Steve Lunsford diving@thediveshop.pro

I have always liked water sports and loved snorkeling. On a trip with three high school buddies after graduation, I had the opportunity to snorkel at John Pennekamp State Park in Key Largo, Florida. After I saw the living reef, I returned to Albany and signed up for SCUBA class at Albany Junior College. I made sure I got into the SCUBA class before I went on to register for English and Algebra. I was one of many students taught by Coach James V. Miller over the years.

I became certified after the classroom and pool sessions. I dove with the college for many years, towing the college boat to the Keys and helping the coach with students. I also assisted Odyssey Dive Center in Albany on their dive trips.

My wife, Debbie, snorkeled on the surface during her first trip to the Keys, watching me while I spearfished 70 feet below. After stating that she no longer wanted to be “a top water plug,” she became certified and I got a great dive buddy. My son, Andrew, and daughter, Erin, are divers, and we have enjoyed many diving vacations together.

I finally became a Divemaster in 2000 and then a YMCA instructor in 2001. I am currently a Divemaster with PADI and an Instructor with NAUI. I prefer the NAUI teaching system over the PADI system. I also teach a SCUBA program at Camp Osborne for the Boy Scouts and got tagged with the nickname of “SCUBA Steve.”

I love to dive and I want to teach anyone I can to enjoy the underwater world as I have since 1974. It’s not just SCUBA certification, it’s a lifestyle you will enjoy with new friends and destinations for a lifetime.

Barry Bell diving@thediveshop.pro

Woohoo! Will you ever forget your first dive? It was 1975 and I was 17. I had never taken a lesson and headed to the beach in Lake Worth, Florida with some friends. On went the steel tank and weights, my black rubber mask (with built-in purge on the front), and solid rubber jet fins like a Navy Seal. I was given one rule to remember: NEVER HOLD YOUR BREATH! We headed out to the first set of rocks off the beach in about 60' of water. We were so over weighted that we were standing on the bottom in the sand. We looked like the plastic scuba divers in a fish tank standing around the treasure chest.

In 1995 my family wanted to learn to scuba dive, so all of us were certified and the “scuba bug” bit hard. At the time I was a Scout Master for Troop 15 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Albany, Georgia and realized the great potential for this sport to promote family values and as a tool for parents to connect with their children. I became a YMCA SCUBA instructor and initiated the SCUBA program for summer camp in Southwest Georgia. I concentrated on working with youth and youth groups.

Over the years I have been able to see the difference that diving has made to both the youth and the adults I have instructed. I don’t think there is a better way for parents to connect with their children than through diving together. It is a sport they can participate in as equals for the rest of their lives. As for couples: you just have to try it and you will understand.

Jason Webb diving@thediveshop.pro

Who doesn’t enjoy diving?!? I started diving as a means to get a friend to stop bugging me to get in the water! Now, he can’t shut me up about getting in the water!

In 2014, I was sent to the small island of Okinawa, Japan to serve out a tour with the Marine Corps. Little did I know about the adventures I would embark upon. I would always visit the base dive shop just to browse and eventually got into snorkeling. If you know Marines, I am sure that you can imaging the riff raff that came from my Marine dive buddies over and over again. I had been on many combat dive excursions and seemed to relate commercial diving to that which my military instructors taught. WORK, WORK, WORK! Finally, I gave it a shot just so it would hush my pals, lol. That’s where it started! My passion of the underwater grew with each rising day! If I was awake, I was diving!

After becoming a Dive Master, and logging over 1500 dives in the Pacific Ocean and East China Sea, I now knew what it was like to get a taste of teaching this newfound passion that I had and made the decision to go for the instructor level. My passion for aquatics and sea life isn’t explainable! Every time I am in the water I find something new: a new creature, a new crevice, a new way to dive all around and I love it. My biggest passion is the young divers and kids who are eager to learn about the underwater world, and with 70% of the earth consisting of water, there are plenty of opportunities to pass on plenty of knowledge.

My name is Jason (known to my buddies as Skipper) and my passion is teaching diving and the knowledge of diving. Come join me for that fun-filled adventure that you will never regret taking!