Dive industry in shock
Leaders pay tribute after sudden death
THE scuba dive industry has paid tribute to stalwart Peter Boundy, who died suddenly this week.
The nearly 40-year industry veteran and director of the Cairns Dive Centre died on Monday.
“He was absolutely one of the pioneers … it is a very sad day,” Down Under Dive managing director Peppi Iovanella said.
“He was well liked in the industry, so respected, so well liked by his peers,” he said.
“We have lost one of our own. I am lost for words. He helped established Cairns.
“He was at the forefront. “Without people like PB, Cairns would not be what it is today.
“He was definitely a likeable larrikin.”
Quicksilver Group managing director Tony Baker served with Mr Boundy on the committee of the Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators.
“He has been a stalwart of our industry over the years,” he said.
“He was someone who was actively involved. He will be missed.”
Mr Boundy came to Cairns in 1968 as a builder.
He told the Cairns Post soon turned to diving.
“It was a hobby turned into he a career and business is fantastic,” Mr Boundy said.
“You don’t realise how good we’ve got it here until you travel overseas and come back. We live in paradise.”
Mr Boundy started diving in the 1970s and became a certified open water instructor in 1982 in the US.
From there he helped to grow the industry in Cairns.
Mr Boundy received an award for outstanding contribution to the diving industry from PADI in 2018 and in 2012 was recognised for his 30-year membership of the professional diving association.
Last year Mr Boundy launched the Boatel - a floating hotel in the live-aboard reef vessel the Kangaroo Explorer.
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