About Us
Our Present
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We are a small dive facility located in Central Pennsylvania, focused on introducing as many people as we can to the underwater world, on continuing education that develops exceptional dive skills, and on community engagement that promotes active stewardship of the planet’s lake, river and marine resources.
We teach Professional Association of Dive Instructors (PADI) scuba courses in both group and private classes, with a focus on having fun, and an emphasis on diver safety. We enroll all our open water students with a temporary membership in the Divers Alert Network (DAN) and require DAN membership of all our continuing education courses.
Meet Rob
I am a retired Penn State professor who has been teaching scuba diving for the Professional Association of Dive Instructors (PADI) for over 25 years. Much of this was in association with the University. At Penn State, I founded the University’s Scientific Diving Program, managed its membership in the American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS), and served as the University’s first Dive Safety Officer. In this capacity, I taught PADI open water courses and AAUS scientific diving in the local area, the Florida Keys, the Bahamas, and Curaçao.
For fun, I have also dived other parts of the Northeast (Pennsylvania, New York, and the Saint Lawrence Seaway) and Puerto Rico (where we sat out a hurricane). We did some amazing wall dives in Zanzibar and dived with hammerheads in Mozambique. We have made frequent trips to South Africa, primarily diving the colder waters around Cape Town—kelp forests, seals, brightly colored anemones and sea stars.
With colleagues at Penn State, I taught numerous courses on coral reef and coastal ecosystems that included teaching student groups coral reef survey techniques for Reef Check.
Duncan is a member of the South Mountain staff and is a PADI Cavern Diver. His favorite dives were at Devils Den in central Florida and on the Spiegle Grove in the Florida Keys. The Spiegle Grove is a 500’ long Thomaston-class dock landing ship that was sunk as an artificial reef in 2002 and now sits in about 130ft of water off Key Largo.
When not diving, Duncan teaches Tang Soo Do as a third degree black belt.
Anna is a PADI Open Water Diver who has dived in local rivers and quarries as well as the Florida Keys. She came with us to Sodwana Bay in South Africa, but wasn’t certified at that point—so just had to sit on the shore and watch! Anna is our IT and equipment specialist.
When she started at Penn State, she couldn’t decide between Art and Engineering. She eventually settled on Art, but now gets to do both!
Our Future
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We're continuing to explore relationships with additional dive equipment manufacturers to sell and service their equipment. Our goal is to carry high quality, but budget friendly, equipment suitable for diving in the local area and for dive trips to the Islands, as well as equipment that would satisfy our more adventurous divers conducting more serious dives or travelling further afield.
We will be seeking out professional, educational, and community-based organizations that share our values and would be interested in collaborative programs that promote protection and stewardship of our lakes, rivers and oceans, and their adjacent terrestrial systems.