Get to know me
Hi there! welcome to my about me page. Let me introduce myself. My name is Jildou Bijlsma, most people call my Jilly though. I was born and raised in the Netherlands which is also where I learned to dive. When I turned 18 I left the Netherlands and I've been living and working in several different countries.
Initially I didn't start diving to make it my career but after spending a few weeks of diving on Koh Tao in Thailand I was definitely hooked and looking for ways to turn this into a lifestyle, which I did.
After Thailand in 2020 I stumbled upon Gozo when I was on holiday with friends. Opportunities crossed my path so I took them, which is also when I learned about technical diving and it didn't take long for me to get hooked on that either.
Since then I have had the privilege of teaching and being taught alongside some great technical diving instructors. Both Tupac Mendoza and Tom Steiner have helped me put down a strong foundation both knowledge based and in the water for me to create my own teaching style.
The essence of teaching
When I dive my primary concern is always for the safety of my diver/student and myself
The core of the training I provide is always based on getting the skills, comfort and knowledge of the student on the right level. When all these things are in place the end result will be a confident, reliable and safe diver
What do I do besides diving?
It's true, the majority of my time is spend somehow related to diving. I do however have hobbies besides diving.
I very much enjoy skiing, I used to be a skiing instructor as well and this is still something which I try to make time for during the winter. (For the skiing fanatics: I most enjoy long turn carving!)
Besides skiing I also like mountain climbing and once my diving schedule clears out a bit I have some courses in mind in the Himalayas. I like trekking, camping, vanning, sailing, photography, horseriding.
Honestly any outdoor activity, you can get me hyped for especially if there's a bit of adrenaline involved. Also recently I started driving the motorbike which has become my new favourite thing to do before or after diving.
700+
Dives
50
CCR hours
50+
Students
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