ADC Team

Basie Ackermann

Owner, Skipper & Dive Master The longest serving skipper in Umkomaas with more than 30 years experience, of which 12 years have been with Aliwal Dive Centre. A qualified lawyer, he succumbed to the call of the sea 30 years ago and has never looked back. Owning a dive centre is as close to the […]

Owner, Skipper & Dive Master

The longest serving skipper in Umkomaas with more than 30 years experience, of which 12 years have been with Aliwal Dive Centre. A qualified lawyer, he succumbed to the call of the sea 30 years ago and has never looked back. Owning a dive centre is as close to the Corporate world as you will find him. To keep his sanity, he is, together with Keith, still the main skipper and will gladly take you out to sea.

With more than 13000 surf launches under his belt, he is not only professional, knowledgeable and supremely competent, but also understands the needs of our divers. His extensive knowledge of the Aliwal Shoal and sea conditions is an asset that assures great dives.

Basie is also a Launch Site Safety Officer at Umkomaas and when a judgement call is required over any issue you can be assured that his decision will always be based on safety above all. A qualified Dive master and a passionate free diver and spear fisherman, the sea is his playground as well as his office and some say he even has a sixth sense for forecasting the weather – quite a handy guy to have around. His dry sense of humour sometimes does take getting use to, so be warned.