On Tuesday 8th March 2022, a team of TEC divers from BlueOceanDiving laid a memorial plaque in honour of Mike Melville at 66m under the Third Arch in Thomas Canyon.
The arch, in the straits of Tiran in the Egyptian Red Sea, was a significant and meaningful location in which to honour ‘The Chief’.
Mike qualified as PADI TecDeep in September 2009 on a trip which saw a gang of us form the BlueOceanTec THREEEEEEE club – by making an adventurous dive through all three arches in Thomas Canyon. (Cheers to all who have joined this select little group over the years!).
Known as ‘The Chief’, PADI Master Instructor Mike sadly lost his fight with cancer on May 4th, 2021.
He was one of the original Scubaholics Dive Team at Blue Ocean Diving. Since 2003, he was instrumental in building the club and supporting the business to make it what it is today.
As Chief Instructor he taught many of the team who now pass on his knowledge, skill, and his love of diving.
He was an adventurous Technical Diver, always pushing limits underwater.
Be it in a dark cave with tight wriggle room, at extreme depths on Trimix on Twinset or SideMount, or diving on his much prized Prism2 CCR rebreather, he pushed the boundaries.
Mike had virtually every diving qualification possible and several thousand dives under his belt.
The diving world has lost one of the greats.
His sharp wit, dry humour and sense of camaraderie, as well as his natural leadership made him a huge part of all our lives.
Mike and I subsequently dived Thomas Canyon several times on Trimix OC & CCR
- It’s a special dive site with special memories
- It’s for special divers
- It was one of Mike’s special places
- It is my favourite dive site: EVER
Laying the plaque, which is at 66m up in the roof of the Third Arch, was a challenging mission.
The stainless steel plaque, made by Pete Moore, had Mike’s original Trimix VR3 Dive Computer affixed.
Weighing 6kg, taking the plaque to the arch made the dive itself more challenging.
Thanks go out to Andy Rudge who completed the dive with me, and to our Tec support team who waited at 45m for us.
Thanks also go to Pete Moore for making the plaque and to everyone who dived with Mike over the years.
We all know that Mike would be quietly very pleased that we all think so much of him.
Mike, you are deeply missed by all of us.
