Un gran amante del océano, histórico formador de instructores, experto en buceo con tiburones, cámara subacuático, director y protagonista de series de televisión y documentales, ante todo Karlos Simón es un aventurero, un viajero, «un culo inquieto”. Conozcámoslo en profundidad. Interview by Miguel Álvarez AQUA Magazine
-Who is Karlos Simón?
I don't think there is a better description of me than the one Miguel has made in the intro: "a restless ass". This could be corroborated by my parents, who from a very young age I already gave them a lot of war, so much that when they took me for a walk when I was very young, they put me in a harness with leashes. I guess they didn't want me to run away or make a mess, although if I think about it... I was too little to make a mess! The fact is that I was born in the neighborhood of Goya, in Madrid, in 67. A posh place if ever there was one, but I took care, when I repeated 8th grade of EGB, not to follow that trend of shirt and corduroy pants, and change it for tight jeans and leather jacket, plus a long curly hair with a headband. Come on, pure "heavy metal" with dozens of badges on the chest of "my jacket", army general type, in this case, "heavy army".
Many concerts, "various" friendships and "eighties moves" made me learn a lot about life, especially about what "not to do". And instead of taking a bad path, like some of my "colleagues", I took the sport as a line to follow: martial arts, skiing and especially climbing. My parents, rested on the one hand, to see that I was moving away from certain "characters" and on the other hand began to tremble when they saw that I was climbing walls 500m high. Actually, from the age of 14, I gave them no respite at any time ... always attentive to the "restless ass" of their son. And if that wasn't enough, at the end of the 80's I not only motorized on a Suzuki 750cc, but also entered in my life the fabulous and exciting world of diving, in Cuba, in a dive (baptism really), that I did in a sunken ship with some sharks around. That was the trigger for me to leave my meteoric career in computer science a few years later and dedicate myself body and soul to this industry.
- Which was your first "adventure"?
No tenía aún los 18 cuando me fui con mis dos super colegas (Mario y Fernando), a escalar, en invierno, dos míticas paredes en Picos de Europa: Peña Santa Castilla, de casi 700 m. de altura, y el famoso Naranjo de Bulnes, de poco más de 500 m. La aventura pasó en Peña Santa. Mario y Fernando eran una de las cordadas y yo, mal hecho, me encordé con un desconocido. Elegimos la vía más clásica para poder subir y bajar la pared en el día. Todo fue genial hasta el último tramo… Llegando ya a la cima, aún con luz, decidí hacer el último largo de primero. Era una placa de hielo de unos 30m, 50º de inclinación y aparentemente sencilla de realizar. Mis ganas de llegar a la cima y de perder casi de vista a mi “compañero” de escalada, que era bastante malo, me hicieron salir casi corriendo por la placa de hielo sin meter ningún seguro. Solo estaba montada la reunión con tres clavos de hielo, que era donde estaba asegurándome “mi super compi”. A mitad de la placa, el hielo quebró, mis crampones dejaron de agarrar y empecé a resbalar, placa abajo, cada vez a más velocidad. A todo esto se había metido niebla y no veía ni la reunión, ni a mi compañero ni por supuesto el cortado, que a unos 20/25 m. de la reunión tenía ya una inclinación de más de 70º. Mi mente tenía muy claro que podía caer esos 15m y como mucho otros 15m más, ya que mi compi en la reunión… me iba a parar. Nada más lejos de la realidad. Caía y caía y aquello no paraba y, sin verlo, pero sí “sintiéndolo”, se acercaba el cortado y el abismo de los 700m. No había otra opción, clavé los dos piolets en el hielo, rezando para que no se rompiera, de la inercia los solté y recé una vez más para que las drizas, unas cuerdas finas que llevas siempre atadas desde los piolets a tu arnés, aguantaran el tirón. Y así fue, me quedé colgando a escasos metros del abismo de dos cuerdecitas de 5mm atadas a dos piolets clavados en el hielo. ¿Qué fue lo peor? Que vi pasar la cuerda a mi lado, tanto, que vi el extremo donde debería haber estado mi compañero. Solo había dos respuestas: o se había tirado al abismo o se había desatado y me había soltado, quedándose “a salvo” en la reunión. Fue la segunda… El “tipejo” me había soltado. ¿Qué hice? Aseguré mi posición, recogí la cuerda que colgaba 50 m. por el abismo, me la puse en la espalda, clavé bien los crampones y los piolets en el hielo y empecé a subir en solitario hacia la cima. A pocos metros me encontré al “simpático» de mi compañero anclado a la reunión. Estaba paralizado y pálido, imagino que por el miedo y también por ver que yo había sobrevivido. Mi primera intención fue tirarle por el abismo, pero le dije: “si puedes, sal solo de aquí como lo voy a hacer yo”. Al final no hubo «víctimas” y así terminó la que puedo considerar mi primera aventura y posiblemente una de las más “potentes” de toda mi vida, en este caso, fuera del agua, porque buceando podría contar unas cuantas… jajaja.
