Elliot Smith
Elliot is originally from Bromley, a commuter town just outside of London.
He started his diving journey at the ripe old age of 11. While on vacation with his family he was amazed by the scuba divers that he saw in the swimming pool and convinced his parents to let him take the first of many diving courses. With his father by his side he managed to gain his Junior Open Water certification and spent the rest of the vacation diving as much as possible.
Contrary to his positive first experiences of diving, Elliot did not dive again until the age of 19.
Having left school at 16 he was able to secure a job at a publishing firm in central London, working within the advertising/marketing sector. After nearly three years of working in an office Elliot decided it was time for a change and booked flights to the Caribbean, with the idea of an extended vacation. His destination was St Eustatius, a small island in the Dutch Antilles. Within weeks of being on the island scuba diving once again peaked his interests and he began to volunteer for the marine park; securing moorings, cleaning hulls of boats, anything for him to spend some time underwater. It was at this point he decided that he would not go back to working in London and instead would pursue a career as a diver. With his friend and first real mentor in diving, Philippe Tony Hitzel, he managed to gain his Dive Master certification. Elliot spent several months working as a guide when he began to feel that he could offer more to his fellow divers than just guided tours underwater and he decided to move to the Dominican Republic to become a scuba diving instructor.
It was in the Dominican Republic Elliot had his first experiences of cave diving. He undertook a guided cavern tour and was blown away by the sheer size and beauty of the cave. He immediately contacted a local cave diving instructor and completed his IANTD Sidemount Cave Diver certification. Working as a dive instructor during the week, at the weekends Elliot went cave diving whenever possible. He eventually moved onto Providenciales, part of the Turks and Caicos Islands. Working in a high end resort offering some of the best wall diving in the world he began to hone his skills as a dive instructor but started to crave a new challenge in diving.
In September 2016 Elliot came to Mexico on vacation, staying in Playa del Carmen. After one month of solid cave diving he decided that his next job would have to be in the cave diving paradise of the Yucatan Peninsula. Within one year he had relocated to Mexico to further his diving career and pursue his passion for cave diving. He joined ProTec in March 2018 and has been continuing to focus on his development as both a diver and an instructor ever since.
Instructor Levels:
- PSAI Full Cave Instructor
- PSAI Overhead Sidemount Instructor
- PSAI Advanced Buoyancy Control Instructor
- PSAI Open Water Sidemount Instructor
- PADI OWSI & Speciality Instructor, Nitrox and Deep
- EFR Instrutor
Diver Levels:
- PSAI CCR Cave Diver
- TDI DPV Cave Diver
- IANTD Sidemount Cave Diver
- IANTD Full Cave Diver
- PSAI KISS Sidewinder User
- IANTD Advanced Recreational Trimix Diver