ABOUT ME
ABOUT ME
NACD
Cave & DPV Instructor
NAUI Cave, Technical & Trimix Instructor
NSS-CDS Basic Cave Instructor
PADI & SDI Instructor (14 Specialties)
TDI Cave & DPV Instructor
TDI Adv Nitrox/Deco Procedures Instructor
TDI Nitrox/Trimix Blender Instructor
Regional Cave Safety Officer
International Safe Cave Diving Award
Wakulla Gold Safe Cave Diving Award
Hello and welcome to the website! First off, let me say that I hope you get as much satisfaction and pleasure as I have from spending time in the beautiful waters that populate our earth. While I love all forms of diving, my passion is definitely caves and of course all the technical aspects that go along with that. Since I work at a dive shop in the heart of "cave country", I've met a wide variety of divers and educators and have been fortunate enough to learn from and dive with some of the most accomplished cave divers and technical instructors in the world.
Although cave and technical training can be rigorous and demanding, I will do my best to make your course a relaxed and enjoyable experience. My teaching philosophy is for students to have fun, while teaching them the skills, practices and mindset needed to safely dive in the overhead environment, tempered with a strong emphasis on conservation and safety. The leading cause of diver death in the cave environment is lack of training, either having no training at all or diving beyond their training limitations, so it's extremely important that you get a good solid grounding in the basics.
Living where I do, I'm lucky enough to average somewhere between two and three hundred cave dives a year, which enables me to provide you with friendly, experienced and thorough instruction. By offering a wide range of courses through a number of different agencies, I have the freedom to provide instruction designed just for you. It also means that we have the ability to manipulate your training curriculum with both short and long term goals in mind. I firmly believe that education should not end with class, but develop into a mentoring process and as much as I love teaching, my schedule tends to reflect the fact that one must set aside time for personal diving and exploration with friends/former students.
Of course, one does not pick a cave or mixed gas instructor without knowing a
little bit about them, so let me give you a brief history of my diving
background. Since completing my original scuba certification in 1991, I’ve been
completely enraptured and absorbed by our underwater world. After graduating
from university with a business degree, I had the privilege of being exposed to
a wide variety of diving environments. These ranged from the kelp fields of
California to hard hat diving in Texas, as well as gazing upon the bottomless
walls of Belize and shooting photos of stingrays in the Caymans. While living in
the Virgin Islands in the early nineties, I started
working as a dive master
after a grueling internship
and in 1994 gained my
open water instructor rating. Later that summer, I vividly remember taking a
trip to High Springs and making my first dives into the Devil’s Eye and Ear,
followed by forays into Peacock Slough and the wild flow of Little River. While
I didn’t quite realize it at the time, by taking those first steps into the
captivating underwater labyrinths
of North Florida, I'd end up being completely hooked on cave diving!
Luckily,
I had the opportunity to move to the High Springs area a number of years ago to
fulfill my dream of being able to cave dive as much as I wanted. One thing led
to another and not only did I end up teaching the sport I love, but also marrying the woman of my dreams,
shortly followed by a bouncing, baby girl! When I'm not out
cave diving
I can be found
giving presentations to local dive clubs
about cave safety,
or discussing new ideas and theories with other divers in our area.
I find that one must approach cave and mixed gas diving as an ongoing learning
process, be open minded to new ideas and flexible to change, as well as
constantly trying to push oneself to do things just a little bit better.
If you'd like to know more about where we live and cave dive, please have a look at my "cave diving page", which is basically an online resource of general information about the area of North Central Florida known as "cave country". The page has links to current cave conditions, maps and directions to underwater cave systems, places to stay with contact information, where to get nitrox and other gases as well as rental gear, and also talks briefly about the local dive shops, fill stations and equipment dealers in the area.
I'd also like to extend my thanks to Gene Page and Jill Heinerth, whose underwater photography is featured on this site and as always, if you have any questions regarding equipment, training, scheduling or any other aspect of cavern and cave diving please feel free to contact me at rich@netcommander.com and generally I will respond back to you within twelve to twenty-four hours.
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