- When and why did you start diving?
Being already a ski instructor, at the end of December 1987, in Sierra Nevada, I was taking a course of acrobatic ski jumps. Everything was going well until I decided to try snowboarding, which was just starting to be practiced in Spain at that time. I could have broken my neck in the jumping course. But no, it had to be on a descent with that new way of sliding down the snow: snowboarding. I took a big hit, leaving my right leg pretty badly damaged. It took me a couple of long months to recover, back in March, so at Easter, instead of giving ski lessons, because I was not quite in shape, I went on vacation to Cuba. And there, as I said at the beginning of the interview, it all started: baptism, sunken ship, sharks and fascination for diving.
- You decide to make diving your profession. When and how did you make that decision and how did you develop it?
My instructor, Alside, a Cuban blonder than a Swede, after my baptism told me: "my brother, you are going to dedicate yourself to this". I returned to Madrid, I did the diving course with the Madrid Diving Club (FEDAS), in the pool of the Triángulo de Oro, in Plaza de Castilla, with my dear instructors Luis and César. From that moment on I never stopped thinking about the diving world. I continued diving and four years later, in 1992, I decided that computers were not my thing. I looked for a place, talked to my parents, and on May 1st 1993 I opened my first dive center in Motril, Granada. (As a curious fact, I set up the center being 2*FEDAS. I became an instructor, in this case already PADI, a month later in the USA. Good thing I passed, if not, what a great plan for the business... hahaha). In 1998 I left Motril and Casco Antiguo signed me to found their diving school. And four years later, I left Casco and bought ZOEA Mazarrón and settled in that area. In 2011 I left the ZOEA brand and created a new brand: BUCEO HISPANIA, developing the business in the same place where we were.
And in December 2022 I decided that 30 seasons with dive centers was enough and sold BUCEO HISPANIA. New year, new challenges. At the end of 2022, although the strong development started already in January 2023, I created my own travel agency: KARLOS SIMÓN VIAJES Y EXPEDICIONES and that's where I am now, well we are, because Teresa, my partner, also has part of the agency.
- You have trained many recreational divers and also many instructors, people who decided to dive professionally. How do you see the diving industry today?
Yes, I don't remember well anymore, but since 93 giving courses and since 2,000 training PADI instructors, a few thousand students have passed through my hands. In 2019 I think the diving industry was in one of its best years. The bad thing is that the COVID arrived and stopped that possible stability or even possible growth. But it is true that the pandemic did not stop the industry, at least in Spain, and many businesses, many of them, held the pull and made interesting numbers even in 2020 and 2021. In 2022 everything was already very normalized and I think that in 2023 everything is as usual, although being already out of the dive center business, I can not tell you well.
If I may, I wanted to make a note about things I have seen and continue to see in this industry. I'm talking about professionalism, which I think is closely linked to dedication to the business. There are many centers and schools in Spain, but I don't know of many where you can say that the owners are true entrepreneurs. May the rest forgive me, but this is how I see and feel it. There are many cases where the same owner takes the reservations, makes courses and if he has time he does some commercial work, and this is a blunder. You can be "in the action", if that's what you like, but you can't be in everything. If you do this, something will go wrong and above all the business will not grow. And if you hurry me, the owner of the center will "die" in a few years of exhaustion or leave the dive center because of over saturation. There is business, we have a country with many possibilities but you have to know how to exploit them and that can only be achieved by being a good businessman. On the other hand, and talking about instructor training, without getting into organizations, I would change some things. On the one hand I would ask for more dives to become a dive master, I would extend this type of courses even more, both in time and form, I would ask for many more dives and above all proven practice as a dive master to be able to access the instructor course. And I would certainly change several things in this program, I would make the instructor candidates face more real situations. This would strengthen much more the figure of the instructor so that he/she could face without problems, nor fear, to a real course. And finally, I would like to make a note about the diving fairs in Spain. Please, unite all of you who organize these events and let's make a single fair in Spain to be an example in Europe. I'm willing to give ideas and to organize something very "powerful"... I'll just say that.
