My parents introduced me to diving the summer I turned seven. Dad and a partner had a compressor, so we were self sufficient, no training agencies necessary. They were professional educators, and experienced adventurers, so I never felt under trained for our dives. Until striking out on my own, summers were filled with lake and river exploration in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.
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8th B-day with Dad at |
Only after moving to Kauai did I have the opportunity to get back into diving, finally certified in May of 1992. After the post Iniki (9/11/92) Hurricane sale at Poipu Divers exploring the caverns at Tunnels Reef on Kauai's North Shore became my favorite pastime. Eventually, Iniki blew me to Maui where the family photography bug was rekindled! My exploration of Makena and Molokini caused me to dream of making the marine world my office and photography my passion.
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Free dive stunt,
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Moving near Monterey Bay put me in COLD water, with frequent toxic algae blooms, convincing me to focus on surface activities. I attempted to whale and dolphin watch in my little Catalina 22, but most of my good pictures were from the charter boats. At the end of 2000 I got back on track to move back to Maui and make the ocean my career. Going to Key Largo for my dive instructor training allowed me to learn from and interact with many excellent dive professionals. Those that aren't “Legends” should be, and I am fortunate to have them as my mentors. The highlight was 16 rebreather photo dives where I verified that without bubbles marine animals are much friendlier.
Relocating to the North Shore of Oahu shortly after 9/11/01, I invested in and worked for a “crazy inventor”, Greg Hunter. HeadHunter Helmets produced head mounted camera systems used in skydiving, motor sports, water sports and survelance. AirSea Services marketed Greg's boat captaining, commercial diving and dive medic skills, as well as SCUBA, skydiving and ultralight instruction. The JetSub was the project I really signed on for, a submersible boat/wet sub with possible applications in commercial, recreational and military diving, to name a few. Greg passed away before we brought the Jetsub to production but I learned a lot from him and hope someday to finish his dream.
Deep Ecology/North Shore Diving Headquarters, in Haleiwa, is where I cut my teeth as a dive professional. My 3 years with Deep Ecology allowed me to guide and photograph most of the dive sites on Oahu, with summers on the North Shore, as well as regular diving from nearly every dive charter boat on the island. After over 7 years I finally returned to Maui, moving back to Kihei June '05. Wailea, Makena and Molokini are my home waters once again, shore diving with Maui Ultra Dive and boat diving with Prodiver Maui. Intro dives, certifications, scooter dives, underwater photography and head mounted video, Molokini and the South coast. Maui is No Ka Oi.