early years

Even though an islander, Dimitris was born on a small picturesque village on the mountain of Amorgos; an avid nature lover, his very first acquaintance with the sea was at the age of six when he immediately knew he was in love with the open water. Not long after the event, and influenced by the rising popularity of Amorgos as a destination for diving thanks to the critically acclaimed film “The Deep Blue” (Le Grand Bleu, 1988), when asked by his father what he wants to do for a living, the response came with no further thought. He wanted to be a diver.
The first real taste of the underwater world occurred during his compulsory army service, a time which he used in his favour by joining the special armed forces. Despite juggling different occupations during his early years, such as contributing to the family business, serving as chairman of the local tourism committee, and participating as such in international exhibitions, diving was the sole pursuit in his mind. Ultimately, he completed his training as a diving professional in 2007 and founded Amorgos Diving Center shortly after.

Breakthrough / Evolution

Starting small, he ran the dive center himself with just 5 sets of rental equipment within a two-month-only season; modest growth within the next 3 years attracted enough divers and brought hired professionals to the team. Humble roots and an open mind running the business in combination with hard work led to an expansion of the season and clientele; the real breakthrough came when, partnering with a couple of skillful and more experienced employed experts, Dimitris decided to restructure the organization and processes of the center allowing for its capacity to grow exponentially and appointing Amorgos as a diving destination. Having established a successful presence as a professional and leader of a diving school with top-level facilities and services, his aspiration for the future is to mentor people that hold no significant prior experience but love the idea of diving; his next project would be to host them for the summer season, introduce them to the reality of diving and inspire and prepare them with all required knowledge to become reliable and confident pros.

Social responsibility

The love for his island formed not only his career but his state of mind, creating the need to give back to his community. The severe refugee crisis that affected Amorgos, among numerous other greek islands, brought plenty displaced people seeking asylum in the European Union being dropped in the sea by ships taking advantage of their situation and performing illegal transfers. Since 2015, the dive center boats and team have been attempting in-water rescues of such victims on several occasions, getting them out of the ocean and bringing them safely to land.

Equally serving the local ecosystem, Amorgos Diving Center has been supporting environmental organizations such as Amorgorama the local foundation for the marine environment undertaking beach and underwater cleanups for the very first time in the area. By collaboration also with the NGO MOm, the dive center team has successfully assisted with the rescue of stranded seals that have been washed ashore by extreme weather condition or illness.