My name is Zsolt Szilágyi, international GUE (Global Underwater Explorers) instructor and caver. I was born in 1975 in Budapest. Diving has been my passion since 1999 and since 2002 caving has been the part of my life as well – both besides my job. I started to dive during my university years at the PADI’s training system. I tried several different training agencies for different reasons, but my primary organization has been the GUE since 2003. I am not only a member, a trainer and an instructor trainer of GUE. I was also member of the Quality Control Committee from 2012 to 2017.
I did my first dive in one of the quarries of Lupa-sziget in 1999. I fell in love with diving and I wanted to develop my skills so much. In 2000 I had already become a divemaster, then in 2011 a UEF instructor. A turning point of my professional life came along when in 2001 I got stuck in Rákóczi cave in Bódvarákó for 5 days. This accident made me realize the lack of my knowledge in the field of diving and also made me to start off a road towards safety efforts and also to find the perfect training system.
I met GUE in 2003 when one of my friends invited me to a course in Hungary held by a German instructor. I had only little knowledge about GUE before that course but I have to admit that it was love at first sight. I knew it from the very first moment that I had found my organization so I started all over again learning to dive from the basics.
I completed Tech1 in 2004 and Cave1 in 2006. I took the Cave1 with Daniel Riordan who made a great impact on me. In 2006 I got an invitation from Thomas Dederichs to become a GUE instructor, which was held by Jarrod Jablonski, David Rhea, Richard Lundgren and Bob Sherwood in Florida. They are all great names in the profession and I have learned a lot from them. I became a GUE instructor in 2008 with the help of Chris Le Maillot and Mario Arena. I completed Tech2 course in 2008 with the leading of Mario Arena and I also completed the Cave2 with Chris Le Maillot – I got the chance again to learn from the greatest. Then in 2009 I took the Halcyon RB80 rebreather course with David Rhea. I became a student again in 2016 and completed a Cave DPV class in 2016 led by Chris Le Maillot and Underwater Cave Survey class at Fred Devos. I’ve got a new tool into my toolbox in 2018, when I became GUE JJ CCR diver.
Beside the active dives, training and exploration work I developed myself as an instructor too: I got the Rec1 and DPV1 instructor qualification in 2012 and also earned the Cave1 instructor qualification which has a remarkably high prestige. Then in 2013 I have become GUE Fundamentals and Rec1 Instructor Trainer and Documentation Diver Instructor. In 2013 I got elected in GUE Quality Control Committee up to 2017. I have been teaching Rec2 and Rec3 courses since 2014. After a long learning process I became Tech1 instructor in 2015. After an other long learning process, in 2017 I became Cave2 Instructor. As an extension of Cave2 level, I am Cave Sidemount Insturctor since 2019.
In 2002 I found an other passion, caving. A simple reason led to this decision: you can only practise cave diving at a high level if you are adept in dry caving as well. In 2004 I got a basic caver qualification and in 2010 I got Tech2 qualification. I became a cave divers’ guide in 2011. I earned the exploration leader certification in 2014.
Other certifications: Cave diver guide, diver sport-trainer 
My results in numbers: 2800+ Total dives, 1300+ Cave dives, 250+ Deep dives (>45m), 450+ Stage decompression dives 150+ hours RB experience.
I represent the mentality of GUE in the region as I offer the most professional training system for divers as the first GUE Instructor in Hungary. I have tried several training systems (PADI, SSI, UEF, LANTD, TDI) during the past years and there is a reason why I decided to choose GUE. If you have any questions please call or send me an e-mail: Zsolt Szilágyi |+36302678385 | zsolt@gue.com