Dr Christian Lambertsen: Father of U.S. Combat Swimming & SCUBA

Christian J Lambertsen, born May 15, 1917 in Westfield, New Jersey played a pivotal rule in the history of diving. He has been called the "Father of American Scuba" and is considered by the US Navy to be the "Father of the Frogmen." He was credited for developing the US Navy Frogmen's rebreathers in the 1940's for use in underwater warfare. His concept first came to life in 1939 while working for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). His equipment was the first to be called SCUBA, the wartime code (More)

Dr Christian Lambertsen

Doug Fane: One of the Originators of UDT Demolitions

Doug Fane was born in Aberdeen Scotland November 16th 1909. His father drowned when he was young. He immigrated to the United States in 1911 and became a Natural Citizen in 1934. Doug was involved with the Merchant Marine at the young age of 16. He worked himself up to a rating of Master in the US Merchant Marine from 1936 to 1940. He joined the Naval Reserves and received a JG Commission in 1940. Fane served on various vessels and saw combat action in various hot spots during the (More)

Doug Fane

René Bussoz: Founder of US Divers

René was the son of a famous French inventor of the slot machine at the end of the 19th century. His family had moved to Paris in search of employment and René was born in the "City of Lights" on March 15, 1906. René lived with his parents and older sister until he was 22 years old. A gifted student, he easily passed the entrance exam at the (More)

René Bussoz

Andreas Rechnitzer: Legendary Trieste Proponent

Dr. Andreas "Andy" Rechnitzer was a visionary in diving with many credits, including a record dive in 1960 of 35,800 feet to the bottom of the Marianas Trench. Dr. Rechnitzer was an advisor and held high positions in the U.S. Navy Department. He and Conrad Limbaugh pioneered the use of scuba diving in ocean science and in 1951 coauthored the very first scientific diving manual. It was the first civilian scuba training curriculum and safety rules. He died at the age of 80 as a friend and legend in diving. (More)

Andy Rechnitzer

Ted Eldred : First Commercially Successful Single Hose Regulator

Ted Eldred was born in Melbourne, Australia on December 20, 1920. Having grown up by the sea, he spent much of his time as a young boy at the beach and swimming in the waters around his home of Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne. Ted started snorkeling and spear fishing as soon as mask and fins became available, and this early (More)

Ted Eldred

Conrad Limbaugh: One of the first to Dive with Research

Conrad Limbaugh was born in Chicago, Illinois on June 28, 1924. The family moved to Long Beach California in 1925. Limbaugh began skin diving when he was a teenager along the coast of Laguna Beach, Corona del Mar, and Palos Verdes. The face plate that he used was made of a coffee can and a piece of glass. This is when George MacGinitie of the Kerckhoff Marine Lab introduced Limbaugh to the taxonomic classification of marine organisms. In 1942 Limbaugh was called up for military service and in (More)

Conrad Limbaugh

Jim Stewart: Pioneer and Early Dive Expert

James Stewart was born in 1927 and his diving career began before there was scuba. In 1941 at the age of 14 in La Jolla Cove in San Diego, California James first borrowed a friend's mask and put his head under water and started free diving. This is when free diving and spear fishing soon replaced swimming and surfing. He quickly became a very accomplished free diving spear fisherman as a junior in high school. The following year became a life guard. James was drafted in the final year of World War II and went (More)

Jim Stewart

Hugh Bradner: Inventor of the Wet Suit

Undersea divers would still be shivering and facing a high risk for hypothermia if it weren't for Hugh Bradner, inventor of the first wetsuit. Bradner, a renowned physicist and professor emeritus at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography died May 5, 2008, in San Diego after a prolonged illness. He was 92. Bradner had a lifelong passion for the ocean. He enjoyed diving and sailing and was one of the first Americans to make a deep-water SCUBA dive. In 1951, while working at University of California, (More)

Hugh Bradner

Carl Brashear: First Black Navy Diver, Master Diver & Master Chief

Carl Brashear came from humble beginnings which gave no hint of the significant course his life would later take. Carl was the sixth of eight children born to a share cropper in rural Tonieville, Kentucky on January 19, 1931. Despite the fact that their home did not have electricity or running water, Brashear remembered a very happy childhood. The children found (More)

Carl Brashear

Ed Cargile: Research Diver With Full Background

Ed Cargile successfully combined engineering, management, marketing and communications to provide services as a company executive, program manager, project engineer, deep submersible pilot, and commercial and military diver. His communication skills include being a writer, newsletter and magazine editor/publisher, still photographer, video cameraman, video and film producer, and lecturer. He has considerable experience in several different areas --- ocean technology, electronics, computers, plastics,  (More)

Ed Cargile

Walt Deas : Underwater Cameraman & Producer of Early Reef Documentaries

One of the most notable divers who would come to promote the Australian reefs actually haled from the much colder land of Scotland, at the time not noted for producing divers. Walter Deas was born in Monifieth, Scotland in 1933. He taught himself to swim at the age of 14, the same age he left school. His parents believed he was on school trips, but in reality young Walt was touring around Scotland (More)

Walt Deas

Ricou Browning: Actor, Director, "The Gill Man"

Ricou Browning was born February 16, 1930 in Jensen Beach, Fla. While attending high school he worked for Newton Parry, operator of Wakulla Springs, as a lifeguard, swimmer and diver in water shows. Newt taught him, his brother, and others how to swim underwater using an air hose. This was before scuba was available. The brothers would go down to the bottom of the spring 80 feet and then would swim up under the glass bottom boats. The captain of the boat would ask for quarters to be thrown on the glass (More)

Ricou Browning

Jordan Klein: Camera Housings, Movie Mogul

It was his love affair with the ocean and his father leaving that caused Jordan’s migration from his birth place of Cleveland, Ohio to Miami Beach, Florida. The year was 1925 and Jordan Klein relocated at the tender age of three. He attended school at Miami Beach Elementary then went on to Lindsey Hopkins Tech High in Miami. It was at this time he developed a fascination with what made things work topside and underwater. Self-taught, he gained all his engineering knowledge on his own. Klein became very well (More)

