Cool-headed Scot Allasdair Stewart saved his instructor and was rewarded by seeing his wife alive the next day.
The deadly wave struck as he was exploring a coral reef off Phi Phi Island in Thailand.
He said: 'We must have travelled 30 metres in seconds.
'We had to surface. My instructor was terrified and screaming for help. I managed to remain calm and kept talking to her.'
His heroism was mmatched by his fortune as he was reunited with his wife, optician Gill, 50, who had set up a makeshift medical centre on their hotel's roof.
Andrew Zilouf
Scuba Scot to the Rescue
A Scots scuba diver rescued his instructor from drowning as the tsunami wave raced over them.
