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Find An Instructor
Directory of Active Status LA
County Underwater Instructors |
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The following is a list of
some of our active status LA County Underwater
Instructors in your local area. If you are
interested in obtaining scuba certification or have
questions about certification, please feel free to
contact any of our Instructors listed below: |
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Instructor |
Contact Information |
Certifications |
Mike Bove |
Phone:
(714) 642-7721
Website:
www.pacscuba.com
Email:
mbove@lacountyscuba.com |
LA County Instructor, NAUI Instructor, NAUI
Instructor Trainer, IANTD Instructor,
TDI Instructor, DAN O2 Instructor, NSC & ASHI
First Aid, CPR and AED Instructor. |
Service Area
Long Beach, Orange County
and Los Angeles
Specialties
Gas Blending, Advanced Nitrox, Dräger Dolphin
Semi-Closed Circuit Rebreather, Decompression
Procedures, Wreck Diving and U/W Photography.
Bio
Mike started diving in 1996 while growing up in
New York and renewed his interest while serving
as a sergeant in the United States Army in
Kuwait. In 2005, Mike decided to take the plunge
(pun intended) and become an instructor.
Mike is a graduate of the Halls International
Career Diving Institute. In the same week he has
been known to go from teaching a basic scuba
diver course to preparing technical divers for
150 foot mixed-gas decompression dives.
Mike’s dive travel has taken him to the Persian
Gulf, St. Lucia, the Dominican Republic, the
Florida Keys, and the Pacific Coast, from
Washington down to Mexico. On days when the
southern CA beaches are closed to divers you can
find Mike on his surfboard! |
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Instructor |
Contact Information |
Certifications |
David Bunch |
Phone:
(818) 786-2546
Website:
None
Email:
bunch.d@sbcglobal.net |
LA County Instructor and
NAUI Instructor. |
Service Area
Greater Los Angeles and
San Fernando Valley Areas.
Specialties
Basic, Intermediate and Advanced Certifications.
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. |
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Instructor |
Contact Information |
Certifications |
Jay Burke |
Phone:
(714) 728-0501
Website:
www.bluewaterdiving.net
Email:
jburke@lacountyscuba.com |
LA County Instructor and
NAUI Instructor. |
Service Area
Orange County
Specialties
Cavern Diving, U/W Hunting & Collecting, U/W
Videography, Night Diving and Deep Diving.
Bio
Jay Burke has been
passionate about Scuba Diving for over 27 years.
He has an obsession for Cavern Diving and is
working on his full Cave Diving certification.
He has also dove the Cayman Islands, Bahamas,
Cozumel, the Sonates in Cancun, Aruba and of
course the Hawaiian Islands.
Also growing up in
Southern California he has logged hundreds of
dives throughout the Channel Islands as well. |
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Instructor |
Contact Information |
Certifications |
Jay Canfield |
Phone:
(562) 741-3861
Website:
www.bluewaterdiving.net
Email:
jcanfield@lacountyscuba.com |
LA County Instructor, NAUI Instructor, NAUI
Instructor Trainer. |
Service Area
Long Beach, Los Angeles
and Orange County.
Specialties
U/W Photography, U/W Videography, Ecology, Night
Diving, Wreck Diving and Deep Diving.
Bio
Jay Canfield has been
actively involved in Scuba instruction for over
28 years. When he is not teaching, you can find
him underwater somewhere taking photos. Being
born and raised in beautiful Southern
California, Jay has dove all along the coast
from Baja to Monterey.
During his lifetime, Jay has also had the
opportunity to dive around the world. He has
dove throughout Hawaii, the Florida Keys, the
Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, the Caribbean, the
USVI, Baja Mexico and Cozumel, but his favorite
still today is the Channel Islands of
California.
Jay has logged several hundred dives at the
islands of San Clemente, Anacapa, San Miguel,
Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Nicholas, Santa
Barbara and of course Santa Catalina island. |
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Instructor |
Contact Information |
Certifications |
Bill Lidyoff |
Phone:
(323) 726-2155
Website:
www.lacountyscuba.com
Email:
blidyoff@lacountyscuba.com |
LA County Instructor, NAUI Instructor, and NAUI
Course Director. |
Service Area
Los Angeles County.
Specialties
Open water through Instructor level courses.
Bio
Bill has been an active
diver since he was certified a LA County Diver
in 1975. His basic training led him to become an
openwater training assistant from 1976 to 1981.
In 1983 he certified as a NAUI Divemaster and
entered UICC 34 in 1987. Bill graduated
Outstanding Candidate that year and was
appointed to the Board of Directors of Los
Angeles County Underwater Instructors
Association.
He has staffed and coordinated many ADP’s and
UICC’s. Bill has received many LA County awards
over the years including; the President’s Award
1990, Outstanding Instructor and Committee
Chairman 1994, The Conrad Limbaugh Award (the
most prestigious Los Angeles County award for
diving) in 2003, and Committee Chairman for the
50th Anniversary in 2004.