Jordan Klein

Mel Fisher: Treasure Hunter and Dive Shop Owner

Every diver has heard the famous cry "Today's the day!" This was the battle cry of the most famous treasure hunter in diving. "We've found the Mother Lode!" These slogans became a part of every diver's vocabulary. This can be attributed largely to one man, Mel Fisher, who devoted his life to the quest for gold, riches, and sunken Spanish Ships. He lived every diver's dream. It is believed that Mel Fisher, who was born in Hobart, Indiana in 1922, read Treasure Island as a boy and it always served as inspiration (More)

Mel Fisher

Chuck Nicklin: Photographer and Dive Business Owner

An underwater film pioneer and dive business entrepreneur made the best of his first visit to the ocean, Chuck Nicklin went diving with a borrowed mask. From there he has had a storied dive career in underwater photography, filmmaking and the retail side of diving. Nicklin has learned from some of the best over his 60 years. His training began with the earliest of dive legends Jim Stewart, Connie Limbaugh, and Ron Church. And he has worked alongside the legends of diving, Al Giddings, Jacques Cousteau, Lloyd Bridges, (More)

Chuck Nicklin

Sam Davison Jr: Founder and President of DACOR

For those of us that grew up in the Midwest, the name DACOR meant "family." it was a company of "divers for divers." Throughout Sam Davison's life, his experience in Guam is what drove him and his famous company DACOR. His contributions to the sport are endless. Sam Davison Jr. was a US Marine that spent considerable time in the South Pacific during the Second World War. His time on the island of Guam changed his life and gave him images that he would never forget. He and his fellow Marines discovered a (More)

Sam Davison Jr

Chuck Blakeslee: Skin Diver Magazine Founder

I was born October 29, 1925, in Manitou, Oklahoma, where I lived for my first five years. I spent most of my growing up and school years in southwestern Missouri near Joplin and Neosho, first attending a one-room school house. Frog Pond, with approximately thirty students from first through the eighth grade. My father was a telegraph and station operator on an oil pipeline. We moved to southern California when I was thirteen. I attended Lynwood, CA, and Clearwater, CA, junior high schools, then Compton (More)

Chuck Blakeslee

Ellsworth Boyd: Shipwreck Researcher, Author

Ellsworth Boyd has been writing his Wreck Facts column for 27 years, informing, researching and updating divers on shipwreck discoveries and issues throughout the world. His column first appeared in Skin Diver Magazine and later in Underwater USA, Clive Cussler's NUMA News, Sport Diver Magazine, and now Northeast and Northwest Dive News. (More)

Ellsworth Boyd

Dr. R.W. Hamilton: Breathing Gases, Gas Tables and effects of Pressure

Dr. R.W. Hamilton, known affectionately as "Billy Bob" to his beloved wife and friends, was born in Midland, Texas on June 6, 1930. He was inquisitive as a child and pushed everything to the limit. This proved true with his education, as well. He studied at the University of Texas, earning a Liberal Arts degree. Hamilton then received a master's (More)

Dr. R.W. Hamilton

Dick Rutkowski: Proponent of Hyperbaric Medicine & Mixed Breathing Gases

Dick Rutkowski helped change the course of modern diving through his continued efforts to test and promote the use of mixed gases, such as Nitrox & Trimix.  His work eventually helped develop tech diving and clinical hyperbaric medicine as we know it today.   (More)

Dick Rutkowski

Al Tillman: Dive Pioneer, Instructor, Promoter, UNEXSO

Born in Los Angeles, California, in 1928, Al Tillman took his first plunge into the water off the Palos Verdes beach with only a pair of goggles and the desire to see what was beneath the blue water. He was only 10 years old and this love of the ocean led to 65 years of diving as a free diver and later as a scuba diver leading the diving industry. After serving in World War II with the Coast Guard, he went to work for L.A. County as Sports Director. Al and his head lifeguard Bev Morgan were very much interested in (More)

Al Tillman

Bev Morgan: Inventor and Dive Helmet Manufacturer

Surf legend, Dale Velzy, also known as "the Hawk," recalls Bev Morgan arriving from L.A. in 1949 stating that he wanted to learn how to surf. By surfing for days on end and observing others, Bev became a great surfer. Bev learned about fiberglass by obtaining a job at North American Aircraft and became Velzy's first glasser using a sun cure resin. Bev Morgan invited Velzy to join him in his pursue of the growing diving market, including the sale of rubber wetsuits, however, Velzy declined the offer stating (More)

Bev Morgan

Bill and Bob Meistrell: Male Instructor Number One

One would think that the Legends of the wetsuit would have come from California. This is not the case, though, as Bill and his twin brother, Bob Meistrell, came from Booneville, MO. Bill, being the oldest, was born before midnight, and Bob was born afterwards. Throughout life, Bob would always call and kid his twin brother, Bill, about being a day older. They started their diving in a pond with a homemade five gallon
vegetable oil can and a bicycle pump. They chewed the asphalt from the street to make it soft so they (More)

Bob Meistrell

Mike Nelson (LLoyd Bridges): TV Hero Among Divers, Defender of Good

Mike Nelson was the idol of every child in the US and Canada in the early 60's. Every kid wanted to be like Mike, don diving gear, and explore the undersea world depicted on the beloved series Sea Hunt. Played by Lloyd Bridges, Mike was bigger than life. He was an ex-Frogman and military man with connections throughout the world. His friends called him Bud. The series opened with that eerie music and Mike putting on that familiar Johnny Mac Browne surface air mask at Marineland. Mike was amazing. He could rescue a  (More)

