Mia is originally from North Carolina and is currently in Boulder pursuing an Anthropology degree with a minor in Religious Studies. She hopes to use her education to work in museums and archives. Mia has been swimming since she was a baby and competed from ages 9 to 16. Her favorite stroke is the breaststroke, and she enjoys long-distance and open-water events. Her favorite sea creature is the nautilus!
Staff
Ocean First Boulder
Graham Casden - Founder & Chief Visionary Officer
Graham was born in Jackson Hole, WY but moved to California as a child. He soon developed an insatiable love for the ocean and quickly realized his life was intertwined with the sea. In 1995, Graham moved to Boulder to attend the University of Colorado and study marketing and entrepreneurship. His love for traveling and the ocean have led him to dive destinations all over the world. Graham wanted to find a way to continue exploring while also protecting the environment he loves. Over the course of the next 10 years, he’s worked diligently to create a community of ocean enthusiasts who are passionate about experiencing and preserving our marine environments.
Amy Christopher - Director of Travel
Amy has been swimming and snorkeling for as long as she can remember. Her first experience was snorkeling with her family at Playa de los Gatos in Mexico when she was 2. From that point on she was hooked. Amy has been fortunate to have spent the majority of her life traveling around the world with her family. She earned her Open Water certification in 1991 and is now a SSI Master Instructor. Amy is the Director of Retail & Travel Operations and a videographer at Ocean First. Her favorite part about diving is coming across the unexpected while diving, observing the behaviors of marine creatures, and exploring new countries. Amy has been with the team since March of 2000.
Read More
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. 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 became an instructor for Ocean First and is now the Director of Service & Facilities and Master Service Technician.
Lisa Taylor - Executive Assistant to Founder
Lisa grew up near Washington, D.C. and loved spending a portion of her summers exploring the Outer Banks. She learned to kayak and snorkel on vacations in Captiva, FL. From a young age, she was enamored with and respectful of Mother Ocean and all sea life. She moved to Colorado in 2003, and through a partnership with the engineering firm she worked for and Ocean First, she was able to realize a dream come true when she earned her Open Water in 2012 at Ocean First! Her decades-long career in customer care, sales, project management and team leadership led to joining the OF Community in early 2022 to support our Founder and Chief Visionary Officer. Since joining the team, she has established herself as a team leader and team player as she collaborates on initiatives with all Ocean First entities. In her free time, Lisa loves spending time with her blended family of 7 *pups make 9. She enjoys hiking, pilates, travel, continuing her dive education, and is loving learning how to surf.
Jaimie Albach - Training Director
Jaimie became scuba certified in 2014 while pursuing a degree in Marine Biology from Texas A&M University at Galveston. Since then, she has worked as a scientific diver aiding in research for NOAA and universities, as an aquarium diver, and as a Divemaster and Assistant Instructor working with students of all ages and countries. Most recently, she came to us from her home state of Texas, where she worked as a diver for three and a half years at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, assisting astronauts in their training for space walks. Her goal is to instill a confidence in the water and a love of scuba and the ocean in all her students.
Read More
Kathy Gagliardo - Travel Coordinator
Kathy has always loved and been intrigued by the ocean, all from the first time she was "bitten" by a starfish at the age of 6. She has since learned that starfish can not bite people. Kathy loves learning about the behavior of creatures in the ocean and enjoys sharing that knowledge while teaching or leading trips. Kathy joined the retail team in January of 1998 and became an instructor in 1999 and began leading store trips. During the summer of 2024 she transitioned from her role as Retail Manager & Buyer to Travel Coordinator where she is excited to continue to expand her knowledge while continuing to support other areas of the business. She still enjoys working with the local Public Safety Dive teams to secure the gear they need to keep us all safe!
Read More
Joel Van Egbert - Youth Programming Director
Joel has two great loves in life: the ocean and camps. Over 45,000 children have benefited from his programs. Joel began SCUBA diving in 1999 and moved to Colorado in 2005. In addition to creating camp programs at Ocean First, he owns and operates Wild Child Day Camp in Westminster. “I believe every child deserves camp—a special place where they can challenge themselves, make new friends, and be exactly who they want to be.” Joel loves sharks, climbing mountains, comic books, and creating zombie apocalypse survival plans.
