Our 2026 Instructors
Graham Blackmore
Technical / CCRGeneral underwater awesomeness and divering woooooooo
Ivo Chiarino
Technical / Cave / CCRIvo is a passionate diver who spends most of his underwater time diving into the caves of Quintana Roo, Mexico.
As an educator, he aims to provide specific constructive feedback to those seeking to refine their underwater skills and share his experience and knowledge with others to make the best of their diving adventures.
Emőke Wagner
Fundamentals / CaveEmőke was born in Sopron, a small town in Hungary near the Austrian border. Water has always played a central role in her life — She spent many years swimming and playing water polo, and also enjoyed countless family vacations by the sea.
In 2013, she graduated from Semmelweis University of Physical Education and Sport Sciences in Budapest, earning a degree in human kinesiology. After working for a few years in the medical field, she decided to follow a new passion and become a diving instructor.
From 2014 to 2017, Emőke worked in the Maldives as a recreational diving instructor. During that time, she also became increasingly aware of the importance of safe diving techniques, which ultimately led her to discover GUE.
In 2017, she moved to Mexico to gain more experience and dedicate herself to cave diving. Since then, she has become a passionate cave diving instructor and explorer.
Sabrina Figliomeni
FundamentalsBased in the Canadian Rockies, Sabrina teaches primarily in Southern Alberta and the Pacific Northwest around Vancouver Island, and occasionally travels to warmer waters for classes.
Her passion as an instructor, a diver and a human is to be an enabler - someone that helps others find a way to try something they've always wanted to do, and help them develop the skills needed to do it well. She’s excited to see what you can achieve through your diving.
Arthur Nguyen-Kim
Fundamentals / CaveArthur is an experienced cave and technical diver, as well as the principal behind Mexico’s Elite Divers International. From their website:
Born from a deep passion for the underwater world, Elite Divers International began its journey in 2013 amidst the turquoise waters of Thailand. After traveling around the globe, we finally settled down in Playa del Carmen, Mexico after falling in love with the Cenotes and Cave Diving. We feel privileged to have such a wide diversity of diving environments to our disposal and the magic of those places is making hard to ever consider leaving again.
Ron Fancher
Fundamentals / TechnicalJust. Go. Diving.
Nick Bowman
FundamentalsNick has been fascinated with the aquatic realm since he was a young child. His father was a diver and Nick grew up reading The Ocean World of Jacques Cousteau.
Since his first scuba diving experience on the Great Barrier Reef, he has been actively diving in Canada, USA, Mexico, Australia, and Egypt. In 2020 he was honoured to become a GUE Instructor and share his passion for diving and protecting our precious aquatic resources.
The global GUE community has given him so much and Nick reciprocates that gift through continued mentorship and instruction of new and experienced divers in the PNW and beyond.
Jenn Thomson
Foundational TrainingJenn is GUE Open Water and Performance Diver instructor. Additionally she retains certifications in DAN Diver Medic Training Course, Outdoor wilderness first aid, and STCW / Powerboating for research vessels.
She is actively participating in external scientific diving missions / expeditions with research vessels around the world. She has experience in collecting data via submersible, ROV, AUV, helicopter and scientific diving.
In a past life Jenn has been a scientific illustrator, been filmed for NatGeo, worked with ESA / visited NASA, and participated in analog astronaut mission workshops. She is always interested to chat about the intersection between neutral buoyancy labs, sea, space, and diving!
James Fraser
FundamentalsJames first started Diving in 1992 and became a PADI MSDT in 1998 and NAUI Scuba Instructor 2017. He has been diving in the Pacific Northwest for almost 30 years. He currently lives in Seattle, WA, with his wife and dive teammate Deana Fraser. he loves working at growing the local diving community and sharing his passion with all who are interested. He is also on the Board of Directors for GUE Seattle. He embraced GUE in 2018 after Deana had taken Fundamentals, finding it humbling that there was still much more about diving he wanted to learn. Since then he has become a very experiences technical, cave, and rebreather diver.
Jason Cook
Technical / CCR / Event OrganizerJason Cook is a CCR and OC technical diving instructor for Global Underwater Explorers based on Vancouver Island, Canada. He has conducted over 2000 dives in oceans, lakes, and caves all over the world. He has a special interest in shipwrecks to preserve their historical value and share it with the non-diving public. As an educator he has worked with a wide variety of students from the civilian, defence, and scientific sectors.
Before transitioning to diving, Jason had a career in the music industry as a record producer, recording engineer, and session musician, collaborating with many Juno and Grammy award winning artists across North America and internationally.
Please note that life happens and our instructor roster is subject to change.