Mike Nelson

Courtney Brown: Stunt man, Photographer, & DIVING OPERATIONS SUPERVISOR

Courtney Brown, known to the diving community as a first rate stunt man and underwater photographer, was born on June 22, 1931 in Buffalo, New York and grew up in the Brentwood area of California. His introduction to diving came early through an older brother, as well as a very good friend named Parry Bivens. Courtney borrowed Parry’s dive gear and eventually was certified as a diver in the LA area. Parry and Courtney became close friends and would remain so throughout their lives. One summer night Parry met the girl of his dreams on a blind date with two other couples (More)

Courtney Brown

Big John McLaughlin: Movie Double, Stunt Diver, Engineering Test Diver

Deep Sea Diver, Stunt Diver, Marine Engineer, Underwater Cinematographer, Marine Mammal Trainer, Guardian of the Sea, Coast Guard Certified Master Diver, Demolitions Instructor, Deep Water Salvage for the U.S. Navy…the list goes on and on. It is impossible to categorize him for the thing he is probably best known for: Hollywood underwater stuntman. His business card says it best: “License to Thrill.” Big John was born in Charleston, South Carolina on January 27, 1927. At a young age he knew that he wanted  (More)

John McLaughlin

Gustav Dalla Valle: Co-Founder of SCUBAPRO

Gustav Dalla Valle was born in the Northern part of Italy to royalty. His father was a count who made a fortune in the silk business. In his younger years Gustav was fascinated by the sea, and started to free dive in the Mediterranean sea at a young age. He was a bon vivant traveling Europe and became one of the first European divers. Active in spear fishing and diving politics, Gustav knew all the early diving equipment pioneers: Cressi, Beuchat, Forjot, Cavalero, etc. Later, Gustav moved to Haiti and started perhaps  (More)

Gustav Dalla Valle

Dick Bonin: Co-Founder of SCUBAPRO

Dick grew up in Chicago excelling academically, graduating cum laude from both high school and college. Well rounded, he thrived in the sports world as well. While still in high school he was named City Champion in swimming. He earned a college scholarship and was the Boxing Champion and All Conference Football Champ. Dick Bonin is one of the most famous Navy Frogman and equipment manufacturers in diving. Bonin got his start as a Navy officer assigned to some of the earliest dive teams. He was active in  (More)

Dick Bonin

Dan Orr: CEO of DAN - An Ohio Legend

Dan Orr was born in Miami, FL and his Grandparents built one of the first homes on stilts constructed in the Florida Keys. Being around all that water and having the same basic homing instincts as all divers at the age of 11 he and his best friend "borrowed" a set of scuba equipment from his friends house and Dan made his first dive in a canal. The visibility was dreadful as they walked around the bottom and they knew they were surrounded by sharks and were going to be eaten any minute "but it didn't stop them (More)

Dan Orr

David Trotter: Great Lakes Shipwreck Explorer

David Trotter’s name is synonymous with Shipwreck Explorer, particularly in the area of the Great Lakes in the Midwestern United States and Canada. Born in Ottawa, Iowa on December 17, 1940, David began his love affair with diving in 1963 at the age of 23. Trotter recalls with amusement that his YMCA course required no open water checkouts. In fact, after his fourth session(of six), the assistant dive instructor declared that David looked good and would he like to travel to Morrison Springs for a weekend of diving? Trotter (More)

David Trotter

Neal Hess: Founder NAUI; One of the world’s leading experts on SCUBA dive training

Neal Earl Hess was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, November 3, 1926, the first son of Delbert Earl and Helen Sampson Hess. A second son, Roger E. Hess was born 1929 in Ogden, Utah. The Hess family moved to Los Angeles, California in 1933 where a third son, John P. Hess was born in 1936. It was the time of the Great Depression, and Earl had come to Los Angeles looking for work. (More)

Neal Hess

Roger Hess: Pioneer Scuba Instructor from LA County

Roger Hess, pioneer Scuba instructor from LA County 4UICC in 1955 (which included brother Neal and Dottie Frazier), and Southern California charter boat owner/operator. Roger Hess was born in Ogden Utah in 1929, and moved to California with brother Neal and parents Earl and Helen in 1933 where another son John was born in 1936. Roger’s dad worked as a meat cutter in the food industry and later purchased a market in Inglewood. Roger went to Washington High in Los Angeles then John Brown Military Academy in San (More)

Roger Hess

Dottie Frazier: First Female Instructor in 1955

Dottie Frazier was born in July, 1922 in Long Beach, California, a female who should have been a male according to her dad. At that moment he decided that he was going to teach her all the things he would have taught a son.
Swimming by age 3, rowing her own skiff at 5, Dottie knew the ins and outs of fishing and had lived aboard boats more than on land. By 10, she was using one of the masks her dad had made out of pieces of a fire hose, glass, tape, glue, and straps from an old inner tube. She became (More)

Dottie Frazier

Barbara Allen: Woman Instructor Two, Photographer

Barbara Allen grew up in Los Angeles with active outgoing parents who had her involved in camping, fishing, swimming and body surfing. She lifeguarded for LAPD Camp Valcrest and City of LA in the summers during high school (Washington) and college (LACC). She was lifeguarding, teaching swimming and performing paddleboard ballet when her boss, Jack Cheany, asked if she would like to teach skin and scuba diving. Barbara had never been scuba diving, just snorkeling local beaches and Catalina. She said yes, (More)

Barbara Allen

Zale Parry: Record Setter, Actress, Equipment Tester

Zale Parry is arguably the most famous woman scuba diver in the world today. Zale was a pioneer skin diver in the 1940s and an early underwater equipment tester for Scientific Underwater Research Enterprises in 1953. Zale also helped run the first civilian hyperbaric chamber for divers in California. In 1954 she set a woman's depth record to 209 feet and became the third female instructor to graduate from the L.A. County UICC program. That same year, Zale made her screen debut in Kingdom of the (More)