Mike Driver - Marketing Director
Mike was born and raised in Denver. Growing up in landlocked Colorado, he developed a deep fascination with the ocean from an early age that grew with his first scuba diving experience in the crystal-clear waters of the Bahamas. Mike studied undergrad at CU Boulder and earned an MBA from CU Denver, solidifying his business acumen while staying connected to his environmental interests. Before joining Ocean First, Mike worked for 10 years in travel and tourism, including working as the Director of International Marketing & PR for the Colorado Tourism Office. Mike finds joy and fulfillment in family life. He is happily married and the proud father of two great boys and a wonder dog named Shadow. Whether exploring the depths of the ocean or navigating the challenges of business, Mike Driver brings his dedication, enthusiasm, and love for nature into everything he does.
Kelly Dananay - Marketing Maven, Scuba Instructor, Trip Leader
As a Colorado native, Kelly discovered scuba diving when she was certified in high school. She tried a wide variety of jobs and even went to Colorado State University to earn a degree in Biomedical Sciences, but eventually decided to pursue a career in scuba diving. Diving has taken her all over the Caribbean, Bahamas, Asia, Fiji, and then some! After a few adventurous years working as a dive instructor in Curacao, Kelly came back home to Colorado to continue her scuba diving career as a dive instructor and Assistant Training Director for Ocean First. Kelly helps out with marketing, retail, and tends to many of the office plants. When she's not blowing bubbles, you can find Kelly gardening, hanging out with her pets (including chickens), and a hive of honey bees!
Katie McDonald - Marketing Assistant
Born in Utah and raised in Colorado, Katie has always been passionate about being in and protecting our natural environment. As an avid outdoor runner and dog lover, Katie felt right at home at Ocean First. Since joining the team, Katie has loved being a part of Ocean First’s mission to provide conservation education to the diving community.
Rocket - Director of Pawsitivity
Rocket is the heart and soul of our team, spreading joy and positivity with every wag of his tail. Whether he's boosting team morale or providing comfort and encouragement to our young swimmers, Rocket’s mission is to make every day a little brighter.
Be sure to give him a pat when you see him around—he’s always ready to share some love and good vibes!
Swim Instructors
Lily Harris - Assistant Swim Director, Swim Instructor
Born and raised in Miami, Lily has always enjoyed the ocean. From a young age, she enjoyed spending weekends at the beach or on a boat. Having been a runner all her life, in 2021 she picked up swimming and biking, which brought her to Colorado to join the CU Boulder Triathlon team. She recently placed 14th out of 358 athletes at Collegiate Nationals. When she goes home to Miami, she loves to open water swim while admiring all the sea life. Aside from pursuing a degree in Psychology at CU, she loves hiking, running and biking all the trails Colorado has to offer!
Hailey Leader - Training Administrator, Swim Instructor
Hailey was born and raised in Boulder, Colorado. She grew up running, swimming, and skiing competitively. She ran cross country and track at Colorado State for three years before transferring to CU, where she joined the club triathlon team. Hailey earned her degree from CU Boulder in Sociology with a concentration in Criminology. She hopes to eventually go back to school to earn a master's degree in Forensic Sciences. Hailey has always enjoyed surfing and open water swimming when traveling to the ocean, and she hopes to learn how to scuba dive in the near future!
Octavio Querol - Swim Instructor
Octavio grew up in Rochester, Minnesota, and moved to Longmont, Colorado at 12 years old. He has been swimming his whole life and started competitive swimming in sixth grade, during which he fell in love with the water. Throughout his competitive career, Octavio qualified for state many different times and in two different states, usually with his favorite stroke, freestyle. Octavio loves being in and around the water, especially in the ocean. He has a passion for the ocean and marine life, and is exploring career and education opportunities in this field. He became open water certified in scuba in the summer of 2022, which has only served to reignite his passion for adventure and the ocean!
