It was in a small quarry in 1968 that Volker Clausen got his first impressions of diving. Immediately hooked on the feeling of being in this new and amazing environment, within the year he had completed his basic diver training. Still living in his home town of Freiburg, southern Germany he did not know what his new hobby had in store for his future. Finishing his apprenticeship as an insurance broker, he quickly decided to enroll in a practical vocation. Actively diving in his spare time Volker completed another apprenticeship in mechanical engineering. Things were all about to change.

Receiving confirmation that his job application was successful Volker found himself on the way to the Caspian Sea where he was going to be active as a commercial diver laying an oil pipeline for diving contractor Babkok. Volker remembers these as two fanastic and very interesting years.

Quiet times followed, but Volker was still passionately spending all of his spare time diving. In 1984 a chance meeting with Horst Linder, the owner of a large resort in Turkey, would see Volker again packing his suitcase and his diving equipment and heading off over the Bosporous to Kusadasi to set-up and run the hotel's diving operation. The following three years saw Volker diving constantly. During the summer season in Turkey whilst running the diving centre, and jobbing as a guide and instructor in the Maldives during the winter. It was during these winter season's that Volker was introduced to the wonders of tropical reefs with their abundant and vibrantly coloured fish. With his savings from the job on the Caspian Sea and his now many years of experience Volker opened his first diving centre in Kas in 1988.

In 1991 he was visited by a group of divers, one of which was Wolfgang Thaler. This Bavarian, who was just as dynamic and enterprising as Volker became good friends immediately. Evenings were spent dicussing new destinations and the possibility of opening a new dive centre together. At the same time Volker again had a chance meeting with Manfred Balzer, the owner of the then already established Air Aqua travel agency and Barakuda training organisation. Manfred was looking for an experienced instructor/manager to set-up a new centre in Hurghada. " I was earning good money in Kas, but everything was running smoothly. I needed another challenge and Hurghada seemed the perfect opportunity" recalls Volker. Wolfgang and Volker got on the next plane to Hurghada to check out the location. At that time Hurghada was a sleepy little fishing village where tourism was still in its infancy.
Volkers love of the Arabic culture and countries, from his days in Iran was the reason for him saying yes to this opportunity right away.

Air Aqua with Volker's support was busy setting up the new diving centre in the Lotus Bay Resort, Safaga. At the same time Wolfgang and Volker were signing the contract for their new centre in the hotel Hurghada Beach Resort. In search of a powerful name for this new centre they came up with Orca, and the first Orca Dive Club was born.

Travelling between Kas, Hurghada, Safaga and Munich was becoming very strenuous. The decision was taken that Wolfgang would take control of the operations in Germany and Volker would concentrate on the diving operations. Meanwhile Air Aqua was opening another diving centre in the new Menaville Hotel, Safaga. Volker now saw himself running the centres in Hurghada, Safaga and Kas, and this was becoming too much for one person. Due to the fact that the operation was concentrating more and more on the Red Sea the decision was taken to sell the Kas operation.

Having the time now to fully develop the potential of the Red Sea operation, Volker looked at offering another product to the range of services already on offer. During this time there were only a few centres offering divers the possibility of visiting the Red Sea's rich wreck heritage. These pioneers guarded the position of such famous vessels like the "Thistlegorm" as if it were a matter of national security. However Volker's contact with the old fishermen led him to get the position of what is now probably the world's most dived wreck as well as finding other greats like the "Rosalie Moller". "This has to be my favourite Red Sea wreck" remarks Volker, "I still remember finding her, and I must have been one of the first to dive her, descending on to that Titanic-style bow is just as exhilarating today as it was back then." Orca Dive Clubs were then one of the few operators offering dedicated wreck tours.

In 1992 saw Orca expanding from a small travel agency to one of europe's largest diving travel operators and Volker was a shareholder. Orca now wanted to develop their product by expanding into worldwide destinations. Volker led many expeditions to such exotic destinations as Sudan and Cape Verde islands on board the liveaboard ship MS Polar. To Costa Rica to dive the Cocos Islands onboard the motoryacht Pollux, as well as many other destinations. This rolling stone was therefore travelling between the Red Sea and the rest of the globe.

In 1995 Volker needed another new project to develop, and this is when the Orca Dive Club Safaga was born. Located in a then undeveloped sheltered bay directly next to the hotels Lotus Bay and Menaville, Volker built the dive club. The newly erected dive facility opened its doors in October. The first visitors stayed in the neigbouring hotels, but due to the excellent facility Volker had built, and the beauty of the undeveloped bay, it became necessary to offer accommodation next to the dive club. Finding local partners to build the first guest rooms, Volker was able to offer accommodation in the newly opened Orca Village in 1996. The concept of dive club and resort being all in one was very popular and in 1997 the original eight bungalows had to be increased. By 1999 the Village capacity was 20 bungalows.

At the end of the 90's diving was moving into a new era, and Volker was one of the first dive operators to offer guests the possibility of using Nitrox and Trimix to safely extend their range. In spring of 1999 Volker took the decision to offer training using rebreathers. Equipped with 6 Dräger Dolphin SCR the Orca Dive Club was at the forefront of the rebreather revolution. This technical expansion was quickly followed a year later when Volker started offering training on the Buddy Inspiration CCR, and by 2002 the Dive Club was equipped with four of these units offering visiting tekkies the option of renting the rebreathers or partaking in training on them. The Orca Dive Club Safaga is now considered to be one of the leading technical and rebreather diving facilities in the Red Sea.

Extreme personalities and extreme diving seem to attract each other, people who look at pushing their limits and the limits of mankind also have great mutual understanding of each other. This is highlighted at the Orca Dive Clubs as Volker Clausen is constantly striving to set new standards. With the facility in Safaga, Orca has gained the reputation of being able to handle events however large or small. With numerous european and world records being set on the reefs off Safaga. The German apnoea/freediving champion Benjamin Franz used the Orca Dive Clubs facility in Safaga regularly not only to train but also to break records. Whilst setting a new world record in the discipline variable weight Franz got into conversations with Volker. Through these conversations Volker developed a plan to set his own world record and in august 2003 together with Manfred FÜhrmann and Chris Uhlmann they descended to the incredible depth of 224.5m on Trimix with the Buddy Inspiration CCR.

After such a extreme dive some would think that Volker would take things a bit easier or relax a little. Not Volker! Still to be seen regularly diving his rebreather, he's not a man to rest on his laurels. This energetic, enthusiastic and passionate individual is still highly active within the diving industry, constantly striving to set new standards. This can be seen up and down the Red Sea coast where he has been developing new dive clubs in Dahab, El Gouna, Abu Dabab, Hamata in the deep south and the latest enterprise in the prestigous resort destination of Soma Bay. If you ask him about what he thinks about giving it all up you will hear an emphatic " No there's still so much to be done".

This will definitely not be the last project Volker has planned. The future will see this man leading his company forward and into new areas of development in the Red Sea and beyond.