Almost three decades ago, I began a journey that has led me to this place in my life.
All my best memories are tied to this place, and the activity that I have chosen as a career. As a child, my family would vacation here in Panama City Beach. Seeing the emerald waters gently rolling up onto sand so white that it could be mistaken for snow is a memory that I have shared with many friends over the years. At fifteen, I can remember telling my family that I was going to live here, and run an airbrush t-shirt shop on the beach, nothing seemed more worthwhile than becoming part of the community.
After college, I moved here and went to work teaching scuba to thousands of people, and selling a t shirt or two. Most importantly, I found a career path that I was passionate about, a community that I love dearly, and people who have helped shape my life over the past fifteen years.
I left Panama City Beach in 2014 to go and do bigger things for my community. I began working for Divers Alert Network, a safety organization that specializes in Dive Safety. As their field coordinator, I directly affected the diving community by participating in the creation of many safety programs and products. I spent three years doing good for divers around the globe. I feel great about the contribution that I made to diving during my time at DAN.
There was always something missing.
As a diving instructor, I directly touched people’s lives. Many of those divers changed careers and became diving instructors also. Others brought their families, friends and children to me so that they could learn to dive. This direct connection was sorely missed.
Now, I have returned to my roots, more knowledgeable, more dedicated than before. I am working to build a dive center that will not only allow me to reconnect directly to divers, but also allow me to work with others in the diving community around the country to make Panama City Beach the diving destination that it deserves to be. A location that holds its own with areas like Pensacola, Key Largo and Blue Heron Bridge.
Red Alert Diving is a business that we can be proud of, a group of people who all love this sport and this area, who just wanted to come home and do good. Working with groups like the Museum of Man in the Sea, Divers Alert Network, PADI, Project AWARE and Dive Heart, creating afterschool programs to engage today’s youth, providing the highest quality training in scuba and technical diving, free diving, public safety diving and first aid programs, working with the community to improve efforts in local tourism, and providing a facility that is open and welcoming to all divers and aquatic enthusiasts are all just a part of every-day life here at Red Alert Diving.