- You have recently taken a new turn in your life, with a new business. Tell us what motivated you and what it's all about.
Yes, as I said before, I have set up KARLOS SIMÓN VIAJES y EXPEDICIONES, an agency specialized in adventure travel, where diving is undoubtedly predominant, many of these trips with sharks, but that takes the client to many other places and also to live the trips in another way. You can travel with me to Bahamas to experience incredible sensations with sharks or Teresa and I take you to Namibia to live an adventure in 4×4, sleeping in tents on top of cars, seeing wildlife, tribes, deserts and dunes.
If you want a tailor-made trip, we can arrange it for you. For example, we are now taking many families to Costa Rica, Madagascar and Iceland. They tell us the destination, the budget and we organize the trip of a lifetime. If you are a company, we can also organize any adventure for your employees and if for example there is a couple that wants to make a different trip for their honeymoon, we are here for them. And another facet of our agency, the transformation trips or with conservation projects, but I leave it to the reader to take a look at our website...
We work in about 50 countries and we can, as our slogan says: "MAKE YOUR TRIP THE BEST ADVENTURE".
And yes, my life needed a turn. I needed to get out of the vortex of the dive center and all that it entails and live life around the world of travel. I also wanted to transform the way I do business. I now shy away from volume, as I did at the dive center. My philosophy now is "Less has to be More". Let's see what happens... And going back to our agency, we are also running away from the very conventional. We do something but we prefer different destinations, with quality and a bit higher prices, than to compete with the trips that almost everyone else does. Let's see what happens. The truth is that this year, 2023, is going well and 2024 also looks very appetizing.
- Where is your favorite dive site?
This question has several answers, it is impossible to say only one, but to not get too long, I will say four: Grand Bahama, for its dives with my beloved tiger sharks. Revillagigedo, for its great diversity, especially in large fauna. Raja Ampat, for its spectacular reef diving, for me, the best in the world. South Africa, because there is not only diving, which fascinates me, there are a thousand things to do. I love South Africa.
- What other things do you enjoy besides diving?
I used to love climbing, although I haven't practiced it for a long time. Skiing fascinates me, but I have to practice it more. So much travel does not leave me much time, the truth. Doing routes with our Harley "Electra", a joy to ride this "iron". I love to travel, but it's still my job, so it's not worth ... hahaha. And the image, both under and above the water. Producing a documentary or a series fascinates me and is something I should do more of. Let's see if by the end of 2023 we can show you a new project we're working on...
- One book/author
I'm giving a home run: Dealing with sharks with Karlos Simón, not because it tells my adventures during 30 years with the "tibus" but because of the way it is written. The author is my great friend Alfonso Mateo-Sagasta, a genius, you have to read this book and all his works!
- One song/performer
Doctor Doctor de Michael Schenker Group, la versión en directo que se grabó en Japón, en el Budokan, el 12 de agosto de 1981. Aunque podría meter otra que me «flipa»: Thunderstruck de AC/DC ¡Brutal!
- One meal
The ice cream, but if we have to say food, a good Spanish omelette.
- A historical character
Jean Michel Cousteau.
- Something that is special to you
Undoubtedly, family and true friends. If you add to that that they accompany you and support you in all your crazy things and projects. You can't ask for more. And another thing... You must never stop believing, and it is not because of the Real Madrid phrase, although I am very madridista. You always have to believe in yourself and keep fighting until the end to get what you want, to achieve your dream.
And I'll leave you with my favorite quote, although you didn't ask me for a quote....
It says: "The future belongs to those able to see beyond the horizon."
