About

our story

Maxime Moniez

Full time instructor and co-owner of BC Sidemount, Maxime, lives and teaches on Vancouver Island. Maxime was born in Germany, grew up in France but has been calling Canada home with his wife, Ashley, since 2020. 

His diving career has allowed him to travel around the world and live and work in areas such as Australia, South East Asia, Europe and now North America. All these years of experience have given him the opportunity to fine tune his diving techniques as well as his teaching skills. His passion for Technical and Cave Diving led him to work with Thorsten “Toddy” Wälde, CEO of “Protec Sardinia” and creator of the “TS Sidemount System”.

Today, Maxime shares with you his knowledge and expertise to enhance your technical diving abilities.

Maxime Moniez

PADI Instructor : Open Water to Divemaster, Deep Diver, Nitrox Diver, Peak Performace Buoyancy, U/W Photos, Drysuit Diver, Wreck Diver, Navigation, Search and Recovery, O2 Provider, DAN 1st Responder, Night Diver, DPV (Scooter).

IANTD Instructor : Open Water to Divemaster, , Deep Diver, Nitrox Dive, Advanced Nitrox, Technical Diver, Sidemount Diver, TS Sidemount Diver, Technical Sidemount, Cavern Diver, Intro to Cave Diver, Wreck Diver, Advanced Wreck Diver, Deep Air Diver.

Ashley Thatcher

Full time instructor, Ashley, is the co-owner of BC Sidemount. She was born in Canada and has had the chance to travel, live and work in various countries abroad, where she started her diving career in Thailand. It is at that time she met her husband Maxime. From that moment on the two started working together in the diving world.

Ashley is the marketing, social media and office manager of BC Sidemount. She is in charge of the whole recreational diving branch, specializing in new divers and open water sidemount training. Ashley also worked at “Protec Sardinia” for four consecutive years where she was able to expand her knowledge in cave diving and progress her diving skills as a sidemount instructor.

Today, Ashley offers you her professionalism and experience to help you learn and improve your diving skills.

IANTD instructor : Open Water to Divemaster, Open Water Sidemount, TS Open Water Sidemount

Ashley BC Sidemount Comox Lake