IANTD Instructor Trainer for: Nitrox Diver thru Advanced Nitrox Diver and Dry Suit Diver PADI Instructor for Open Water thru Assistant Instructor PADI Emergency First Responder Instructor PADI Emergency Oxygen Provider Instructor PADI Specialty Instructor for: Peak Performance Buoyancy Diver, Equipment Specialist, Dry Suit Diver, Boat Diver, Digital U/W Photography Full EANx Cave Diver (NACD, NSSCDS & IANTD) and IANTD Gas Blender Favorite Dive Location:Underwater Dive Center The Exuma Islands – Bahamas There are numerous dive sites in the Exumas and they are all spectacular. I have dove many locations all over the world, but when thinking about marine life, none compare. When I visited the Exumas, I was on a 70 foot live aboard dive boat. During the week of non-stop diving, I had the opportunity to see everything that you can imagine. During the trip we did dawn dives, morning dives, afternoon, dusk and night dives. We did drift dives, shallow dives, deep dives. As far as the marine life, I saw turtles, lobster, schools of eagle rays, eels, bull sharks, hammerhead sharks and so much more. If you are ever given the opportunity to dive in the Exuma Islands, I would say it is a must. Most Memorable Dive: Salt Cay – Turks & Caicos Swimming with Humpback Whales. The whole week was an experience to last a lifetime. Salt Cay is one of the Turks & Caicos islands that only inhibits 82 people. Only 10 tourists are able to come to the island at a time as there is only one hotel on the island. Donkeys, goats, chickens and roosters roam the island. There are not any restaurants on the island so locals took turns feeding our group of divers. We first had to fly into Providenciales. From there we took a puddle jumper to Grand Turk and then over to Salt Cay. Before we were able to land, they had to heard the cattle off of the runway. Once we landed, the adventure began. We were there to encounter the Humpback whales. When you are standing on the shore, you can see them spouting water all over the horizon. During the dives, you can hear them singing the entire time. That was memorable enough, but what came next was unbelievable. As we were coming back from one of our dives, we encountered three humpback whales; Mom, Dad and baby. We all carefully slipped into the water. The Mother was so excited to show off her new calf, she swam around in circles while the Dad stayed a deeper in the water. Everyone knows that Humpbacks are very large, but seeing them in real life is so unbelievable. The baby was larger than a full size van and the Mother was at least 4 times its size. When I first put my head in the water, I couldn’t believe my eyes. They swam around with us on the surface for about 30-45 minutes and then at that point, the Dad decided that was enough. He made a noise and all 3 turned and began to swim away. One thing they did before they left is they rose to the surface and waved their pectoral fins at us just as though they were saying good-by to us. During our stay on Salt Cay we were lucky enough to encounter the Humpbacks 3 more times. It was a once in a life-time experience.