As a young electrician in the early 1980s, Dave was a competitive spearfisher of some renown – he could freedive around 25–30m deep on a single breath! His spearfishing reputation and his day job as an electrician led to his acquaintance with Kelly Tarlton, who was operating a shipwreck museum in Waitangi at the time, and needed some help with Power Board regulations around the museum’s wiring. Kelly and Dave became close friends, particularly after the death of Dave’s three-year-old son Damien, who was tragically hit by a motorbike.

This friendship meant that as Kelly planned and organised the mold-breaking Kelly Tarlton’s Aquarium, getting Dave and Moran Electrical involved was a no-brainer. What no one anticipated was Kelly’s death in 1985, at 47 years of age, only seven weeks after the aquarium opened. Dave found himself grieving his friend and suddenly the General Manager of the aquarium, all in one fell swoop.

Aquariums were big business at the time, and eventually Dave became Operations Manager for the umbrella company that owned Kelly Tarlton’s – travelling overseas and helping design and build aquariums in San Francisco, Melbourne and London. Black Monday, the ‘80s financial crisis, finally put an end to this, and in 1988 he found himself without a job for the first time in years.

Dave and Petal photographed in 2020.

Sea Tech was born out of a desire to challenge people to get out there and do it the way Dave has been his whole life! We love the challenge of solving your problems. We love supporting people’s creativity and seeing them develop their skills! And we want to help our customers get the gear they need to get the shot they want.