I first wanted to learn scuba in college after discovering it was offered for gym credit. Once I saw the cost, I realized it wasn’t realistic at the time. Two years after graduating, I earned my PADI certification at RIT, taught by an ex–Navy SEAL instructor whose standards were far more rigorous than the minimum requirements.

I only made one dive after that before moving to Hawaii nearly a decade later, where scuba quickly became part of daily life. I rented a house right on the beach on Oahu’s North Shore, surrounded by friends and neighbors who were serious divers, many of them Rescue Divers and Divemasters. My circle included a PADI Course Director named Ray, the level responsible for training and certifying instructors. After several dives together, Ray offered me an opportunity I couldn’t pass up: if he could stay at my place for a couple of weeks during a move, he would put me through the instructor course at no charge.

I completed the program and earned my PADI OWSI (Open Water Scuba Instructor) certification, then began teaching as a freelance instructor for two dive shops on Oahu’s North Shore, based in Haleiwa.

One experience in particular captures the “Dive with Dave” approach. While serving as Director of Photography for The Sugar Cane Shack, a cooking show that aired on OC-16 in Honolulu, I attended a content conference in Las Vegas and met Tom, a self-employed entrepreneur from San Diego whose wife had family in Hawaii. We stayed in touch, and I offered to take him diving on his next visit.

The best conditions during his trip were for a deep wreck dive, but Tom hadn’t been in the water for a long time and was understandably nervous. I walked him through the plan step by step, emphasized that it would be just the two of us, and made it clear we could call the dive at any time, for any reason. I also explained that once you settle in around 30 feet, going deeper is often far less dramatic than people expect.

After the dive, Tom told me I was “right about everything” and that the experience was exactly as I had described it. Then he said, “You’re too good at this to be working for other people. Pick a name and send me some photos, I’m going to build you a website.”

That conversation launched DiveWithDave.com – a turning point that combined rigorous training, real-world experience, and a calm, confidence-building teaching style into a professional diving brand.