It was 1990 and I was fidgeting in my grade school classroom on career day. If you know me at all, fidgeting keeps me occupied, I would much rather be out diving or adventuring than sitting at any desk. Suddenly, the next career day presenter was a Scuba Center owner, and the next thing you know, my fidgeting stopped! I was mesmerized by the slide show of the shipwrecks off New Jersey and the Scuba gear and information Brownie presented to my classmates and I. I had never taken a breath under water at this point, but I was hooked.  At the end of the presentation, I grabbed one of every sticker Brownie had to offer, the biggest, a bumper sticker said, Discover Diving! For the next two years, I badgered my parents to not only let me get certified, but of course to pay for it too.

Have passport will travel! Whenever Everette is not at the dive center, there is a good chance he is somewhere exploring the world. One of his goals is to visit every country on the planet and has logged frequent flyer miles and dives in some of the famous and most obscure places imaginable. As a birthday present over 30 years ago, he was certified by a fraternity brother and began diving in the Red Sea. Ultimately he quickly rose through the ranks as an explorer, advocating for the underwater world, and achieved the rating of PADI Course Director developing the careers of other PADI pros on several continents. 

Like many of his generation, Sheldon Bender was drawn to diving as an 8 year old sitting front of a black and white television fascinated by the adventures of Mike Nelson in the iconic weekly television series “Sea Hunt”

How did I get into diving? As is typical for someone “of a certain age”, I grew up watching Lloyd Bridges in Sea Hunt reruns and the Jacques Cousteau series as they were broadcast. I didn’t truly get into diving until I was a senior in college and went to sign up for a fun fencing class. It did not fit into my schedule but I ran into a teammate in the hall who said he just signed up for a Scuba Class! Sounded good, it fit my schedule, so I did too. That was in 1981.

I started diving in college in 1989, when I needed a PE credit. I had always love the water and always wanted to try SCUBA diving. I instantly fell in love. I dove on and off over the years but life got in the way. Eventually, my three sons got old enough to become my permanent dive buddies so I decided to go all the way. As a music educator, I love sharing my passion for music. It made sense to go the professional path of PADI and share my passion for diving as well and advanced to level of PADI Staff Instructor. Many years later, I still wish I could be under the water every day. 

Shello!  I'm Rachel, aka "Minnie Mermaid.”  Whether you are interested in scuba diving or mermaid diving, I'm here to help!

I became an Open Water Scuba Instructor in August of 2020, a Mermaid Instructor in 2025 and love introducing new divers to the beauty and fun that comes with the underwater world.

A competitive swimmer as a child and teen, Lee’s first scuba dive was in 1986 when working in the British Virgin Islands—dipping his toes in the water and experiencing what is now referenced as the PADI Discover Scuba Diving course. 

I am a diver. Diving is and has been a singular passion of mine since my childhood in the 1960s when I would watch Jacques Cousteau explore the world’s oceans aboard his famous research vessel Calypso and Lloyd Bridges starring as the scuba diving Florida detective Mike Nelson on Sea Hunt. The first time I saw a live diver was when my mother took 8-year-old me and my siblings to the aquarium outside of Boston in 1969. There was a large tank with no fish as it was probably undergoing maintenance but there was a diver in that tank working and that was what I could not stop looking at for what seemed like forever…

Rick’s passion for the underwater world began in childhood, inspired by Sea Hunt and the adventures of Jacques Cousteau. A family snorkeling trip to Mexico later transformed that fascination into action; observing from the surface was no longer enough. Rick earned his scuba certification soon after and has been exploring & teaching beneath the surface ever since.

I got into diving when I was on a cruise in Cozumel and did a discover scuba. The moment I descended, I knew I was hooked.

I first fell in love with the ocean as a teenager living in Hawaii. Never content to sit on the beach, I learned to free dive and surf and spent as much time in the water as possible. 

After becoming a certified open water diver in 1996, I immediately invested in all of my own gear and started my path to becoming a Divemaster. I was in college studying Marine Biology in the Pacific Northwest so most of my diving was in the chilly but beautiful waters off the coast of Northern California, Oregon, Washington and British Colombia. A lot of people think about diving tropical reefs, never realizing how much colorful life and biodiversity you see when exploring a kelp forest! 
 

Scuba Diving is something that I have always interested in trying, while on vacation in Mexico I had a huge fail on a try dive experience.  A year later my son went on vacation to Mexico with his grandparents. Upon his return he would not stop talking about his scuba diving experience in the pool.  After learning that he could not get certified until he turned ten. I promised him that when he was old enough to take the course, I would pay for his certification. When he turned ten our new adventure began. My son and his Godfather and I (dive buddies) began our adventure into the world of scuba diving. 

The two things I love most in life: travel and being underwater… and Thai food…

Growing up in Arizona didn’t really lend itself to diving, so it wasn’t until I was travelling Indonesia in 2023 that I even saw it as an option for myself. But from the moment I saw my first sea turtle, I was hooked. Within the week, I was Open Water certified and within the year, I was a Divemaster.

As a Philly native I spent a lot of time as a little kid fishing off the coast of New Jersey. I've always loved the water and wondered what was down below. My son and I got certified in 2018 to learn something new together where we'd both be complete novices. 

Stephen has always been fascinated by the underwater world. He finally took the plunge and earned his diving certification while on vacation. He loves to say, however, that even though he was certified on vacation, he truly learned to dive with the amazing team at Blue Crew Divers.

I began diving in 2023 as part of my work as a coral reef marine biologist. Diving quickly became essential to both my science and my sense of purpose. Being underwater allows me to study reefs directly—collecting data, observing coral health and documenting change in real time.

From the moment I discovered scuba diving as a teenager in the early 1990s, I knew my future would be beneath the surface. After earning my first certification at age 15, I quickly turned my passion into a lifelong career. I have been a dive professional in the Philadelphia area since 1997 and full-time since 2001, dedicating myself entirely to the diving industry.
 

Everette is a graduate of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. He is a PADI Platinum Course Director and Instructor Trainer at recreational, technical, and professional levels. He has managed dive centers and instructor development programs in Jordan, Honduras, Trinidad & Tobago, Fiji, and two locations in the US. He has authored several diving courses. He has been part of the Blue Crew Pro Instructor Development Team since 2019.

As a 2016 graduate of the University of Maine School of Marine Sciences, Colby earned her Scuba Instructor certification through Blue Crew Divers in 2020. Today, the combination of her degree and professional diving credentials have earned her the position of Diving Safety Officer at the University of Maine. Colby overseas all scuba education and scientific diving conducted throughout UMaine.

As a Graduate from Lamar University with a BS in Biology and the University of Maine with a MS in Marine Biology and Marine Policy, Lis oversees the daily dive operations within the Moody Gardens Aquarium. Lis became a PADI Scuba Instructor through Chris and Blue Crew Divers in the Fall of 2020. Lis also helps with equipment maintenance, leading training events, and participates in field expeditions for the aquarium.

When not moonlighting as a blue and mako shark guide off Cape Point, Kevin works as an environmental consultant throughout Africa. Kevin is frequently in the field deploying and recovering instruments as part of commercial scientific diving. Kevin is a 2016 Graduate of the University of Delaware School of Marine Science. Kevin earned his professional Scuba credentials with Chris and Blue Crew Divers in 2013.