Zale Parry

Harry Ruscigno: Founder of SeaTec

He was a very active diver, a respected engineer who adapted his talents to the diving world over forty years ago. Still a teenager Harry Ruscigno was a founder and driving force in the pioneer diving club the San Jose Barbs in California, one of the oldest clubs in the world. After graduation from college he moved to San Diego area where he became active in competitive spear fishing competing in many local and regional spearfishing meets. He also served a term as president of the San Diego council of (More)

Harry Ruscigno

Robert Croft: Father of American Free diving, Researcher

As a kid during WWII Bob Croft played war games and could not wait to get into the fray but was too young; this happened a bit later, during the Korean War. Bob joined the Navy and was assigned to the submarine service. He served on several submarines for 12 years, having at lease one really close scrape, after which period he was assigned to the U.S. Submarine School as an instructor in the 118 foot deep escape training tank. Already a scuba diver, here he learned "free" or breath-hold diving where his job (More)

Robert Croft

Harry Vetter: Dive Shop Manager, Early NAUI Instructor

Harry Vetter, 81, was born in Long Beach California in 1928. He grew up in the Redondo Beach area where his life was shaped by the Pacific ocean coastline that surrounded him. Harry developed both a love and respect for the ocean as he experienced it via body surfing, tidal pool exploring, as well as skin diving during his formative years. After graduating from Compton Jr. College in 1949, he purchased his first SCUBA regulator from Rene Bussoz's Sporting Goods in Westwood, California, thereby teaching himself to (More)

Harry Vetter

Robert Olson: The True Origins of Dacor Corporation

An underwater demolition diver in World War II stationed in the Pacific Theater, Robert Olson returned home to Evanston, Illinois at the conclusion of the war and reconnected with his old neighbor Sam Davison who had also returned from military service. Olson's fascination with the water never left him, and he spent many a day at the shores of Lake Michigan dreaming of once again swimming deep underwater. He and Davison experimented with inverted buckets on their heads and hoses pumping (More)

Robert Olson

Valerie van Heest: Great Lakes Shipwreck Hunter

An inductee in the Women Divers Hall of fame, award-winning author, and regular guest speaker, Valerie van Heest has explored and documented shipwrecks for over twenty years and her efforts led to an award from the Historical Society of Michigan for excellence in preserving and promoting Michigan's maritime heritage. Not only has her work been featured in many books, but she writes articles, produces documentary films, designs museum exhibits, and has appeared on an episode of History Channel  (More)

Valerie van Heest

Nick Icorn: 'Keeper of the Flame'

Nick Icorn has been called the "Keeper of the Flame" for preserving diving's illustrious history through his collection of representative samples of diving gear, from snorkels to rebreathers. But his career in diving is also one of the most wide-ranging of anyone in the diving world. It includes experience in military diving, formulating instructional programs, and work as an engineer in designing equipment for sport and commercial diving. His experiences and contributions are too numerous to recount in one (More)

Nick Icorn

Glen H. Egstrom: UCLA Dive Physiology Researcher -

Teaching responsibilities at UCLA and during Diving Medical courses in the past 50 years have included courses and graduate seminars in applied anatomy, exercise physiology, underwater physiology, environmental physiology, aquatic kinesiology, biomechanical analysis and conditioning for optimal performances. As campus Diving Officer between 1964 and 1992 he also operated a major recreational and scientific scuba diving training program and is currently a member of the UCLA Diving Control Board. (More)

Dr. Glen Egstrom

Joe Liburdi: 58 Years Beneath the Sea

Joe Liburdi started diving in 1952, when divers wore twin-hose regulators and scuba lessons consisted of the words, "Blow and go!" In 1966, he founded the Liburdi Scuba School for servicemen in the Philippines. That was also the year he took his first underwater photograph with a Calypso camera. Expressing his impressions of inner space has been his challenge and reward ever since. He has explored the waters of Japan, Micronesia, Malaysia, Southeast Asia, and Eastern Africa. He has dived the Caribbean, the Great Barrier (More)

Joe Liburdi

Alec Peirce: Renowned Canadian Dive Historian

Alec Peirce attributes his interest in the sport of scuba directly to his life-long hero, Lloyd Bridges, and to the Sea Hunt show. Scuba 2000 is recognized as the finest scuba training facility in Canada and one of the best in North America. Scuba 2000 has been the subject of dozens of diving articles, TV Shows and endless chat lines. Alec Peirce of Scuba 2000 has been one of the featured legends for each of the Legends Festivals with his memorabilia on Sea Hunt and Lloyd Bridges. Biography: It's 1958, (More)

Alec Peirce

Dr. Sam Miller: From 'Goggler' to Dive Historian

Dr. Samuel Miller began his long diving career in 1943 as a result to a very serious eye infection contracted while swimming in a local YMCA pool. In order to continue swimming he was required to wear a pair of crude goggles for eye protection. When he had graduated from high school in 1950 he had managed to acquire a Sea Net mask and a pair of Churchill fins. He was a "goggler" in a sport that had no name, no shops, no magazines, no training programs, no organizations, no flag, and very few participants.  (More)

Dr. Sam Miller

Bill McBride: Early Ohio Instructor and Dive Evangelist

Born in Defiance, OH in 1933, I took SCUBA lessons in Toledo at the YMCA from Instructor Don Lee. I enrolled with my boss and a fellow salesman. This was in 1959, about 16 years after Cousteau had “invented” the Aqua-Lung. My boss and I, upon completion of our basic course, ordered “wet suit kits”, which were comprised of a roll of foam neoprene, (unlined), a pattern, two cans of glue, and five zippers. Thus, we made our own “custom fit” suits. We also made our own lead weights, using a large soup ladle  (More)

Bill McBride

Dr. Sam Miller IV: Authority on Hyperbaric Chamber

Dr. Sam Miller, IV was born into a pioneer Orange County, California diving family. He began his diving career as a toddler at a little over 2 years old in the bath tub sucking on a modified regulator which was attached to a Scuba tank on the bath room floor, by 4 in a shallow "Do-boy" pool at 5 into the family pool and the Pacific Ocean. His initial open water dives were not to deep or too far from the beach, but he was underwater and he was a diver in his mind. He rapidly progressed in his diving skills and grew in stature. (More)

