I have taken the Professional SCUBA Inspector (PSI) course and Eddie Current classes offered at ScubaFest 2009.  I will now be able to do Annual Visual Inspections on SCUBA cylinders for divers.  Once again in the class I learned somethings to share with my students.

Update: Oct 23, 2005

I am now a Master Instructor.  PADI accepted my application and sent me my Master Instructor (MI) certification card Oct. 21, 2005.

Update: Sept. 30, 2005

I have now applied for my Master Instructor rating.   This is the highest rating for an Open Water instructor.  It has taken me 6 years to reach this goal in my own personal continuing education as an instructor.  I now feel that I have the experience and knowledge of diving to apply for the PADI Master Instructor rating.  I have only one more level to reach for and it is not my goal to become a Course Director.  I hope that over these years of my learning I have been able to past some of the knowledge on to other new divers.  This in no way means that I have quit learning about diving.  I still plan on taking some advance diving courses.  One I hope to complete soon is the Deep Air course.  This will require me to get into decompression diving.  I don’t plan on doing allot of decompression diving but I am looking forward to the knowledge I will gain by taking the class.

Update: Mar. 19, 2005

Well I have done it now I was ask and was excepted as a three year trustee of the Ohio Council of Skin and Scuba Divers, Inc. (OCSSDI).  Which means that I will be busy for the next three years visiting dive club in Ohio.  If your dive club does not belong to the Ohio Council please send me the information about your club.  When, where and at what time it meets.  I would like to get feed back from all the dive clubs in the state of OHIO and surrounding states.  I’d like to have all positive feed back but will accept any information as long as it is constructive.  I think the only way to get better is to listen.  This I believe will give the Ohio Council  a better understanding of where others are coming from and where the council should be to meet them on a positive note.  So please help me and the other trustee to do a better job and make the OCSSD represent all the dive clubs in the state and surrounding area.  If you don’t belong to a dive club I hope you will join one soon or please just email me your thoughts and ideas.  For more information about what the council does please visit the OCSSDI web site.  The site can be found by visiting the “Related Links” at the left.  Thanks in advance for your help.  Making Ohio a better place to dive is all our privilege and responsibility.

Update: Feb. 12, 2005

Well I have been at it again just when I though my training was finished I let someone talk me into certifying for “CAVE” diving.  Between Christmas and New Years of 2004, Keith Bates, Keith Ebersbach (EB) and I when south to Florida and spent the best time I have had in several months.

Sometimes as instructors we forget what it is like on the other side of the fence.  The cave course lasted 6 days and was quite a challenge.   We completed 17 cave dives including various skills on each dive.  The course was great! 

I loved being used as a pile driver by my friend EB.   Let me explain, one of the skills we needed to complete was a blacked out (no lights) sharing alternate air source drill.  As cave divers you have an alternate air source hose that is 7 feet long.  This lets you share your air with someone completely in front of you while exiting a cave.  In the unlikely event that someone runs out of air.  In the drill EB was the first to simulate being out of air.  I provided my alternate air source to him as he lead out of the cave, following the line in the dark.  There was not enough room for both of us to be side by side in the narrow passage of the cave.  I could tell on our exit that EB was helping move himself out of the cave.  Because the person leading is being followed by his buddy you cannot use your fins to help exit without removing the person mask with your fins kicks.  This would not be a good thing to happen.  EB is about twice my size.  As we surfaced I explained to him that it was going to be more difficult for me to try and pull him out behind me.  I suggested that he give a little help in moving us to the exit when it was my turn to lead out.  I guess I should not complain as I did ask for this help, but if you have ever been on a roller coaster just holding on for dear life that what it was like come out with him pushing.  He did stop pushing when I would hit something that stop our forward motion.  Just long enough to let me switch sides of the exit line and he would start pushing again.  I think we set some kind of a record speed for exiting the cave doing the blacked out alternate air source drill.  I only had a few cuts and scrapes on my head as we surfaced.  I’m just glad I wore my hood and it was a 7mm one.

Anyway EB and I did certify as cave divers with both IANTD and NSS/CDS.  I’m looking forward to getting back down south to really enjoy the underwater cave world not as a student but as a certified cave diver.  The inside of some of the caves looked to be beautiful but as students we did not get to take in all the wonderful sites.

If you are very comfortable in the open water environment, your buoyancy is good, you have no problems in confined spaces and you enjoy challenges this course is for you.  If you think you might be interested in certifying as a cavern, introduction to cave or cave diver please let me know.  I will do what I can to set you up with our instructor (whom I recommend highly) and help you prepare.

Published Jan. 2004

I received my Open Water and Advance Open Water Certifications in June of 1997.  From there I continued my education/training and certified as a Rescue Diver in the fall of October 1997. During the summer of 1997 my friends and I had logged over 100 open water dives at various quarries in Ohio.

Over the winter of 1997 the water was cold, imagine that and after our first after Thanksgiving Day dive in my 7mm wet suit I decided to obtain my Dry Suit Specialty Certification in March of 1998.

Over the course of the next year I certified in several specialties including; Peak Performance Buoyancy, Equipment Specialty, Deep Diver, Wreck Diver, Night Diver and Enriched Air Nitrox until obtaining my Master Diver Certification in October of 1998.

In August of 1998 I certified as a Divemaster and began my professional path of SCUBA diving.  I really enjoyed working with people and helping to teach them to SCUBA dive.  I like it so much that in May of 1999 I became a PADI SCUBA Diving Instructor.

I have continued to take classes to better equip myself for the people I in turn teach to dive.  These classes include: DAN and PADI O2 Provider, Medic First Aid Instructor, Emergency First Response Trainer, AED Instructor, YMCA SCUBA Instructor, CMAS SCUBA Instructor and many Specialty Diver Instructor Classes.

I have had the privilege of diving in many wonderful places including; here in Ohio, Circleville Twin Quarries, Gilboa Quarry, Lakeview Quarry, Plum Run Quarry, Portage Quarry, Whitestar Quarry and Lake Erie.  Other great places including other States; Crystal River, Devils Den, Morrison Springs, Panama City Beach, RainbowRiver and Vortex Spring in Florida and Bonne Terre Mines in Missouri. Other countries including: Bahamas, Bonaire, Canada, Roatan Honduras, San Salvador and Curacao.  All of these trips and diving experiences have given me the opportunity to dive and meet some of the best people in the world.  I hope that you will be joining me soon on some of my diving adventures.