He has developed many of the County underwater
programs such as SAS (Scuba Air Snorkeling) UICC
and Staff Training for UICC Divemasters and the
World of Water Festival in 2002. Bill has
conducted the County of Los Angeles Probation’s
Youth Scuba Program since 2007. He is the
co-inventor and patent holder for a scuba
regulator with Robert Wetzel (24 UICC).
In 2000 he wrote the NAUI Instructor Guides for
Scuba Diver, Advanced, Master and Rescue Diver.
Bill has been and is currently a professional in
the scuba industry since 1992. His love and
respect for County training, programs and
history has inspired him to develop this site.
His hope is to develop, preserve and share the
tradition of the Los Angeles County Underwater
programs. |
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Instructor |
Contact Information |
Certifications |
Stephen Mendel |
Phone:
(310) 413-9309
Website:
www.premierscubadiving.com
Email:
smendel@lacountyscuba.com |
LA County Instructor, PADI Instructor, CMAS
Instructor, HSA Instructor, NAUI Instructor, and
NAUI Instructor Trainer. |
Service Area
Los Angeles, Hollywood,
San Fernando Valley.
Specialties
Nitrox, Dry-suit, Deep, Boat, Beach and
Photography.
Bio
Stephen began diving in
chilly (38 degree F.) fresh water lakes and
rivers in Quebec and upstate New York in 1976.
He began his scuba teaching career when he
endured the grueling 14 week program of the Los
Angeles County Underwater Instructor’s
Certification Course, truly boot camp for scuba
instructors.
He followed that with instructor certifications
with NAUI, PADI, YMCA, CMAS (long French acronym
which loosely translates as World Underwater
Federation) and the Handicapped Scuba
Association of America.
He began teaching at the Glendale YMCA and then
became head of instruction at Down You Go Scuba
in Monterey Park. From 2003 – 2006 he taught at
Reef Seekers Dive Company of Beverly Hills and
now spends his time teaching privately and for a
select few dive shops in the Los Angeles Area.
His base of operations is the heated, indoor, 25
meter pool at the exclusive private Los Angeles
Athletic Club in downtown L.A.
Stephen has traveled and dived the Bahamas, the
Caymans, Belize, Cozumel and Pacific Mexico,
British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec in Canada,
the Florida Keys and Palm Beach area, Hawaii,
Vermont and New York in the U.S. and Greece.
Stephen teaches all courses from Open Water,
Advanced, Rescue, and Divemaster through
Assistant Instructor. Specialties include
Enriched Air, Dry Suit, Deep Diving and others. |
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Instructor |
Contact Information |
Certifications |
Cindy Rhode |
Phone:
(909) 754-0446
Website:
www.aquaticfreedom.com
Email:
crhode@lacountyscuba.com |
LA County Instructor, NAUI Instructor, and HSA
Instructor. |
Service Area
Inland Empire.
Specialties
Adaptive Scuba Instruction
Bio
Cindy Rhode knew from the
start of scuba diving that this was something
she really loved and wanted to share with it
others, especially wanting to work with adaptive
divers. She first began working with adaptive
divers when she volunteered with the Challenges
Foundation in the fall of 2008. She began
helping disabled veterans challenged with
Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI), Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Polytrauma
conditions.
Shortly after this experience Cindy decided to
become a certified Scuba Instructor. Because of
the high standards she had for herself and for
her future students she chose to through one of
the most challenging and thorough Instructor
Training courses...the Los Angeles County
Underwater Instructor Certification Course
(UICC) where she earned both her LA County and
NAUI Instructor ratings. Shortly after
achieving those certifications she continued on
and earned her Handicap Scuba Instructor (HSA)
rating.
Since graduating, Cindy has continued the long
history of service with Los Angeles County by
volunteering as staff for both the Advanced
Diver Program (ADP) and the 3R;s (Rocks, Rips
and Reefs) educational programs offered each
summer by the Department of Parks and
Recreation.
Cindy loves the water and can be found in the
ocean practically every weekend either on skin
or scuba. When she is not teaching Cindy is
more than likely taking pictures underwater,
often only while skin diving. |
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Instructor |
Contact Information |
Certifications |
Tom Wetzel |
Phone:
(310) 677-8776
Website:
None
Email:
twetzel@lacountyscuba.com |
LA County Instructor and NAUI Instructor. |
Service Area
Glendale, San Fernando Valley, San Gabriel
Valley, Los Angeles, West Los Angeles, South Bay.
Specialties
Basic, Intermediate and Advanced Certifications.
Bio
Coming Soon! |
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Instructor |
Contact Information |
Certifications |
Seeloong Young |
Phone:
(661) 435-4750
Website:
None
Email:
syoung@lacountyscuba.com |
LA County Instructor and NAUI Instructor.. |
Service Area
Santa Clarita, Antelope
Valley and San Fernando Valley.
Specialties
Open water certifications.
Bio
Coming Soon! |
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