Christian De Simone - Swim Instructor
Christian has been living in Colorado since 2019. Before moving to Boulder, Christian lived in Connecticut and Mexico. Ever since growing up in Connecticut, he loved the water. Whether it was swimming at the local pool or going to the beach, Christian loved to swim and be in water. Christian joined the swim team at 4 years old because he wanted to do what his sister was doing. During middle school, Christian moved to Mexico where he raced in triathlons and learned to speak Spanish fluently. After moving back to Connecticut for high school he continued racing on the competitive swim team and competed at states over multiple years for multiple events. Christian is now pursuing a degree in Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Emily was born and raised in Central Texas. She moved to Longmont 5 years ago with her husband and 3 dogs. She had a pool in her childhood backyard and swam her summer breaks away. Her family always centered their vacations around lakes, rivers or the gulf coast. Following in her older siblings footsteps, she became a lifeguard in high school and always felt it was her most rewarding job. She believes everyone should know the basics of swimming and how to stay safe in the water. In her free time Emily spends time with her husband and dogs, takes care of her many houseplants, crochets, and works on various craft projects.
Justus Redding - Swim Instructor
Justus was born in Atlanta, Georgia and has been swimming since he can remember. He was taught to swim by his lifeguard mother and was on the Emory Barracudas swim team for 5 years During that time he went to the state championships twice. He later decided to follow in his mother's footsteps and has been a certified lifeguard since 2019. He moved to Colorado to study Biology at CU Boulder and spent a semester abroad studying in Spain. Justus has always loved the water and is very excited to bring that same joy to others.
Stephanie Sarette - Swim Instructor
Stephanie is from Sunnyvale, California. She started learning to swim at 9 months old. By the time she was 6, she was swimming competitively, but stopped competing when she started playing club volleyball in middle school. However, she still loved to swim and became a lifeguard in high school. In 2017, she moved to St. Petersburg, Florida to attend Eckerd College where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Marine Science. She moved to Boulder in 2023 to pursue her Master’s degree in Data Science at CU. Stephanie became Scuba certified during her freshman year at Eckerd. During her free time, she loves to swim, play volleyball, read, travel, and scuba dive!
Fiona Thomas - Swim Instructor
Fiona grew up in Colorado, with her family hailing from Dallas, Texas. She started out teaching swim lessons and eventually began teaching gymnastics, archery, and horseback riding lessons. She loves to swim and competed in swimming during high school. Fiona currently rides and trains horses in her free time and eventually wants to become a professional trainer.
Vincent was born and raised in Longmont, Colorado. He has been swimming for as long as he can remember and started competitive swimming in 5th grade. His favorite time swimming was in high school, where he qualified for state in various events and years, with many of them being his favorite stroke, the butterfly. When he isn’t in the water, he enjoys staying active, exercising, and traveling!
Before coming to Boulder for college, Lili lived and went to school in Johnstown, Colorado. She swam competitively throughout middle and high school and loves the breaststroke! She attends CU Boulder, majoring in English Secondary Education, and plans to travel the world after graduation. At CU Boulder, she’s a member of an a cappella group as well as the University chamber choir. Her favorite marine animal is the manatee, and she hopes to see one someday on her travels!
Bella Guadagnoli - Swim Instructor
Born and raised in Breckenridge, Bella developed a love for the ocean through her scuba diving adventures, earning certifications in Open Water Diver, Advanced Open Water Diver, Perfect Buoyancy, and Enriched Air Nitrox. This solidified her passion for scuba diving. She has been a swim instructor for the past four years, teaching everything from personal private lessons to working with individuals with special needs or even instructing in other languages.
Read MoreScuba Instructors
Matt Carr - Scuba Instructor, Service Technician
Matt has been around the water his entire life. At a young age he would swim in his parent’s pool, testing how long he could hold his breath, to see what it was like to be underwater for a long period of time. In high school, he was on the diving team and as he grew older, his passion for the water also grew. In 2001, he took a trip to Cancun where he was introduced to diving with a Try Scuba class. In May 2002, he got Open Water Certificatied and then for the next 7 years volunteered for a dive shop as a Rescue Diver. In 2013, he got certified as a Dive Control Specialist and started working for Ocean First. Matt has worked his way up the Instructor ranks to become a Divemaster Instructor. Matt is also one of the main service techs and helps maintain our facility. Locally, he has logged over 150-175 dives in The Blue Hole in Santa Rosa New Mexico, 75 dives in Homestead Crater in Midway Utah, and 75 dives in Aurora Reservoir. Belize is one of his favorite places to dive!
