive Instructor from New Zealand who loves traveling and the ocean. He has worked in Japan, Canada, Greece, Norway, and soon the Caribbean! He learned to sail in the Royal New Zealand Navy. In the winter, Gene chases the snow and teaches snowboarding and skiing. He enjoys building Lego, Volunteer Firefighting, and walking his dogs around his hometown when not under or on the water.
Katie Griesbach – Dive Instructor
grew up in a town just outside of Toronto, and even though the nearest saltwater was hundreds of miles away, she developed a love for the ocean at a very young age on family trips. Katie’s love for the sea grew when she joined AQ as a shipmate in 2018, where she took her first-ever breath underwater and has been hooked ever since. Katie then returned for an additional summer at AQ and two trips with Seamester. When not in or on the ocean, she spends her winters in Canada as a snowboard instructor and recently moved back home from living in Whistler, BC. Katie is ecstatic to return for her second year working at AQ this summer as a dive instructor and is excited to be a part of a memorable summer for her shipmates.