I loved the technical side of cave diving, and feel that training was the best SCUBA training I ever received. I was lucky enough to dive with and be trained by both Tom Mount and Sheck Exley, and am honored to be listed in his book "Caverns Measureless to Man" as one of his many dive buddies.

As a college student I was chairman of a diving committee that explored the "Lost Sea" for a period of 2 years. The "Lost Sea" is in the Guiness Book of World Records as being the largest underground lake in the world. We explored the underwater caves that extended off from the lake, this was a very intense experience for me. We worked in conjunction with cave divers from the US Geological Survey and some good science was done there. I presented our findings at the annual meeting of NACD in 1976.

The Lost Sea had never before been explored by divers and we were all very proud to be the first explorers there in the underwater caves. Exploring, mapping and installing hundreds of feet of exploratory line in a virgin cave system is the pinnacle of any cave explorers' career.

I moved to Grand Cayman in my early 20's and worked as an instructor and divemaster there for a total of about 5 years. Diving 2-3 times daily and some days as many times as 4 dives daily. I logged over 1200 dives while there.

Missing the technical diving I decided to join the US Navy's Special Operations officer community. I attended Naval Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI and the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center's diving officer course in Panama City Beach, FL. I became qualified as a hyperbaric chamber operator/supervisor as well as a ship salvage diving officer for the United States Navy and was assigned to fleet operations.

The most interesting thing I participated in was the salvage of the CSS Cumberland which was rammed by the USS Virginia (AKA Merrimac) during the battle of Hampton Roads during the civil war. The ram was broken off of the Virginia during that clash. In 1985 the Secretary of the Navy ordered a team of us to locate and salvage the ram from the Virginia. We located the ship, lots of artifacts but not the ram.

I learned a tremendous amount about underwater salvage, surface supplied diving, diving physics and physiology, as well as hyperbaric chamber operations. I was trained to diagnose and treat DCS. This experience was one of the best I have ever had in terms of personal development, self-discipline, and diving knowledge.

I was assigned to the USS Spiegel Grove, LSD-32 for a while in order to earn my Surface Warfare qualifications. It has been a great experience having served on the ship and then diving on her after she was sunk to be an artificial reef near Key Largo, Florida.

After the Navy I supervised and dived with a dive crew rebulding the underwater supports for a couple of large bridges around the Chesapeake Bay. Diving surface supplied rigs in river currents, cold water with 0 visibility paid well but was usually not any fun.

From 1991-1995 I was the Controller/Business Manager of a Marine Science education facility in the Florida Keys after completing my Post Graduate education in accounting. This is a $5 million/year IRS 501 C 3 non-profit company specializing in Marine Science education for kids up through the age of 18. I was responsible for all the accounting functions of the business as well as ensuring federal tax returns and other statutory requirements were met. Each year my books were audited by a large accounting firm based in Miami and each year we were given a good review. This experience is what helped me be a succesful treasurer for the NACD for a period of 17 months.

From 1995 thru 1999 I  worked as a submersible pilot, pilot trainer, and offshore operations manager for Voyager Submarines, Hawaii. I also trained all the divers to rescue the subs should they become stranded on the bottom. These submarines are 78 feet long weigh in at 100 tons and carry 51 people. We carried visitors to our subs down to 150 feet to look at the reef and the fish!

From 2000 thru 2005 I owned & operated Florida Keys Reef-Divers on Cudjoe Key, 21 miles from Key West, FL. I trained and certified hundreds of divers during my tenure at Reef-Divers from Open Water to full trimix.

I was involved in extended range diving and was certified as a trimix instructor. We were diving a good bit out at the USS Wilkes-Barre which is a 610 foot long navy light cruiser. She lies in 250 feet and we are doing our dives there on mixed gases consisting Helium, Oxygen & Nitrogen.

In 2005 I renewed my Cave instructor status with the NACD after many years of not teaching cave diving. I missed cave diving but the places I lived and dived had no cave diving to offer and I let my NACD instructor status lapse. In 2006 I completed my certification as a NSS-CDS full cave instructor. These days I am training cave divers through the IANTD, NSS-CDS, NACD, and TDI both for entry level cave diving as well as deep trimix cave diving. I served on the NACD Board of Directors for 17 months in the position of Secretary/Treasurer.

Additional duties I have assumed with the NSS-CDS include being the Safety Officer and a member of the training committee.

I am also a Technical Cave Instructor Trainer for the IANTD and train cave and other levels of instructors in addition to cave divers.

It will be my pleasure to help you discover the beautiful caves and caverns here in North Florida.