A DIVER who drowned at a disused quarry in North Wales "was much loved and had a love for life," his friends and family said last night.
They paid glowing tributes to Jason Dean, of Earlston Road, Wallasey, who died on Saturday after failing to surface from the Dorothea Quarry in Snowdonia.
Mr Dean, 31, a civil engineer who worked in Liverpool, was expected to surface from the former slate quarry at around 11.30am.
His body was found at 4.30pm on Sunday. He was the seventh person to lose his life there in the past two years.
Last night his devastated solicitor girlfriend Hayley Yates, 27, said in a statement: "To describe Jay would be to say he was a guy who was honest, vibrant, loved life, and always thought of others.
"He was a free spirit who was adored by everyone who knew him. He was very clear, level-headed and able to take on anything.
"He touched so many lives and enhanced them and he died as he lived life, always on the go, full of energy and full of adventure."
Mr Dean was one of five divers from Wirral who planned a dive to about 30-35 metres.
The group had originally intended to dive off the Welsh coast but were forced to cancel because of the bad weather.
They split into two groups - Mr Dean diving with a friend while three others were diving in another part of the quarry.