Dr. Sam Miller IV

Dr. José Jones: Founder of UAS and NABS

Dr. José Jones began his diving career while serving in the military. After a tour of combat duty, he joined the Atlantic Skin Diving Council (ASDC) where he served as vice president, training officer, spearfishing chairman, and scuba rodeo director. While a senior in college, he founded Underwater Adventure Seekers (UAS) of Washington, DC, which predates most national certifying organizations. Dr. Jones has made over 6,000 dives including research, scientific, training, exploratory, and competitive (More)

Dr. José Jones

Miss Shirley Lee : First Black Female Diver

Shirley M. Lee was born on September 26, 1935 in Alexandria, Virginia and recalls a happy childhood of playing marbles, jacks, and jumping rope. Gifted with artistic talent, she could look at an object and draw it accurately. Shirley was extremely active in high school, participating on the baseball and soccer teams, singing in the choir, (More)

Miss Shirley Lee

Ella Jean Morgan: First Black Woman Dive Instructor

Born in Belize City, Belize on January 17, 1939 to missionary parents, Ella Jean Morgan certainly qualifies as a truly International Legend of Diving.  Certainly the exotic location she was born and raised in, as well as the facts that her mother was a native of the Cayman Islands and her father haled from Jamaica, helped provide an international landscape that fostered an openness in Ella Jean that would move her to break racial and gender barriers in the dive industry. (More)

Ella Jean Morgan

Bill Beard: Costa Rica Diving Pioneer

Bill and Nadine Beard are PADI scuba diving instructors living and working in Costa Rica. Bill is originally from North Carolina, and Nadine was born in Oakland, California. They are owners of Bill Beard's Costa Rica Scuba Diving & Adventure Travel Company. Bill went to Costa Rica in 1970 and Nadine joined him in 1988. Bill Beard, widely recognized as the true pioneer of scuba diving in Costa Rica, was one of the key players in bringing the country from virtually unknown as a tourist destination to the forefront  (More)

Bill Beard

Jeremiah Sullivan: Founder of Neptunic Sharksuits

In the late 1970's, marine biologist Jeremiah Sullivan developed a flexible suit of armor for divers to wear while working around sharks. Often referred to as; Metal Mesh Shark Suit, Chain Mail Anti-Shark Suit, Steel Mesh Shark Suit, etc. Its actual name is the NEPTUNIC Sharksuit. The technology Sullivan developed and continues to advance is now known and used throughout the world. Jeremiah's pioneering work with anti-shark bite technology has become the world standard among those who must work (More)

Jeremiah Sullivan

Joe Strykowski: Author of Books, Understanding Oceans

Reunion, Madagascar - Quen Cultra has spent a good portion of his life building a pair of oceangoing sailboats at his home amid eastern Illinois' corn fields and piloting them around the world. Now his relatives and U.S. Coast Guard officials say they're looking for the 69-year-old Quen Cultra of Gilman and marine naturalist Joe Strykowski of Crystal River, FL, who they say are missing in the Indian Ocean after one of those crafts capsized in a storm off Madagascar. Another member of the crew, 56-year-old Leo Sherman of Gilman, IL (More)

Joe Strykowski

Leon Lyons: Helmet Maritime Museum Owner

Leon Lyons has become the foremost authority on vintage and late model diving helmets. Collectors throughout the world contact him with questions on the authenticity of helmets. Leon G. Lyons was born on January 17, 1942 in the Inwood section of New York City. He attended elementary school at Holy Redeemer Convent in the downtown area of Manhattan before moving to Edgewater, New Jersey at the age of 10. There he finished the elementary grades at the Epiphany School in Cliffside. He graduated from  (More)

Leon Lyons

Victor G. Worst: UDT & Early Eastern Dive Shop Owner

My diving career began in Carey, Ohio at the ripe old age of twelve. The municipal swimming pool was located very near my home and in the beginning of summer the pool would be filled for the season. After eight months of the fill pipes rusting, the pool would have a large amount of rust particles on the bottom. Three or four of us younger kids would use weighted brooms to sweep the rust into the drains at the deeper end of the pool. We would use a Desco pool mask when at the deeper depths. Air was supplied from  (More)

Victor G. Worst

George Purifoy: Notable Shipwreck Discoverer

On September 14, 2008, we lost a true pioneer in the diving world, George Purifoy. Purifoy loved the water and spent much of his life diving. One could say that George Purifoy's life came to an end where he truly loved to be " on the water. The Olympus Dive Center in Morehead, N.C. was founded by Purifoy in 1976, and is well known among the diving community. He began with a compressor, rentals and weekend charters aboard a twin-engine Atlantis II. In the late 1970s he expanded the business by purchasing (More)

George Purifoy

Ray McAllister, Ph.D.: Ocean Engineer/Early Instructor

Most people would not consider diving at the age of 86, but Ray McAllister is not your average 86 year old. The retired professor of Ocean Engineering, Ray began his diving career 57 years ago at Scripps  Institution of Oceanography in 1951. There he taught his first Scuba class in 1952. Ray went on to earn his doctorate in geological oceanography from Texas A&M College. Ray's scuba course is believed to be the first civilian, non-military diver's course in the United States. His instructions were, "Stay in our bubbles; (More)

Ray McAllister

Robert J. Shourot: Engineer of the NRDS

What type of man desires to have the world's largest ships run full speed over him while being just a few feet from its huge propellers" How does it feel to be suspended in the water while a gigantic vessel, traveling at full speed, passes directly overhead" A diver taking photographs of a ship's underbelly, particularly when the behemoth is speeding directly overhead, is not most people's idea of a tranquil occupation. What type of man dives into lethal nuclear reactors where death is only a millisecond away" (More)

