LA's Scuba Dive Team - Learn Scuba From LA's Best Dive Professionals

Qualified to Teach: Technical, Nitrox, Deep, Night, Search & Recovery, Wreck, Rescue

Student Certifications: 2500+

Bio: I grew up and started diving here in Los Angeles when I was a youngster and here I am, diving every weekend. But after diving throughout the years I began to notice a change in the local eco-system. Less fish at our local reefs, no more Otters, no more Abalone, less Giant Sea Bass and an unbalanced Kelp-Forests due to warming waters. Fueled by my love of diving and concern for our reefs I started volunteering in the Kelp restoration projects and teaching ecological courses. Now Eco Dive Center is my home, the first solar powered dive shop with the best eco-minded dive team. I've taught diving all over the world and I have never seen such a fun group of energetic, strict on safety and dedicated eco-minded teammates.

My Gear: All Aqua Lung, Suunto and Apeks dive gear

Qualified to Teach: Instructor for 18 different specialties, Beginners, Advanced, Rescue, Dive master and Instructors

Student Certifications: 1100+

Bio: There are three things I love most about diving. Teaching swimming, snorkeling and bubble making to the community's young future divers lets me share my passions with our next generation. I also enjoy traveling & diving the world, I've been to amazing reefs like Australia's Great Barrier Reef, Cancun & Cozumel, Thailands Similan Islands, Fiji, Costa Rica and the famous Galapagoes... but our SoCal Islands are still my favorite. Our waters have the some of the most biodiversity in the world & that gives me lots to teach. So, look out for my "Eco Diver Specialty Course" that I'm creating. I also love watching people change because of scuba diving. Transform another human being & change a life for the better - forever. This is why I love my jobs... co-owner of Eco, travel agent, scuba instructor and volunteer diver for organizations like Heal the Bay and AWARE. Lots of jobs... but I love it!

Qualified to Teach: Beginner to dive professional

Student Certifications: 250+

Bio: I was born in Huntington Beach CA, I began surfing at the young age of 10. I was instantly hooked and found myself spending all my free time at our local break. I found a connection with the ocean that provided a serenity that could not be matched by anything or anyone else. Having spent so much time surfing and never living more than a mile from the beach I became interested in what creatures and critters lived under the surface of the water I spent so much time on. The next logical step was to get SCUBA certified, and so I did during a surf vacation in Panama in 2007. After that 1st dive I was hooked, the excitement of breathing underwater was amazing. I saw how my OW instructor moved through the water so gracefully and effortless and wanted to be at that level. After returning to Los Angeles I signed up for my AOW class and then wreck and ultimately made the decision to go pro. I wanted to share what I and many before me had found in scuba diving. The thrill and excitement of underwater exploration can not be matched.

My Gear: All Aqua Lung gear

Qualified to Teach: Everything cool

Student Certifications: 150+

Bio: Born in England and tagging along to the East coast with my family at a buck toothed and awkward age, I began diving when my father tossed me into the pool to find a leak. What began as a chore, soon took me into the salty (and less than clear) waters of Long Island Sound. Diving extensively all through the West Indies, my work as an Ichtchyologist eventually led me to the frigid land of the Arctic interior, where not much diving really gets done. Coming to Southern California by accident rekindled my interest, and diving through the amazing kelp forests took me right back to the stories of peter pan I heard as a young boy. Working for Heal the Bay (an environmental non-profit) I have dove throughout Southern California and my passion for underwater photography has helped me share what this crazy Ocean has to offer. Research in Belize, studying the positive effects of Marine Protected Areas, helped me realize how much care we need to take with our Ocean, yet how resilient it is. Diving has allowed me to find peace and tranquility in an otherwise hectic world, and my goal as an instructor is to share it with as many people as I can so they can spread the word of its fantastic beauty and wonder. 90% of the life on Earth cant be wrong… the Ocean is the place to be!

My Gear: All primo Aqualung

Qualified to Teach: All the core PADI classes and some additional specialties like, Nitrox and Photo. Fluent in Mandarin

Student Certifications: 250+

Bio: Growing up on a tiny island in Asia, it was ironic that I was an aquaphobe. Refusing to give in to irrational fear, I decided the best course of action was to do something extreme. During summer break in 1999, I flew to a tiny island in Malaysia, and got certified as an Open Water Diver. Since then, it has been an amazing odyssey which has brought me all over the USA and Asia diving and sharing my love of the underwater realm with students eager to jump into the water and explore. My passions include macro photography and muck diving which was fuelled by trips to Mabul and Lembeh Straits, the muck diving capital of the world. Even our local beaches can offer excellent muck diving opportunities with lots of cool critters to be found in the sand and I never pass up an opportunity to dive them.