Cathy Christopher - TIDES Program Coordinator, Scuba Instructor, Trip Leader
Cathy grew up in northeast Ohio knowing that she loved science - biology specifically - from an early age. While her interest in marine science started with whales, by the time she got to undergrad, she was enamored with the invertebrates. While in grad school at Florida Atlantic University, Cathy earned her Open Water and Nitrox scuba certifications and gained experience with various projects about birds and sea turtles and everything in between. Cathy moved from Florida to Colorado in 2015 to work full time for Ocean First Education (OFE) where she and the rest of the team develop K-12 marine science content. If you've taken any of the SSI Ecology courses, you're already familiar with the work done by OFE – the two companies partnered several years ago to make marine science education more accessible to divers. In 2017, Cathy became a dive instructor for Ocean First and enjoys pointing out the unique invertebrates she comes across on her dives throughout the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific. If you ask nicely, she might even help you ID your fish and invert images.
Mike Pivacek - TIDES Program Coordinator, Scuba Instructor
Mike grew up in upstate New York where he fished and snorkeled around cold, dark lakes as often as possible. His dream was to work at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and spend time in and around the ocean. When his family moved to Colorado, he was forced to put his oceanic career on hold; Mike spent eight years in the military and graduated from Regis College with honors, beginning a career in technology where he became a Chief Information Officer and eventually General Manager for a large data company in Denver. He has traveled extensively for business and pleasure – his favorite land destination was Zimbabwe, and his favorite diving trip was to the Socorro Islands. Mike lives in Broomfield and now splits his time between management consulting, training students in his self-defense business, traveling and diving with his wife Erin and teaching scuba at Ocean First including middle and high school students in the TIDES program. He has been diving since 2009 and has been instructing since 2017 – all of his certifications and professional training were completed at Ocean First. Mike’s dive travels have taken him to Key Largo, Cozumel, Fiji, the Caymans, Roatan, the Socorro Islands, and Guadalupe Island where he got to see great white sharks up close and personal!
Dave Sturtz - Scuba Instructor
Dave was scuba certified at Ocean First in 2002 when it was still called Scuba Joe, and went on to become a scuba instructor in 2011. He has dived in Costa Rica, Maui, Bonaire, Roatan, Cozumel, Baja, Grenada, the Caymans, the Virgin Islands, Fiji and Thailand, mostly with his wife and dive buddy Anita. He began working on the retail end of Ocean First in 2016 and loves giving customer the care and attention he would expect to receive. Dave also enjoys camping, rafting, skiing, biking and motorcycling, and is a volunteer firefighter with the Gold Hill FD.
Shayna Farnsworth - Scuba Instructor
Shayna fell in love with the water from an early age. Her mom was a scuba instructor in her 20’s and Shayna remembers being amazed using mom’s equipment to breathe at the bottom of the pool. Shayna continued her journey underwater and became a scuba instructor in Roatan, Honduras in 2017. Since then, Shayna has been passionate about learning more about marine life and spreading her love for the ocean to everyone around her. She loves being a part of the TIDES program and helping students discover the wonders of the ocean!
Jon was scuba certified in 1981 in the Florida Keys and, after retiring from Intel Corporation, became a scuba instructor with Ocean First. He enjoys diving in reefs and wrecks and has explored various locations including Bonaire, Roatan, Cozumel, Belize, Tulum, the Caymans, Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Truk, Palau, and Yap, often alongside his wife and favorite dive buddy, Kim. Recently, he has been assisting Ocean First Key Largo with teaching and guiding during his snowbird stays in Key Largo. Jon also dedicates his time as a volunteer rescue diver with the Larimer County Dive Rescue Team.