Robert J. Shourot

Bob Rajner: Ohio Diver for 50 years

Dwight D. Eisenhower was in the Whitehouse, Hawaii became our 50th State, gasoline cost 30 cents per gallon, and Bob Rajner took his first breath underwater. The year was 1959, and the dive site was Whitehouse Quarry. Bob's equipment consisted of a single 72 cubic foot tank, a two-hose Jet-Air regulator with an R-valve, fins, mask and swim trunks. Those who have had the good fortune to know one of Northwest Ohio's pioneer divers would agree that Bob Rajner is a pretty tough customer in terms of (More)

Bob Rajner

Gardner Young: First Nassau Diving Company

Gardner was born in Port Clinton, Ohio in 1929. His family was from Gloucester, Massachusetts and moved to Ohio when his father was stationed at Port Clinton, Ohio as a member of the U.S. Coast Guard. His father was lost on Lake Erie in 1930 while on duty. Gardner joined the Marine Corps at a young age and met John Cronin (PADI) at Paris Island. The two became good friends and later in life that relationship would become fruitful. Gardner loved the water and gravitated to Ft. Lauderdale and Miami in the (More)

Gardner Young

Neal Watson: Record Holder and DEMA Hall of Famer

Neal Watson, owner of Neal Watson's Undersea Adventures began diving in the Florida Springs in 1953 at the age of 13 and has been in the diving business for over 40 years. Over the years Neal has worked as a commercial diver, treasure salver, stunt coordinator for the movie and TV industry, owned and operated hotels, a airline charter company and established a chain of Neal Watson's Undersea Adventure franchise dive operations in the Bahamas and Caribbean.
Neal's achievements are legendary. Neal currently (More)

Neal Watson

“Skeet” LaChance: Bahama Venture Cruises Founder

Skeet was born in 1932 in Chicago, Il. As a young child, he contracted polio, but with the fighting spirit he would be known for throughout his life, successfully fought it off. The only mark it left was a curvature of his spine that didn’t become obvious until his later years. While growing up and attending elementary and high school in Kenilworth, Il, he and a classmate, Steve Mullins, developed an avid interest in magic shows, even charging to perform at local kids’ parties. After being sent away to a boarding school (More)

“Skeet” LaChance

Brendal Stevens: Promoter of Bahama Tourism

Brendal James Stevens was born on Acklins Island and grew up with the love of nature, ocean, sailing and the environment. He started working in Tourism in 1964 at the age of 16, and for 41 years Brendal has dedicated his life's work to Tourism in the Bahamas. For the past 36 years, Brendal's professional work in Tourism envelops the development of a facility for attractions and tours for visitors to the Bahamas and his personal efforts include Adventure Tours and Attractions, Water Sports, (More)

Brendal Stevens

Ben Rose: UNEXSO Guide and Marine Expert

At an early age Ben Rose knew he belonged in the ocean. He came to UNEXSO in 1965 already with amateur experience in diving. There he learned to dive with sharks. He has expanded his knowledge of sharks to expert level. He started a marine identification program, identifying and categorizing species of fish in the Caribbean. He is an avid writer, sharing his experiences through personal accounts of diving history and diving with sharks. (Read more personal accounts by Ben Rose)

Ben Rose

Dr. John Clement: The Diving Doctor on the Hydrolab

As the story goes... A long time ago there was a Brit who came to Grand Bahama Island and his name is Dr. John Clement. No one can state it better than John himself when he states, "It is quite a long story." When John decided he wanted to learn how to dive, there wasn't a
British Sub Aqua Club nearby where we could take lessons, however, there was a special branch run by the Fire Department of the experimental Atomic Energy Power plant at Winfrith, Dorset. He asked if he could train with (More)

Dr. John Clement

Dave Woodward: Notable Underwater Photographer

Dave Woodward has spent 54 years as a diver, scuba instructor, and underwater photographer with many of those years at the Underwater Explorers Society (UNEXSO), even as the opening manager of the resort in 1965. His most notoriety in diving is with underwater photography. In 1965 he won his first of 26 awards at the International U/W Film Festival. He was awarded the Platinum Pro 5000 Diver Award by Scuba Schools International and given the Paul Revere Bronze Spike Award by the Boston (More)

Dave Woodward

Stuart Cove: Resort Dive Operator

Michelle Cove: Resort Dive Operator

Stuart and Michelle Cove were both born on the island of Nassau in the Bahamas. Stuart, the son of a local dentist, had roots on the Island of Abaco. Michelle’s parents haled from Scotland and Switzerland. It was assumed that Stuart would follow in his father’s Footsteps, but that was not to be. His father remained a great influence on his life, however, along with Gardner Young, the first dive operator in Nassau. Gardner’s operation was called Underwater Tours. Stuart's father was a great diver and boater, as  (More)

Stuart & Michelle Cove

Ollie Ferguson: UNEXSO Dive Instructor and Lecturer

Ollie Ferguson was born in Los Angeles CA and grew up in Nassau, in The Bahamas. After graduating St. Andrews School, he attended Kent School in Connecticut and Jacksonville University in Florida. Ollie's wife is Tamee Marshawn Ferguson, daughter Carina Marie Ferguson is 23, and daughter Mallory Marie is 13. Ollie left University 1979 and returned to The Bahamas. He worked as an Architectural Draftsman for a year, often working in the field supervising construction projects. Leaving the (More)

Ollie Ferguson

Robert (Bob) Farrelly: Educator and Wildlife Art Owner

I first came to know SCUBA diving through Dave Woodward in Spokane, Washington. When still in high school I learned of a diving school called WOCO " there I took lessons and fell in love with the underwater experience thanks to Dave and Cousteau's film and book "The Silent World." Even though our open water dives took place in lakes with 10 foot visibility and at times under the ice - I loved it. While working in Atlanta in 1965 I received a note from Dave with a picture of the Woodward family together on a (More)