Qualified to Teach: Specialty Instructor – 16 Specialties

Student Certifications: 250+

Bio: I got interested in scuba diving in the early 90’s after a vacation to the Cayman Islands. Not certified yet, I spent the vacation snorkeling and wishing I could stay down longer with the marine life. By the next vacation I was certified and have been actively diving since. After many years of diving I became a Divemaster in 2001. I started a local dive club that grew to several hundred members. The dive club had one important theme, that being, continue your diving education and be a safe and active diver. The dive club enabled me to utilize my Divemaster skills by being a mentor to many new divers, and, by taking new divers and having them gain experience through active diving. On a professional level I enjoyed Divemaster duties, especially during open water classes. In 2007 before I knew it I was a PADI instructor. Since that time I focused on teaching advance courses through Divemaster. I look forward to the challenge of teaching new students at Eco Dive Center and watching these same students learn as they progress through their diving careers by continuing their education and remaining active divers.

My Gear: My gear: I have a lot of gear. All the cool s**t, just ask and I'll tell you why I dive in all the cool s**t.

Qualified to Teach: Everything!

Student Certifications: 12000+

Bio: Dave Bunch certified as a basic SCUBA diver in 1962. In 1964 Dave completed the L.A. County's 13TH Underwater Instructors Certification Course (13 U.I.C.C.) and began teaching-certifying divers the very next day. That same year, the first L.A. County Advanced Diver Program started and Dave staffed the first through the 40Th as a dive master and assisted in all other ADP's to date. He has also staffed 14 U.I.C.C.'s as an instructor dive master. Awards over the years are many and include: Outstanding Service as an Instructor to the Underwater Program ( 1967), Outstanding Underwater Instructor (1972, Conrad Limbaugh Award (1993), Presidents Award (1988) and was the recipient of the California SCUBA Service Award (2006). Dave also served on the Board of Director's for the Underwater Instructors Association for many years, and participates in the 3R's Program. He leads three snorkel tours, two days a week at Catalina Island. Dive interests include teaching Basic SCUBA(open water), Intermediate and Advanced Diving Courses, diving for Jade, Spear fishing, game taking, photography, fresh water lake and river diving and Search and salvage diving. Dave worked aboard Princess Cruises (The Love Boat) for ten years teaching crew members and with Astronaut training at the Johnson Space Center's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory for three years while working at The Boeing Company. Previous to that he was in charge of diving operations for Garrett Air Research Mfg. Co. with the first space walks for the Gemini program.

My Gear: ScubaPro, Xcel, Atomic and Zeagle.

Qualified to Teach: Scuba Diver, Open Water, Advanced Open Water, Rescue, Divemaster, Specialty Courses

Student Certifications: 250+

Bio: I learned to scuba dive in 2002 off the coves of Laguna Beach, CA. There's not much I'd rather do than strapping on a tank. It's my escape from the cubicles of corporate America and the next best thing to being an astronaut. My car is always sandy and my wetsuit is rarely dry. I dived all along Southern CA before making a temporary move to the midwest. Not satisfied with silty, dead rock quarries and rusty, sunken cars, I came back home to the glorious Pacific. There is nowhere else in the world where you can fly and chase sunlight through a kelp forest, see dozens of species, and have a seal as your dive buddy all in the same weekend. Scuba diving can be whatever you want it to be - a leisurely stroll, high octane adventure, or a relaxing night looking up at the stars as the ocean cradles you gently. Let us show you a world you never knew existed and you'll understand first hand why it's so important to keep it safe. There's a whole lot of planet you haven't seen yet... you want in?

My Gear: I nice mix of ScubaPro and Apex regs.

Qualified to Teach: All of it!

Student Certifications: 250+

Bio: I grew up in Long Beach. Most of my youth was spent surfing and fishing as far up as Santa Barbara to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. There wasn’t much that kept me out of the water. The tranquility of the ocean was replaced with a stint with the Army which kept me away for some time. Upon returning home I continued where I left off but that passion soon wore off, it wasn’t the same, I wanted to see what was below our waters. I got certified in 2003. My renewed love for the ocean drove me to continue with diving until I achieved instructor level with L.A. County and NAUI. It has allowed me to spread that passion to others and help preserve one the best eco systems in the world. I have assisted with the Santa Monica College diving program and worked as a Dive master onboard the Mr. C Dive Boat. California remains as one of my favorite places to dive for its unique kelp forest and species.

My Gear: ahhh mix of everything cool.

Qualified to Teach: Everything!

