I'm Rob Bower, a registered Professional Engineer in Civil Engineering and a working commercial diver. I am the CEO of Octodive, a commercial diving company based in Saldanha Bay, South Africa, specialising in in-water hull cleaning, propeller polishing, underwater inspections, and ship husbandry.
There are not many people who hold both a Pr Eng registration and a commercial diving qualification. That combination is the whole point. I understand vessels and underwater structures as an engineer, and I work on them as a diver. This page is my professional profile, for fleet managers, port operators, and anyone who wants to know the experience standing behind the work.
Credentials: Pr Eng (Professional Engineer, Civil), registered with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA)
Also Qualified As: Commercial Diver
Current Role: CEO, Octodive (octodive.com)
Specialisation: In-water hull cleaning, underwater ship husbandry, marine civil work
Based in: Saldanha Bay, Western Cape, South Africa
Background: Underwater ship husbandry experience including Envirohull
Industry Experience: Decades of hands-on South African marine civil and commercial diving work
Most commercial diving companies are run by divers. Most marine engineering is signed off by engineers who never get in the water. The gap between those two worlds is where mistakes happen, and where I have spent my career.
As a registered Professional Engineer in Civil Engineering, I understand load, structure, corrosion, and how marine assets behave over time. As a commercial diver, I do the work itself, in the water, on the hull, at the propeller, on the mooring. When I inspect a vessel or a structure, I am not relaying observations to an engineer to interpret later. I am the engineer, underwater, reading the structure directly.
For a fleet manager or a class surveyor, that matters. It means the inspection report, the cleaning method, and the engineering judgement all come from the same source, with no information lost in translation.
"An engineer who dives sees things a diver alone cannot, and reaches places an engineer alone never will. That is the standard I built Octodive on." — Rob Bower, Pr Eng
My career has run through South African marine civil work for decades, on the engineering side and in the water. Before Octodive, my work included underwater ship husbandry with Envirohull, whose focus was sustainable in-water hull cleaning and husbandry.
That experience shaped how I think about this industry now. Sustainable ship husbandry is not a marketing line for me. It is the practical reality that biofouling, fuel efficiency, and environmental compliance are the same problem viewed from different angles. A fouled hull burns more fuel, costs the operator money, and the cleaning method itself can either protect or harm the marine environment depending on how it is done.
That is why Octodive uses closed-loop, full-capture cleaning systems that contain debris rather than releasing it into the water. It is the approach I believe the industry has to move toward, and it is built on the husbandry experience I carried in.
At Octodive, I lead a team that keeps commercial vessels compliant, fuel-efficient, and operational without the cost and downtime of dry-docking. Alongside our GM, Andre Schoeman, every project is run directly by experienced operators, carried out to strict safety standards, and fully documented for fleet managers and class societies.
The work I personally oversee includes:
In-Water Hull Cleaning Non-abrasive, full-capture cleaning that protects anti-fouling coatings and cuts drag, done while the vessel stays in the water.
Underwater Inspections and Surveys Hull inspections, mooring surveys, and IACS-certified UWILD with full CCTV reporting, where my engineering registration carries real weight.
Commercial Diving and Repairs Certified diving for Broco cutting, blanking, valve work, and search and recovery.
In-Water Hull Cleaning and Biofouling Management I manage non-abrasive, closed-loop hull cleaning that removes biofouling while protecting coatings and capturing debris.
Underwater Inspection and UWILD I lead IACS-certified Underwater Inspection in Lieu of Dry-docking, backed by engineering judgement and full CCTV documentation.
Marine Civil Engineering As a Pr Eng (Civil), I assess marine structures, moorings, and underwater assets for condition, load, and integrity.
Commercial Diving Operations I plan and supervise commercial dive operations to strict safety standards, including cutting, valve work, and recovery.
Fuel Efficiency and Emissions Reduction I help operators cut fuel consumption and emissions by keeping hulls clean and propellers polished between dry-dockings.
Documented Compliance Reporting I produce the documented records fleet managers and class societies rely on, written with an engineer's precision.
In a safety-critical industry, credentials should be verifiable, not just claimed.
ECSA Registration: My Professional Engineer (Pr Eng) registration can be verified directly with the Engineering Council of South Africa.
Octodive: octodive.com, our Saldanha Bay commercial diving and in-water hull cleaning company.
LinkedIn: my professional profile, listing my engineering registration, commercial diving background, and ship husbandry experience.
If you manage a fleet, run a port, or are responsible for a vessel calling at a South African port, the combination of engineering judgement and in-water capability is exactly what I have built my career, and Octodive, around.