Robert Farrelly

Chuck Burns: Founding Member UNEXSO

Chuck Burns started his diving career working with Jack Slack and Dick Tindall running their ski school at the Lucayan Beach Hotel in the early 60's When they found the Lucayan Treasure Wreck began doing some diving on the wreck while working during the summers. In 1965 he and his family became founding members of UNEXSO and he started working there during the summer of 1965 and 1966. After college he became a full time diver. In 1968 he was certified as a NAUI Instructor, #1372 and began teaching (More)

Chuck Burns

John Englander: CEO of ISS and prior owner of UNEXSO

In June 1968 John Englander first visited UNEXSO for the NAUI ICC (Instructor Certification Course as it was then called.) The course was his high school graduation present. Upon completing the program and becoming a NAUI Instructor (actually a "Teaching Assistant" since he was not the required age of 21) he spent another week, taking the fabled 250" Decompression Diving Course taught by UNEXSO President Al Tillman. This began a special relationship with the "Club." During the next four years of college, (More)

John Englander

Dick Clarke: Deep Diving and Dive Medicine pioneer

Dick began his diving career in the British Royal Navy, where he served throughout the decade of the 1960's. In 1969 he relocated to the Bahamas, and as program director at the International Underwater Explorers Society. It was here that he honed his underwater photography skills (under the watchful and somewhat critical eye of the ever talented Dave Woodward!) and developed UNEXSO's deep diving course. In 1971 Dick became associate director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (More)

Dick Clarke

Charles Hepp: UNEXSO Founding Member

Chuck learned to dive in the mid 1950's in Fort Lauderdale. He did some treasure hunting in the Keys, taught swimming and diving for the City of Ft. Lauderdale and worked on the beach patrol there. In 1961 he took the second ever NAUI Instructors' course (NAUI #165) and joined UNEXSO in 1965. He built the original boat docks and then worked as a Program Director. He was a safety diver when Jacques Mayol made his record free dive and made a dive in the deep diving vessel, the Ben Franklin. In 1972 with the financial (More)

Charles Hepp

Cristina Zenato: Shark Researcher, Instructor, Traveler

Cristina Zenato was born in Italy, 21st Dec 1971, grew up in in the middle of the rain forest of the Congo Africa till the age of 15, and in doing so developed a love of the outdoors and a passion for the ocean. Life took a different turn though and at the age of 22 she went to the Bahamas to learn Scuba diving. It defined her career for working at the hotel and completing her dive training. For the past 14 years she has worked for UNEXSO, starting to work as a temporary diving supervisor back in 1998. She cave dives (More)

Cristina Zenato

Curt Chapman: Youngest NAUI Instructor, Dive Guide

Curt Chapman will be the first to tell you he was a "lucky man" working alongside Ben Rose, Dave Woodward and other legends. In 1966 he was certified as a diver by the YMCA in Chicago, IL, his father was certified in 1959. Soon they began diving together in local quarries and places like Door County, Michigan. So, at the age of 16 in 1967 he visited the "Club" with his father to do some diving. Pursuant to that visit Al Tillman suggested he return to work there the following summer in 1968. At the end of that (More)

Curt Chapman

Bob Thompson: Charter Member of UNEXSO

I first started diving in the lakes of northern California in the mid '50s. Just snorkeling and trying to emulate my idol, Lloyd Bridges, in Sea Hunt. I took my first SCUBA lesson at a YMCA in Jacksonville, Fl. in 1960 and started on a mission to dive every spring and cave in north Florida and soon found out that there are a lot of them. The club I belonged to would travel to a new dive spot every weekend, mostly
cave diving, but some fresh water springs and rivers, but sometimes we would charter a boat and head out (More)

Bob Thompson

Hugh Sprunt: Deep Ocean Researcher

Hugh attended the NAUI Instructor's Course at UNEXSO in June of 1967 as a high school graduation present, receiving NAUI #1041. He was then offered a staff position by the General Manager, Dave Woodward. He worked at the Club each summer through the summer of 1971 living in a small, air-conditioned first-floor room near the training tank. In his secondary role as a self-appointed night watchman, Hugh foiled at least one burglary attempt as the would-be thief snagged his fine sweater on the dockside barbed (More)

Hugh Sprunt

Nick Rolle: Owner of Sunn Odyssey Divers, LTD

The owner of Sunn Odyssey Divers; Nick Rolle, was in defiance of his mother; when he took up scuba diving in 1974 under the instruction of David Andrews ex-Navy Seal. Although his father was a Sea Captain; his mother was a non-swimmer; therefore, her belief was stay away from the water because you will drown! After secretly completing his OW certification Nick began working with his instructor in Nassau at the Buena Vista Hotel. At that time they did more snorkel trips than scuba and his longing for more (More)

Nick Rolle

Jerry Mcdermott: 1st to Bring Diving to Belize

Jerry McDermott can rightfully be credited as the man who brought scuba diving to Belize.  His journey to the lovely island of Ambergris Caye, off the coast of Belize, began an ocean away when he was born in Dublin, Ireland on May 13, 1927.  His father was the first in his family to move to the United States and a year later Jerry and his mother arrived at Ellis Island and then followed his father to Boston. Soon after the move (More)

Jerry Mcdermott

Ramon Nunez: Fisherman, First Diver in Belize, Tourism Ambassador

Ramon Nunez was born in a sailboat off the coast of Belize on June 12, 1940. His family lived up the coast about 12 miles from the village of San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, known as British Honduras at the time. His father put his mother in the sailboat to get help with the delivery, but ended up delivering the baby at sea. He was the last of 14 boys, with one younger sister, Lupita. He was named Ramon after the Patron Saint of the Sea. At the time of his birth, there were only about 150 people living in San Pedro and the Nunez family was quite influential. Despite the family's prominence in (More)

Ramon Nunez

Adolfo Ayuso: Fishing Guide, One of the First Scuba Divers & Dive Shop Operators in Belize