Student Certifications: 35

Bio: On one of my family's kayaking trips to the Florida Keys, we paddled out to a small island off Key Largo, parked everything on a beach, donned snorkeling gear, and proceeded to snorkel around it. I became so entranced by what I was seeing under the surface that I failed to circle and instead swam a straight line, only looking up when it was getting too deep to see what was beneath me. My family was hundreds of yards away, waving and yelling to get my attention. I waved back. Then I put my face back down into that brave new world and kicked towards them, completely unaware (as only an 8-year old can be), that there was any cause for concern. Since then, whenever possible, I've been in the water. I got my open water certification in Australia back in 2001, spent (too little) time in the Galapagos Islands, got my advanced in the Caribbean, and spent my last year braving the mysterious waters of southern California. With Eco, I trained in numerous specialties, obtaining my Master Scuba Diver rating before deciding to go Pro and become a Divemaster. There's nothing like showing the underwater world to people for the first time and I hope to keep doing it for a long time.

Student Certifications: 30+

Bio: Born and raised in the sandy desert of Scottsdale, AZ I grew up practically living in our pool and with a passion for the sea which I only saw on summer vacations. I earned my Open Water SCUBA certification in 2003 on a family trip to Hawaii, and dreamed of getting under the water while back in the desert for college at the University of Arizona (Tucson). The summer of my junior year I traveled back to Hawaii for an internship with Dolphin Dreams Images (Hawaii Internship Blog). There I earned my Advanced Open Water certification while learning the ins and outs of running an underwater videography business. I knew from the moment I sat in the pool by the Sheraton assisting in a Scuba Introduction during my internship in Hawaii that I wanted to teach diving. I moved to California within weeks of graduating college and after finding a job and getting settled, I made my first California dive in the summer of 2008. From the moment I descended I have been hooked. The temperate reefs and kelp forests out here are so beautiful and much more mysterious than the tropic Hawaiian waters I dove previously. I also have a passion for photography and yearn for the day when I can afford to buy a dSLR with high quality strobes! When I'm not underwater I split my time between work, triathlon, backpacking/hiking and dreams of getting back underwater.

My Gear: • BCD: ScubaPro Bella • Regs: Aqualung Cousteau First and Second Stage with Octopus, Dacor gauges • Computer: Suunto D4 • Protection: Aqualung SolaFx 7/8mm wetsuit with Hood, Pinnacle Karbonflex Gloves and ScubaPro Boots • The Rest: Aqualung Slingshot Fins, Aqualung QuartZ Mask, ScubaPro Phoenix Snorkel, Wenoka Dive Knife, and Princeton Tec Miniwave LED and TUSA torches • Photography: Canon SD870IS with Canon Housing, Ikelight AF-35 Strobe

Bio: Ever since being a kid, I have always been interested with ocean life, with a passion for marine mammals. Pursuing a career as an aquarist, I have the pleasure of interning at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium and the California Science Center. Working with the wonderful staff at Heal the Bay, Eco Dive Center, and the California Science Center has not only gave me the opportunity to explore life in the ocean but has also let me share the wealth of knowledge to everyone I come across with.

Qualified to Teach: Technical

Student Certifications: 500+

Bio: As well as being a technical instructor, Andrew brings a wealth of experience to the classroom. He is certified in cave diving and on rebreathers, and his diving accomplishments include winning the NACD Cartography award for 2010 for mapping new passages in the Ginnie Springs system. He has over 1000 decompression dives, has dived over 9000 feet back in caves, over 500 feet deep, and done dives lasting over 7 hours. He brings this into the classroom to make sure that his classes are not just theory, but contain real world learning as a part of the learning experience. However, his day job is teaching on UCLA's MBA program, so he has lots of teaching experience as well.

Student Certifications: 69

Bio: I first got into diving when I was about ten- my father was a PADI divemaster and very much into diving, and he encouraged both my brother and myself to pursue diving through our local dive shop. I was first introduced to diving in a more structured environment at the Catalina Island Marine Institute, a three-week summer camp where I began to skin dive at the age of twelve and enjoyed it very much. At sixteen I became Open Water certified and continued with my advanced certification at about seventeen, diving mostly locally and at Catalina. I dove on and off for years, mostly at Catalina, but occasionally in Cozumel, Mexico, and once in Hawaii- the big island. At twenty-four I got into the commercial diving field, attending the Divers Institute of Technology in Seattle and was introduced to surface supplied and decompression diving, as well as more advanced physics, bubble mechanics, decompression theory, and chamber operations. I worked over the next two years in Seattle and southern Florida, doing salvage and yacht maintenance. On my off time I took several courses, one in Hyperbaric Chamber operations at the College of Oceaneering in Los Angeles, and one in Kirby Morgan Repair and Maintenance in Seattle. I also became a certified Diver Medic and Emergency Medical Technician through Prime Time Training in Hampton, Virginia. While working in Ft. Lauderdale, I pursued recreational diving further in my free time, completing the Rescue Diver and Enriched Air Diver courses through South Beach Divers in Miami. Upon my return to Los Angeles, I took a hiatus from the commercial diving industry and completed my divemaster program with Aqua Adventures in Burbank. Upon completion of my divemaster, I decided to pursue the PADI instructor certification, where I discovered the Eco Dive Center in Culver City. With the help of William Wang and the rest of the Eco dive team, I completed the instructor examination at PADI headquarters in December 2010. I look foreword to working with the Eco team, instructing and certifying new students, and continuing my education and training in the recreational diving industry.

