Looking Back

2015 Year in Review

PADI IDC, Two new instructors for Florida and One for Tennessee

It has been a long year here in Durham, North Carolina.  I finally feel like things are coming together, and wanted to take just a bit of time to go over what I was up to for the last year.




Bernie Campoli at DEMA Awards

In September, 2014, I came to work at Divers Alert Network, and for a large part, I left the SCUBA training arena.  I am sure many of the Instructors in Panama City were happy enough to see that happen. 

I spent my first few months with DAN just learning the ropes, and attending DEMA in Las Vegas. Next, I worked a booth at a DUI Diver Days event, watching them do dry suit orientations by the thousands. Then I started travelling, I mean that is what a Field Representative is supposed to do. 


PADI HQ

DAN DEMA 2015 Staff

I visited the Florida Panhandle in February, the Keys in March, and followed that up with a trip to Secaucus, New Jersey for Beneath The Sea.  This is a large East Coast Dive Show, and was a lot of fun.  After that, I went back to the Gulf Coast of Florida, and then down the entire Eastern Coast... On these visits, I attended two PADI Forums, Visited over 190 Dive Center, went to several diving museums, and spoke at half a dozen dive club meetings.  The best part of it was I met the diving community, not all of it, but a lot of it.



Cap't Logan Main and Beth

1st Plane Ride

In June, I tackled California, first with a visit to Northern California.  I grossly underestimated the size of Northern California... Samoa to San Luis Obispo takes a minute to drive, but I loved Pacifica and Monterey.   Again, there I got to meet some amazing people, and see some great dive centers.  After a short stint back in North Carolina to prep and recharge a bit, I went back out to Southern California.  While there, I got my first taste of LA traffic, and I hated it but the scenery was amazing.  I also got to visit PADI Headquarters and catch up with a few old friends.  While I was in California, I spoke at a few dive club meetings and visited over 90 dive centers.

Then it was time to get ready for DEMA again, this time in Orlando, Florida.  While there, I was able to catch a few minutes with hundreds of friends, spent an afternoon running around Disney, attended four events in four days after the show on behalf of DAN and got to know many of the DAN staff members much better.

Duke Gardens

Washington Monument

Somewhere along the way, I had the chance to go back to Panama City and teach a PADI IDC, create a few new instructors, became a DAN Instructor Trainer, saw Garth Brooks, ate a lot of airport food, visited Washington DC, started learning to use adobe photoshop, supported charitable events in the diving community,  saw one of my best friends get married, saw snow, saw seals,  rode on a plane with my son for the first time, and got to spend some time with my dad.  All in all, it has been a busy year here with Patti in North Carolina.  We have been busy, but productive.