Dean Harper - Scuba Instructor
Dean is a Colorado native who didn’t spend much time around the water until serving as a nuclear propulsion officer in the US Navy. While stationed in San Diego, CA in the early ‘90s, he completed his open water certification and made a number of dives along the west coast before moving back to Colorado in 1994… after many years away from diving he came to Ocean First in 2017 with his wife and daughter and they all completed their OW certifications so they could dive on a vacation in Belize. Since then he’s been diving as much as possible, mostly throughout the Caribbean, and ultimately decided to pursue his passion for the ocean and diving by completing his Instructor Certification in 2021. Dean loves to share his passion for diving and helping others on their journey.
Andy Hawk - Scuba Instructor, Trip Leader
Andy considers himself “Native Enough” when it comes to Colorado street cred. His family moved to Colorado early in his childhood, and he has been fortunate to split his time between the front range and Breckenridge ever since. His outdoor recreation vocations began during college as a ski instructor on the slopes of Breckenridge, CO, where he still teaches part-time. A summer adventure with Outward Bound confirmed outdoor recreation as a lifelong passion, and that the true reward would be found in sharing those opportunities with others.
Andy is an SSI Assistant Instructor Trainer at Ocean First and loves to help divers find their balance of relaxing vacation and ongoing education about diving, the ocean, and local culture. He’s at home in the Caribbean but enjoys diving everywhere. A bucket list junkie that is willing to try many things once. He once sprung out of the icy waters of Lake Superior with a frozen and free-flowing regulator only to begin planning colder and deeper dives... from the beaches of Cozumel. Andy summited Mt. Kilimanjaro under a full moon with a group of friends and family. After 7 summers as a river guide in Colorado, he prefers his old truck to a new car because of the certainty that no matter where the adventure leads, there will always be a reliable place to sleep.
Dan was scuba certified by Ocean First back in 1991 when it was still Scuba Joe. He had wanted to get his scuba certification for several years, but at the time, couldn’t afford it. He won a certification course as a door prize at an awards dinner. At the time, he was a volunteer firefighter with Cherryvale Fire (now Rocky Mtn Fire), and is still a volunteer rescuer with the Boulder Emergency Squad. He went on to become a public safety diver with the Boulder Emergency Squad, and then a Public Safety Scuba Instructor in 1997. Dan became a corporate trainer for Dive Rescue Int’l in 1998 and remains active with them today. In 2008 he became a recreational scuba instructor with SSI, and moved on to becoming a technical diving instructor in 2012. Dan joined Ocean First as an instructor in 2010 and is currently an Assistant Instructor Trainer with SSI. His passions in diving include multi-gas and multi-tank, deep, sidemount diving, as well as mentoring new instructors. He also enjoys biking, swimming and shorter distance triathlons.
Drew Herrick - Freediving Instructor
As Florida native, Drew has been exploring underwater as early as he can remember. He took his first scuba class in 2008 and became a divemaster in 2010. Eventually, the mountains lured him to Durango, Colorado where he earned a degree in Adventure Education and spent several years working in the outdoor industry. Still, the ocean called and he moved to southeast Asia to continue developing his water skills. He became a Freediving Instructor in 2016 and taught courses in Thailand and the Philippines. To date, Drew has achieved breath holds over six minutes and depths of 200ft. He recently moved back to Colorado and is looking forward to training at altitude and supporting the growth of apnea enthusiasts around the front range.
Retail Staff
Oscar Torres - Retail Manager (North)
Oscar was born in Peru but moved to South Florida as a child. That's where he discovered his passion for diving. He became a certified diver and didn't stop until he was working in the industry as a boat dive master and a gear technician. In 2012, he moved with his wife to Colorado to pursue new adventures. Over the next 12 years, he worked in the outdoor industry, managing a variety of stores that included cycling and skiing.
Read More
Levi Dodge - Retail Manager (South), Lead Service Tech
Levi grew up in Lake Tahoe, NV where he developed a deep appreciation for both the water and the mountains. His fascination with diving and the underwater world started with a coral reef ecology study in Bonaire. That led to joining Weaver’s Dive & Travel in 2019 where he focused on learning regulator repair and retail operations. Now as the retail manager and lead service technician at Ocean First South, Levi is here to help you find the best equipment for your needs, keep it functioning properly, and encourage exploration above and below the water.
