Meet the Cyborg Pirate Team

I began diving in 1994 in the USAF. Back then the military’s idea of dive training was “Here take this gear, make it work and don’t kill yourselves!” Unfortunately for me that was a big turn off to diving. 20 years later my wife wanted us to get dive certified to enjoy an excursion on our honeymoon to Bora Bora. Reluctantly, I agreed. When I learned about fun diving, I was hooked. Literally went off the deep end.

 In those years I have logged over 5600 dives. 1200+ of them being on CCR (Closed Circuit Rebreather), 5 different units, totaling well over 2100 hours on CCR. I worked my way up through the ranks from Open Water to Master Diver. Then I jumped into professional diving as a Divemaster and Assistant Instructor, and eventually Instructor.  The technical realm is where I love to spend my time whether it be in a set of doubles or full-out trimix deep on my rebreathers.  I love teaching technical diving.  

 Come join us. Let me share my passion with you and teach you how to enjoy the life under the surface. Let’s go diving!!!!

I began diving in 1988 while I was in the Marine Corps at the Navy Scuba School located in Panama City, FL. Also, I dove at Little Creek, Virginia at their Amphibious Assault School. This was all for work…no fun.

I didn’t resume diving again for work, until 2017 at Lake Pleasant Marina. During my time there, I met Captain Forrest Packebush and assisted him with restoring Diver Down. Since that time, I have grown as a diver and learned to appreciate scuba diving as a relaxing sport and having fun.

I started diving in 2012 at the request of my brother. He wanted to go after Megalodon shark teeth in Florida. After diving in water with 2-3’ visibility I traveled to the Florida Keys. I was hooked immediately. I progressed from OW to DM to Instructor to Instructor Trainer over the past years. I am also an Instructor Trainer for DAN and the American Red Cross. I enjoy watching new divers “get it” and begin a lifelong love affair with diving. For those who want to go further, I have fun teaching the teachers. I look forward to diving with others to share my experiences and learn from their experiences.

I’m the owner of one CCR, maybe more in the future. I fell in love with CCR while on a trip to Truk. Watching other CCR divers stay down for 2-3 hours, I was jealous and found a way to acquire my own shortly after that trip. My goal is to travel to other wreck sites around the world and experience history others can only read about.

Being a crew member means I get to meet new people and share stories about our love affair with the underwater world. Jump in!

I learned to dive in 2005 on a vacation to Maui.  Somewhere between breathing underwater, becoming weightless, the feeling of “flying” through a seemingly alien world full of life or the peaceful meditation of just listening to the underwater sounds - I knew I was hooked for life! Diving has shown me underwater wrecks, tons of new creatures I never knew existed and caves with mystery behind every turn. It’s also brought along new friends and the opportunity to share an exciting new world to others.

RaRa moved alone to Arizona in March of 2023 and decided to try scuba in order to try something she had always wanted to do and to meet friends. She got certified middle of September 2023, and she caught the dive fever right away. She made many friends, and got 77 dives in her first year. Currently working towards Dive Master, she has a love of being in the water and helping others others enjoy the water. She is looking to go the tech route as well after spending some time as a Dive Master. Diving is her happy place away from her desk job and the other stresses of the world. She is also a mermaid of the lake (tail and all).