Growing up on a ranch in the middle of Montana doesn’t afford many opportunities to spend time in the water, but as a teenager Mark would get out to Flathead Lake in northern Montana for a couple weeks every day.  One day, while at a Value-Mart, he noticed a snorkel kit- the typical cheap pair of fins, a mask and a snorkel.  The following week Mark spent hours underwater until his mother would literally drag him out of the lake.  In 1985, Mark moved to Boulder and worked as the IT Director for the Geological Society of America.  Later that year, while at a GSA meeting, a group of managers decided they would go diving in the Caribbean.  Unable to resist the lure of the tropics, Mark followed suit and never looked back.  Since then, he has been diving in the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Hawaii, New Zealand, Roatan, Mexico and all around the Caribbean.

In 2007, Mark decided to become an instructor for Ocean First Divers and works as a service technician too.

Junior, or 'The Cheds' as he is affectionately known, is quite the unique individual.  He was one of the first individuals born underwater - starting life at 60 feet in the NOAA funded Aquarius underwater laboratory. Starting life at three atmospheres, he naturally took to the sport of scuba diving, gaining his Instructor Trainer certification within his first six months.  

For the first ten years of his life, Junior could be found as a diving consultant to the US military, teaching advanced underwater breath hold techniques to Special Forces personnel with the aid of his trained dolphin Snappy, and a domesticated sea lion known only as "Three-flips McGillicutty". This line of work quickly became dull however, and Junior moved on to other pursuits.

As a teenager, he discovered a love of disadvantaged sea creatures, dedicating years of selfless service to ensuring inner-city cetaceans were given the opportunity to enjoy the same ocean environments as you and I. Combined with a side project that created prosthetic fins for victims of the shark finning trade, Junior's days were busy indeed.

Junior is very excited to be a member of the OFD family, and is committed to growing his beard to the standards set forth by the current generation of Cousteaus.

As a kid, Tony was always around water. He lived on a lake in central Florida for several years then spent some time on the south coast of France where his summer days were filled with snorkeling in the Mediterranean. Years later, Tony moved to a suburban neighborhood, far from any large bodies of water, but he was able to maintain his sanity by snorkeling in the backyard swimming pool.

Tony was first certified in 1970 and he was able to dive in Bermuda, California, Florida and the Persian Gulf during his thirty-year aviation career. Tony is now a retired pilot and is making up for lost time with recent dive trips to Indonesia, Costa Rica (Cocos Island is his favorite), Palau and Yap, Bonaire, the Maldives and the Galapagos Islands.

Tony became an instructor in 2007 and particularly enjoys introducing students to the underwater world while helping to ensure they become safe divers. Tony is an avid underwater photographer and often shares his beautiful photographs with students during class. 

Bruce's love for the water started with snorkeling in lakes in New Jersey.  Thirty years later he earned his certification and was hooked.  He was a school teacher for thirty years and has been retired since 2006.  Because of his love for teaching, it seemed a natural progression to teach scuba diving.  He has been helping or teaching professionally since 1995 and is a Master Scuba Diver Trainer.  Bruce also works a few days a week at Ocean First Divers as a service technician servicing dive equipment. 

Bruce enjoys taking underwater video and sharing it with fellow divers on trips.  One of the most satisfying aspects of diving is sharing his love of the underwater world with new students and seeing the excitement in their faces. 

Bruce enjoys diving just about anywhere and frequently dives Carter Lake and Chatfield Reservoir.

Roger first became interested in scuba diving while watching the 50's television program "Sea Hunt," however growing up on a small farm in Oklahoma didn't provide many opportunities to experience the sport. He never lost interest, though, and in 1985 while on vacation in the Caribbean he had the opportunity to take a resort course. From that  point on he knew diving was the passion of his life.

Roger moved to Colorado in 2001 and recently signed on as Ocean First Divers' Assistant Director of Education. While he enjoys all aspects of diving, he has a special interest in helping others learn this exciting sport. In addition to teaching scuba, Roger is also a certified Alpine Ski Instructor and avid high altitude mountaineer.

Andrew is originally from England and learned to dive in the chilly waters surrounding the UK.  He soon decided that he preferred the temperate waters of the tropics and embarked on dive expeditions to the Red Sea, Southeast Asia, Caribbean and Australia.  Andrew received his open water certification over 15 years ago and continues looking for new and exciting dive destinations all around the world. Andrew moved to Colorado in 2001 and began exploring the expansive diving opportunities closer to his new home. His favorites now include Mexico, the Caribbean, California, Florida and Hawaii.