Mike Price - Retail Associate, Scuba Instructor, Trip Leader
Growing up on Long Island, NY, Mike was around boats and the ocean his whole childhood. He was OW certified in 2002 in Maui while attending his friend's wedding. Life got in the way of diving after that and he spent 17 years away from scuba diving. In 2019 he took a scuba refresher class at OF before his trip to Belize. On that trip that he decided to get out of the restaurant business, that he'd been in for 26 years, and become a full time scuba instructor. He is very grateful to be able to continue sharing his passion and continuing to educate students about the ocean and marine life while living in Colorado. When he's not diving he enjoys playing music, seeing live concerts, playing golf, going to baseball games, and of course, traveling!
Reuel Warner-Rosen - Retail Associate, Scuba Instructor
Ruli has been passionate about diving since a young age-- when he did his open water dives in Chicago in the winter, he knew it could only get better from there! While in college, he was involved in a student diving group, leading certification trips to quarries and open water dives in Florida. Since then, he has remained involved in scuba, working to help you find the best gear for your trip, and assisting in scuba instruction.
Lindsey Martin - Retail Associate
Lindsey was born and raised in California. Growing up near the coast, she always had a love for the ocean. During college, she developed a passion for ocean conservation and decided to do a three month diving internship in the Seychelles after only having a few dives under her belt. Those three months sparked a lifelong interest in scuba and she has been working in the industry since. She moved to Florida for five years where she worked at a dive shop on the gulf coast, and most recently moved here, continuing her scuba diving career at Ocean First. In her free time, you’ll find her skiing, climbing, and enjoying all that the outdoors have to offer.
Evalyn Minsley - Retail Associate
Evalyn first fell in love with scuba diving in 2022 while on a liveaboard in the Caribbean where she got her open water certification. Afterwards she decided to go on two more trips with the program, taking courses in Marine Biology and receiving her advanced open water and coral restoration certifications. She loves helping new and experienced divers to find the gear of their dreams for their next adventure!
Scott Henderson - Retail Associate, Scuba Instructor
Scott is an experienced instructor with over 40 years of diving experience and a passion for the underwater world. With more than 3000 dives and a wealth of knowledge about dive sites, he is the ideal person to guide you towards certification. As a Colorado native, Scott also enjoys outdoor activities like frisbee golf, making him a fun and friendly instructor to accompany you on your diving journey.
Ocean First Key Largo
Jardin Macdonald - General Manager, Master Instructor, Captain, Freedive Instructor
Hailing from the sunny Gold Coast in SE Queensland, Australia, it didn't take Jardin long to get acquainted with Key Largo. Growing up surfing, surf life saving and playing rugby, he travelled around America for a year to expand his horizons in 2007. Jardin got certified OW in 2007 in the lovely quarries of Illinois. Even without seeing much, he knew that his heart was going to be in the underwater world. In 2009 he settled down in Key Largo and has been teaching diving ever since. With over 1000 student certifications, Jardin loves to show people around his natural underwater backyard including his 2 kids who have been on the reefs with him since they were 1 month old. He has also worked for 2 years as the Senior Marine Technician and Captain at the Aquarius Underwater Habitat which is located in 60ft of water on Conch Reef. Before joining the Ocean Reef team, he worked for NOAA as a Marine Ops Tech with the Buoy team. In 2024 Jardin made the leap to the Ocean First Key Largo team and hasn't looked back since!!! In his free time, Jardin can usually be found spearfishing the reefs and wrecks of the Keys.
Troy Allen - General Manager, Trip Leader, SSI Instructor Trainer
Troy, a Colorado native, worked as a cost accountant on various infrastructure projects across the U.S. and South America before joining State Farm in 1991. After a decade at State Farm as Director of Management Planning and Information, he started his own construction company in 2001 and retired from the industry after nearly 28 years. In 2018, Troy joined Weavers Dive and Travel and Dream Weaver Travel as General Manager until their acquisition by Ocean First in April 2024. He now leads Key Largo dive operations and enjoys spending time with his wife of over 30 years, their two daughters, sons-in-law, and extended family, as well as diving and SCUBA instructing.
