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”

He was certified as an Open Water Diver in August 1979 and began diving shipwrecks off the coast of New Jersey and continued doing so for many years. He has travelled to diving locations such as Grand Cayman, BWI; Cozumel, Mexico; the Saint Lawrence River; Belize, Florida, and Truk Lagoon. He became a Divemaster in 1997, an Assistant Instructor in 2001, an Open Water Scuba Instructor in 2015, and a PADI IDC Staff Instructor in 2022. Having benefitted throughout his career from the guidance and influence of excellent instructors, he now seeks to pay it forward by helping new divers as they begin their adventure underwater.  He spent more money than he should have on a boxed set of DVDs containing every Sea Hunt episode ever filmed and, on quiet afternoons or evenings, he can be found in front of his TV winding back the clock to his earliest exposure to what has been a special part of his life for many years.