After many years of recreational diving, Andrew completed his professional training with Ocean First Divers in 2007 and is now working as an instructor.

Dave was born in Minnesota, where he spent quite a bit of time in the water swimming, boating, water-skiing and canoeing. He always wanted to try the sport of scuba diving, but didn't get the chance until he came to the University of Colorado in 1970. There he got the opportunity to take diving as a Phyical Education course, but didn't get certified until he came to Ocean First Divers in 2002.

While working at UPS, Dave continued to dive, visiting places like Costa Rica, Maui, Bonaire, Roatan, Cozumel, Baja, and Fiji. Upon retiring from his UPS job, Dave decided to Go Pro in his second career, and became an Ocean First Divers instructor in 2011. He enjoys teaching and seeing the thrill that people, especially kids, get while breathing air underwater.

Dave lives in the mountain town of Gold Hill with his wife and favorite dive buddy, Anita. When they're not underwater they can be found camping, rafting, skiing, biking, and volunteering with the local fire department.

Dan is a Boulder native who spent many of his early years growing up in his parents' backyard pool. While interested in learning to scuba dive, he felt he couldn't afford it until he won a gift certificate for scuba certification at Scuba Joe's (now Ocean First Divers). Dan was certified in 1991 and became a Public Safety Diver with the local Boulder Emergency Squad's Dive Rescue Team at the same time.

In 1997 he became a Public Safety Scuba Instructor and started pursuing technical dive training. In 2008 he crossed over his Public Safety instructor certification to teach recreationally as an SSI Dive Control Specialist Instructor. Currently Dan holds recreational, technical and public safety certifications from PADI, SSI, TDI, SDI and Dive Rescue Int'l. He is also an instructor for PADI, NASE and SSI as well as a Corporate Trainer for Dive Rescue Int'l.

Dan's full-time job is a firefighter at the rank of Captain with South Metro Fire Rescue.

In his free time Dan likes to travel, mountain and road bike, swim, and spend time with his dog Bandit. He also now runs the Water Rescue Group for the Boulder Emergency Squad. 

Bruce grew up on Kansas and Colorado farms until moving to the Pacific Northwest for middle school. The ocean became a passionate reality for him while in college at Washington State. Ironically, even though his older brother was appearing in scuba diving videos back in high school, Bruce didn’t take up diving until after leaving the west coast and moving back to Colorado. Now it’s hard to keep him out of the water as he actively progresses through his diving “bucket list”. Favorite destinations so far are Hawai’i, Cozumel, Curacao, the Caymans and Costa Rica. Both of his kids became certified divers through OFD and now they all look forward to a dive trip every year.

Bruce has lived in Boulder for 13 years and has received all his scuba certifications here. Through OFD, he became a dive professional in 2010 and an assistant instructor in April of 2011. Besides diving and rocket science, Bruce enjoys cycling, running, hiking in the mountains, playing guitar, and flying after the appropriate surface interval of course.
 

 Dale was born in Michigan, the Great Lakes State, but left after high school for 'Colorful Colorado' and has been here ever since.  He became interested in scuba diving at the 1993 Boy Scout National Jamboree where PADI conducted a discover scuba experience in an above ground pool.  He became certified with his younger son and several other Scouts in 1997. 

Since then scuba has become a family adventure which has only accelerated since his retirement from the banking industry in 2009.  He has been diving in many spots in the Caribbean including BSA Seabase, as well as Fiji, the Galapagos, Australia, Hawaii, Palau and Yap.  Dale is an avid underwater photographer and has entered several exhibits. In addition to diving, Dale enjoys Scouting, skiing, camping, whitewater rafting, bird hunting and clay target shooting. Dale became a Divemaster in 2010 and an Assistant Instructor in 2011.

Paul has been an avid diver since 1993 and has had the distinct privilege of diving all over the Caribbean, Mexico, Belize, Bonaire, Roatan, Egypt, Thailand and most recently Indonesia. Paul became an assistant instructor in 2006 and made the leap to Open Water Scuba Instructor in 2008.

"Big animals are terrific, but I particularly enjoy the smallest of creatures and the beauty Mother Nature put into all the intricacies of her creations.  Next time you are diving, take some time to check out the details of something quite common.... you'll be amazed at what you discover."

Paul is also an Emergency First Responder Instructor. And in his free time enjoys flying and motorcycling.