[Jason Blackwell]

Denz was a big man in many ways.

We always had a laugh and a joke when he called into the shop with his lovely Emma.

He spent a lot of his earlier time up on the GBR working on the liveaboards….pics of him even made it into a few international dive magazines.

RIP mate.

Emma if there is anything we can do for you, please just ask.

Cheers from all your mates here at Dive Dive Dive

[Marc]

I am absolutely speechless and very sad. My condoleances to all his family and friends. I'll miss you Denz!

[wizbang]

Kim and I are heart stricken. For us it is a loss so sudden it stupefies.
A big man that has helped fill our hearts, a man that knows how to have a laugh. The depth of our loss seems insurmountable.

To Denz's family, Emma and all those that loved the big man, our thoughts are with you.

[Chris]

Heart broken, can't believe the big man has gone.
Thankful we had some laughs and a beer on the weekend.
God speed old mate, we will all miss you so much.

Chriso

[bendomatic]

No! No! No!

my heart is struggling with this. this is the worst to wake up to. oh em, i feel most for you. today is hard, really hard to go on. steve, cd, chriso have lots of drinks for me. :hugs:

miss you denz

rachel

[nl_carey]

It took me three tries to get the strength up just to hit the reply button.

Emma, CD, Steve, Chriso - thinking of you now. I hope we can get together soon.

What a amazing shame. He was one of those singular people you meet that are simply valuable human beings.

[MrClive]

oh my god, i have just logged on for the first time in days and i cant believe what i have just read.. denz picked me up from the airport when i first came to perth a few weeks ago, offered me a place to stay, and was honestly the best.. i was having a chat to him on thursday at a bar with a few other members from this comunity, and was really good to be there, to me, denz was full of life, always happy and as i said, the best, will miss you terrible mate, RIP

[DeepBlueInnovation]

For anyone in the Perth area who would like to join us in raising a glass to Denz, we are meeting tomorrow night (Thursday), 6:30pm at the Oxford hotel in Leederville. It seems appropriate as that was where a few of us gathered with him last week.

If anyone who can't make it would like to send a story to be read amongst his friends on their behalf then please message SADave, Wiz, Steve, or myself.

Ben.

[miridiver]

Shocking news, still cannot believe it is true.
RIP Tall Guy. We will miss you mate!
My condolences to Emma, your family and friends.

Laurent

[sadave]

What can I say... Denz was like a brother to me, he was the family member I always wished I had.

I first met Denz via Diveoz in 2002, he and Tine were doing a round Australia trip in their campervan, I responded to their post on diveoz asking for help re diving in South Australia. A coupla months later, I got a phone call, and I didn't even remember responding to his post. It took Denz 5 minutes to convince me that I'd given him my number, and promised to take him diving.
Figured I'd better come good on my promise, so agreed to meet them in one of my local pubs. It was a bar named Shenanigans. Little did I know that by the end of the night, I'd invite them to stay at my place, that they would stay at my place for two weeks, and we'd end up completely inseperable buddies for the next 5 years...

Shenanigans became a bit of a theme, there are three Shenanigans bars in Australia, Adelaide, Cairns, and Darwin. We've been completely ****ed up in all three of them, along with many other spots along the way. Nights in Cairns where we drank all the beer we could drink, till we could drink no more, the switched to Long Island Ice Teas... After one of those nights, Denz fell out of bed. Do you think that Emma (5'0) and myself (5'8 on a good day) could get 120kg of 6'10 dutchman back into his bed? he slept on the floor that night...

I could wax lyrical forever about some of our adventures, damn we've had some fun times. I just can't believe he's gone.

It's amazing how sometimes things work out. I was supposed to be cave diving in South Australia last weekend. For reasons that I still don't know, my buddy for the weekend had to cancel. I was thinking about options, thought about Townsville and the Yongala, Vanuatu and the Coolidge, a road trip to the Solitaries and SWR, etc etc etc, and finally decided on heading to Perth. I booked the flights 4 hours before I left. It was that spur of the moment. I'm so unbelievably glad I did. Stayed at Wiz's place the first two nights, while Denz was doing work shit, then stayed at Denz's place from Thurs morn till Mon morning, had a great time, catching up with Wiz, Steve, Chriso, as well as meeting quite a few new faces from Rebreather World, and spending heaps of time with Denz. Got a great big Denz-sized hug from him when he dropped me at the airport monday morning. When I got home Monday night, I texted Denz, Steve, Chriso, and Wiz, saying thanks for the great time, and I'll see you guys sooner rather than later.

Well, unfortunately, I'm back already, wasn't even in Brisbane for 48 hours. I flew back to Perth this morning with Emma (Denz's fiance). Currently sitting in Wiz's lounge room, having spent the day (apart from the flight time) with Emma trying to start sorting autopsies, repatriation, etc etc etc out... Hasn't been a fun day.

I'll be there at the pub tomorrow night, everyone in Perth, please come out to pay your respects, and as Denz would wish, have a laugh in his memory.

When I'm back at home, I'll post some pics. In the meantime, if anyone has any pics of him, please feel free to post them. I've got to admit, I didn't sleep a minute last night, I tried to go to bed four times, each time I stayed there awake for an hour, then gave up. I spent the night watching the dvd's of our time together on Nimrod, and all the piccies on my computer of him.

Denz, you were like a brother to me, Rest In Peace mate!