Mark "Sharky" Alexander - Captain, Scuba Instructor
Captain Mark “Sharky” Alexander’s love for adventure in the outdoors started from a young age. Over thirty years ago, he started diving as a public safety diver in Illinois and has been hooked since. He enjoyed his first ocean dive in the Caribbean and that experience launched his desire to help others learn to dive. He has been instructing divers for 25 years. He is a rebreather, mixed gas, and Diver Medical Technician/Hyperbaric Medicine instructor. His extensive diving expeditions led to him becoming a member of The Explorer’s Club in 2010 and a fellow with the Royal Geological Society. His love for the ocean motivated him to earn his US Coast Guard 100-ton master captain’s license. After 33 years of being a paramedic and 20 years of the US Air Force Reserves, Sharky and his family retired to Tavernier, FL. In January 2022, Sharky joined Ocean First Key Largo. He is an SSI Assistant Instructor Trainer and the head captain for Wave Ryder and Blazin’ Blue. Come and join Sharky diving the wrecks and the reefs of the Florida Keys!
Alisia Carlson - Scuba Instructor, Photo Pro
Alisia Carlson (known as Al by fellow divers & crew members) started life in Panama City, FL and fell in love with the ocean as a child. Her first job was as a lifeguard and swim instructor and, no matter what state her family moved to, she found a way to be in the water. While lifeguarding in Mississippi one day, an instructor allowed her to do a quick scuba dive in the deep end. It was MAGIC!!! Years later, in Springfield MO, she was bouncing in and out of college and couldn't figure out what she wanted to do with life. She read a book that suggested thinking of the happiest fifteen minutes of her life and applying that to a career. Immediately that fifteen minutes in the deep end of a pool came to mind and she decided to be a dive instructor! After getting her open water certification in Key Largo she knew it would become her home. A couple of years and a lot of hard work later, she made her home in Key Largo and started building her life and career there. Now an Advanced Open Water Instructor, Al can navigate around the reefs better than on land and has been building her portfolio of professional underwater photography. When you visit Ocean First Key Largo, definitely dive with Al!
Life began for me in North Carolina, my dad was in the Air Force there. As a military brat I lived all over the country but I was always happiest by the ocean. From a young age I was always obsessed with animals, especially the aquatic kind. Being land locked in Missouri for my teen years I always longed for the ocean, weekends on the lake with the pontoon boat and my salt water aquarium would have to tide me over. My dad got me into diving when I was around 13yo, I was instantly hooked and my obsession grew. Eventually I joined the Air Force myself for a decade which lead me to falling in love with Key Largo, while stationed in Tampa i would make the drive down to dive every weekend! When the Air Force took me back to the Midwest, where I met Alisia, I decided to take a big risk, got out of the military, sold everything and made the move to key largo. It was/is a lot of hard work and a lot of trials but 10 years later we're still here! Now I'm a captain, dive master, jack of all trades, for Ocean First and for the first time in a long time feel like I'm working for a company I really believe in. There's no better feeling!
Emily Roberts - Office Administrator & Dive Master
Emily was born in Wisconsin and grew up spending her summers at her family cabin on the river. This is where at an early age she developed a passion for the water through swimming, fishing, and boating. A family vacation to Mexico introduced her to the ocean for the first time where she went snorkeling and instantly became hooked as being face to face with the different fish felt like home. Later, a move to North Carolina allowed Emily to visit the beach every chance she could and she spent most of her time looking for shark teeth and seashells in the tide pools along the shore, now having a collection of almost 3,000 shark teeth! Fast forward to 2019 when Emily moved to Key Largo and hasn’t looked back since. The beauty and wonder of the Florida Keys encompassed her and further developed her passion for the ocean and conservation of our reefs, mangroves, and local ecosystems. In her free time Emily enjoys paddleboarding with her cat through the mangroves, participating in trash cleanup dives, volunteering with Surfrider for mangrove/shore cleanups, participating in local lionfish removal derbies with REEF.org, making jewelry, and traveling any chance she can. Emily is a divemaster and working toward achieving her captain’s license. She looks forward to meeting you in the Keys soon!