Qualified to Teach: Open Water, Rescue and Advanced

Student Certifications: 43

Bio: I grew up along the East Coast - never more than two miles from the Atlantic Ocean - and took my first steps on the beach of the South Shore in Massachusetts. When I arrived at college, I decided it was time to take my understanding of the ocean further... and deeper! I was first exposed to scuba diving as a PE requirement for university. Even though there wasn't much to see in that murky, cold, Upstate New York lake, I was hooked on underwater exploration from my very first trip below the surface. Once I moved to California, a whole new world of diving opened up. Diving became not only an underwater adventure, but an escape from the bustle of hectic LA living, and a venue for meeting some of the most interesting people I could have imagined. I built up a community of diving friends around me who were just as passionate about experiencing what Southern California has to offer below the surface. As my experience with Southern California diving grew, so did my desire to share it with other people. I decided to take my diving to the professional level and become an instructor. Today my diving interests are focused on diving physics and physiology, sustainable ocean fisheries and population analysis, and exploring as many of Southern California's wrecks as I can! I can't wait to have you join me!

My Gear: Oceanic, Scubapro, Waterproof

Bio: Michel has been a boat captain with Club Med for 20 years, starting in the Sea of Cortez and moving up through the Caribbean Islands of St. Lucia, Bahamas, Martinique, Guadalupe, St. Martin. During the last 13 years of that, he was Captain and Operations Manager of the Scuba and Snorkeling Boats at Club Med in Turks and Caicos. In 2000, he was the Boat Captain for Tanya Streeter in Turks & Caicos when she won the world record for deepest free dive. Michel originates from a small village outside Le Mans, France. He worked as a mechanic for a private company and for the Le Mans 24 Heures race and later raced as Co-pilot in 2 Paris Dakar races. At 30, Michel left home to work on a transatlantic yacht from the Caribbean to Europe. All these travels have brought him finally to Los Angeles where he lives with his wife, Alisa, and their dog, Jack. He is now Captain of the Bat Ray for Eco and looks forward to seeing you aboard soon. Sante Bonheur!

Student Certifications: 30+

Bio: "I fell in love with diving when I was working in the Bahamas as a DJ. I worked at a resort where I witnessed on a daily basis the joy of the newly certiified divers who were celebrating their accomplishment with their instructors. I made it a goal to become an instructor to be able to share the joy of going underwater with people eager to learn and excited to discover this new world. I had the chance to dive in many beautiful places such as Thailand, Hawaii and Corsica and every new dive is a great dive. From the sight of giant manta rays swimming by, to the beautiful pictures that can be taken underwater, to the challenges such as fighting eight foot waves during a shore dive in Malibu, every dive is different and offers opportunities to improve as a diver and the best dives will bring lifetime memories and great stories to share. Of course, the beautiful dive spots around Los Angeles have become home such as Christmas Tree cove that I love diving. Catalina on a good day is unlike any other place in the world with its surreal kelp forest and makes for gorgeous backdrops for photography. Wherever I dive, I never forget to be ecologically conscious so that future students actually get a chance to observe underwater life when they go on their first open water dive."

Qualified to Teach: All the cool stuff

Student Certifications: 200

Bio: I can"t think of anything I'm more passionate about than being in, on, or by the ocean. After watching episodes of the "Undersea World Of Jacques Cousteau" and "Sea Hunt" when I was a kid I knew immediately that scuba diving was the most amazing thing ever! While snorkeling in the pristine waters of St. John/USVI when I was 11 and seeing my first tropical coral reef inhabited by barracudas, moray eels, sting rays, gigantic groupers, and a huge manta ray gliding close by on the surface I knew I had to learn how to scuba dive. Some of the most sublime experiences of my life have occurred while diving. It's these types of experiences and encounters with the most incredible life on this planet that keeps me coming back for more. I've been quite fortunate to have traveled extensively to some of the most gorgeous and remote tropical destinations and reefs around the world. In this day and age conservation is paramount and so critical to being able to preserve the delicate aquatic environment for future generations. It's those people who learn to scuba dive and participate in other aquatic activities that become the ambassadors of the ocean and actively participate in it's preservation. I love teaching people how to scuba dive and I look forward to seeing you in the water!

My Gear: Oceanic Datamax Pro Plus 2 dive computer - I love this computer and never leave home with out it! OMS mask Seaquest Pro QD BCD Excel 3mm wetsuit Bare 7mm wetsuit U.S. Divers Blade fins