Administration Manager

Monica Chavez

Languages

Spanish 0

English 0

French 0

Marketing & Adminstration graduate

  •  Advertising Creator and Director
  •  Market Researcher and Strategy Specialist
  •  Digital and Online Manager
  • Chief Executive Officer and Financial Strategist
  • Organizational Development Specialist
  • Costumer Service and Post-sale Administrator

Born and raised in my beloved Mexico, I grew up in a family full of passionate entrepreneurs in the shape of mom, dad, brother and sister. It soon started to have an effect on me since at age 9 I had a brownie-selling project at school (first foodie alert), and later on at 20 y/o I had my frozen yogurt shop ready to go! As I emerged to the young adulthood phase and form, I had the opportunity to take over several family business while getting my Marketing Degree, which is the creative and fun part of a business (sorry to any accountant reading!).

Ever since I was little I liked to travel and seek new horizons, meeting other people, cultures and dishes. I lived in France, Spain and the caribbean island of St. Martin, but heart in hand nothing could beat my sunny, charming and guacamolishy Mexico! I’ve always been really fond of nature, camping, hiking, and of course snorkeling and diving. I took my first dive at thirteen years old! If you don’t know why I’m in love with the nature over here, I gladly extend you our invitation to come and see it for yourself (nope, it’s not some marketing trick)!

Operation Manager

Yago Rodriguez

I’ve been in the water as far back as I can remember. I was born in northern Spain in 1984 and spent my entire childhood washed by the northern seas and amazed by Jaques Cousteau’s films. Like any kid, I was of course also amazed by dinosaurs, cosmology and distant planets, and literally everything that did not exist any longer or was plainly too far away to witness, specially the deep Ocean. All those distant worlds, all those fantastic creatures! How wonderful must have been to be an explorer!

This craving ultimately sparkled a life-changing decision: in 2008 I dropped all I had  and started working and travelling around the globe. From Spain to Malta, Austria, France, New Zealand, Bonaire, St Martin and lastly, Mexico, where I decided to set my own project alongside my incredible wife, Monica.

Along the way I developed a taste for technical diving, underwater exploration and conservation, as well as strict principles and high standards in my work. I’m glad to say that all this eventually leaded into Blue Nation!

13 Years as a Dive Pro

300+ Happy Students

+ 7000 dives

Professional Qualifications

Diving & Academic

Professional Qualifications

Diving & Academic

 
Academic Qualifications:
  • Sport Sciencies and Physical Education Graduate
  • Sport Companies Management Master Degree
Other ratings:
  • GUE Technical Diver Level 2
  • IANTD Full Cave Diver
  • Emergency Oxygen Provider
  • DSAT Gas Blender
  • SCUBA tanks V.I.P. technician
 Main Professional Ratings:
  • NAUI Recreational and Technical Diving Instructor
  • PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer
  • Specialty Instructor, including (but not limited to):
    • Sidemount
    • Wreck, Drysuit, Deep, Night...
    • NITROX & TRIMIX
  • Coral Restoration Foundation Instructor
  • EFR and First Aid Instructor

Surveying the inside of the "Mairi Bahn" wreck during a GUE documentation dive.

Photo credit: Kirill Egorov

Conservation & Exploration

Feats & Deeds

Conservation & Exploration

Feats & Deeds

If you ask me about my main motivations in life, I'd probably answer conservation and exploration. These are some of the projects I've been involded with:
  • Coral Restoration. Transplanting nursery-grown coral into degraded parts of the reef, as well as teaching students and performing public speeches. (Check www.crfbonaire.org for more info)
  • Turtle Conservation. Monitoring turtle population, nests and hatchings (Check www.bonaireturtles.org for more info)
  • Bat Conservation. Monitoring bat populations, cave survey and a lot of bush-whacking. (Check www.wildconscience.org)
  • Cave exploration. Exploring unknown dry and wet caves, surveying and mapping. We eventually founded the Caribbean Speleological Society (CARIBSS) back in 2016 to support these and other projects. (Check www.caribss.org for more info)
  • Several documentation & exploration projects. With the local Global Underwater Explorers (GUE) Team of Bonaire.
  Getting ready for a cave survey at Pos di Wajaka (Bonaire) Photo credit: Lars Bosman

A Bit More About Me

Fun Facts & Stuff

A Bit More About Me

Fun Facts & Stuff

Underwater exploration is my biggest passion, but not the only! When you get to know me you will realize that I spent quite a lot of time drawing and doing illustrations (like the ones you see around this website), doing computer coding (nerd alert!) and specially coming up with new ideas and projects (anybody said "special dive-with-a-wig event"?). Other stuff I love to do is going on field expeditions, either for cave hunting, sightseeing or just a good hike in the middle of nowhere!

Restless and hyperactive as I am, I ended up living in a number of places around the world and can speak Spanish, English, French and Portuguese...when I don't speak so fast it all turns out gibberish, that is!

People tend to say about me that I'm strict and thorough (whatch out students!), and probably a bit stubborn too (I lied on the "probably").

Always willing to take on new enterprises, if you have some crazy stuff in mind don't hesitate on telling!

Yago after entering the water before a deep dive, probably needing to re-arrange those hoses a bit more 😉