Adolfo Ayuso was born in Xcalak Quintana Roo on February 20, 1950. While still a baby, only a year old, his family moved to San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize. He grew up in the little fishing village of San Pedro and attended only elementary school before joining his father and older brother to help support the family at the age of 12 years. Like many in the village, they made their living by fishing and diving for lobster, which they would sell in Belize City. He worked and learned the trade alongside his father and brother until he set (More)

Adolfo Ayuso

Gil Gonzalez: One of the First Divers and Fishing Guides of Belize

Gil was born September 18, 1948 on San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize. As a young boy, he grew up fishing and attended primary school until the age of 14 when he began commercial fishing. During the next five years, he spent a lot of time free diving, gathering up lobsters and conch, and spear fishing. He became very well known for his fishing capabilities. His life would take a dramatic turn when Jerry McDermott invited him to serve as a fishing (More)

Gil Gonzalez

Eduardo Brown: One of the first scuba divers & sport fishing guides of Belize

Eduardo was born December 18, 1945 in the small fishing village of Xcalak, Mexico, about 30 miles north of Ambergris Caye, Belize. He began fishing as a small boy with his father and family, until his life took a tragic turn.  In 1955, Hurricane Janet hit Mexico and devastated that part of the country. Eduardo was the only one to survive out of his family.  At the tender age of just 9 years, Eduardo was left an orphan and (More)

Eduardo Brown

Captain Don Stewart: Underwater Environmentalist, Resort Owner, and Writer

Captain Don was born in the San Francisco Bay area in June of 1925. He had a rocky start, losing his mother when he was only seven years old in 1932. It was the time of the Depression and he was forced to stay with friends and relatives while his father would look for work. By his own admission, he was a scholastic failure and hated sports, but excelled in technical matters. He became a teenage dropout and it wasn't until later in life that (More)

Captain Don Stewart

Alberto Friscione Carrascosa: Videographer

Alberto developed a passion for undersea life at a very early age. After graduating with a Veterinary degree from the University of Veracruz, Alberto settled in Cancun and opened his own dive shop, Solo Buceo. To this day, he has conducted many expeditions in Mexico, Canada, the United States, Belize, Honduras, Costa Rica, Colombia, Panama, Bahamas, Cayman, Cuba, Tonga, Vavau" A, Fiji, Indonesia y some Caribbean islands. He has made an important number of rescues of lost people in the sea and underwater (More)

A. F. Carrascosa

Ramón Bravo: Diver and Photographer (1925 - 1998)

Buceo y Fotógrafo en Mexico - Ramón Bravo, one of Mexico's most famous divers, is possibly best known for photographing Tiger Sharks sleeping on the ocean floor off Isla Mujeres (Island Women). Isla Mujeres is near the Yucatan Peninsula in the Caribbean north of Cancun. The Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC and Jacques Cousteau visited the area to study the sleeping tigers, a phenomena thought to be caused by underwater freshwater rivers from the Yucatan. It is believed the tiger  (More)

Ramon Bravo

Dr. Cuauhtemoc Sanchez R. “Cuau”: UHMS Organizer

A physician, professor, author and lecturer based in Mexico, Dr. Sánchez graduated from the National Autonomous University of México (UNAM) School of Medicine in 1983. A certified diver since 1986, he was an international Hyperbaric Fellow at the University of Maryland's R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center from 1991-1994. While in the United States he voluntarily translated volumes of materials for the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Society (UHMS). Returning to his native Mexico in 1994, he organized (More)

Dr 'Cuau' Sanchez

Dr. Jorge Dario Gómez Castillo: DAN Referral Physician

Diving was a passion that launched a career for a young doctor from Mexico City, Mexico. Nearly a decade later Dr. Jorge Dario Gómez Castillo is trusted with the lives of many as Medical Liaison for the Mayan Riviera and DAN Referral Physician. His charge is the Hyperbaric Chamber on Cozumel, a public chamber and one of three on the island. The hyperbaric chambers are kept busy throughout the year with approximately 120 cases of decompression sickness. He said about 10 of those annual cases are those (More)

Dr Dario Gómez

Manuel Lazcano: Underwater Photographer

Manuel Lazcano has conducted many expeditions around the world: Cocos Island (Costa Rica), Fiji, Silver Banks (Dominican Republic), South Africa, Thailand, Australia, Belize, Palau, Yap, Hawaii, Guam, Mexico, Malaysia, Alaska, Galapagos Islands, Azores Islands (Portugal) Bahamas, Bonaire, Turk & Caicos, Cuba, Los Roques (Venezuela), San Diego (California).

(List of Achievements)

Manuel Lazcano

Sergio Sandoval Vizcaino: Co-Founder of FEMAS

Sergio Sandoval Vizcaino is the owner and full time executive "DM" at Aquatic Sports / Deportes Acuaticos Cozumel. Sergio was born in Sayula, Jalisco and raised along the shores of Manzanillo harbor free diving with the oyster fishermen. In 1967 Sergio received his degree in Mechanical Engineering and spent more than 17 years as a mechanical engineer in the automotive industry. During this period Sergio received his certification as a diver from AMAS [Mexican Association of Sub-aquatic Activities]. (More)

Sergio Vizcaino

Clement Lee: First Dive Resort Operator of Malaysia, Environmentalist

Clement Lee was born on a small island called Labuan, a thirty minute flight from Kota Kinabalu on January 16, 1952. Clement's introduction to the sea came about quite accidently and abruptly when a couple of friends pushed him into the ocean. He quickly, and quite gratefully, discovered that he could float by using his hands and feet. It was uncommon for those of Chinese descent to have much to do with the water, but this did not hold Clement back. It was during a (More)

Clement Lee

Rex De Silva: Marine Biologist, Shark Researcher, & Underwater Photographer of Sri Lanka

Rex De Silva was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka on October 22, 1940. Growing up on an island, the water always held a fascination for him and that, combined with what he was learning in school, piqued his interest in diving and experimenting with underwater equipment at a rather early age. He made his first facemask at around 15 years of age, fashioning it out of (More)

Rex De Silva