Meet the instructor offering lessons/classes in Florida close to Tampa & Orlando

Meet the instructor offering lessons/classes in Florida close to Tampa & Orlando. My name is Anita I am a PADI Staff Instructor,Emergency First Responder Instructor(first aid/cpr), SDI Open Water Instructor, MDEA Level 2 Instructor,as well as a boat captain boat facility 1003150. I am also a Boy Scout Scuba Merit Badge counselor and an approved Girl Scout volunteer. Taking my own advice and continuing my education has gotten me to Staff Instructor and I am currently working on my Master Instructor licence. By continuing my education I ensure that I keep my knowledge fresh while gaining more experience to enrich my time underwater. I encourage all my students to follow my example and never stop learning.

Born in Maine my family moved to Central Florida when I was three and here I have stayed. My blood is thinned, I think 65 degrees is cold and I am quite sure the state bird is the mosquito! As a young girl playing the game "When I grow up" I knew I always wanted to be a teacher. As I got older though that idea faded away and I became interested in cars. Taking debate and automotive classes through out high school I realized I just liked to be different. But then as an adult I got the typical 9 to 5 (well more like 7 to 6 but hey you get the idea) and fell into the normal grown up routine a steady job, married and a home and was happy.

Then I took SCUBA diving lessons!

Preparing for our first Caribbean cruise my husband and I decided to become certified divers first. To be honest I was not all that thrilled, never a real water person but I was willing to give it it a shot. We went on our cruise and had the time of our lives. Immediately after getting back we signed up for Advanced Open water lessons. One thing led to another and here we are! I have found a passion for diving combined with my passion for teaching makes being a Scuba Instructor the perfect combination.

I give each of my students my best effort to show them how amazing diving can be while keeping it safe and fun. After training hundreds of divers I have gotten to meet so many different types of people and share just a small part of their lives and relive the excitement of that first dive with them every time!

I have worked in the Florida Keys, the Hudson,FL area and can firmly and honestly say Crystal River is the best training area I have worked in. Calm, predictable water conditions that are almost always divable even in winter as it stays 72 degrees year round. The lack of current, waves and seasickness goes a long way to becoming comfortable with you new skills and enabling you to enjoy your training and not get seasick. (this is personal experience as I get seasick very EASILY.)

I have developed my own teaching style that allows me to adapt to each student's needs. If they are comfortable from the get go,good for them, if it takes a little while for a new diver to "get their fins under them" we give them that time. I am not above holding hands with a new diver to show them I'm right here and aren't we having fun! Heck I have two hands and sometimes I have a new diver in each of them. I have worked with young children of ten, teenagers (and no parents I will not share my secret on how I get them to listen to me and not you, consider it a day off}. I have trained whole families together, a friend that wants to be dive buddies with their friends instead of "bubble watching".

I have worked with them all and still each class is different and exciting. Some new divers even need one on one attention I am there for them by offering private lessons and my philosophy of "I don't quit on you, you decide when it is no longer fun and tell me you are done." Anyone can dive but everyone gets there a little differently. We are after all air breathing land mammals entering a foreign world with life support from Taiwan trying to overcome millions of evolved instinct that to live we must have air. I replace that instinct with proper training so you can handle anything the underwater world can throw at you. Of course some people are nervous. I sure was. Other than training divers I also have a passion for underwater photography and underwater modeling. I teach for Crystal Lodge Dive Center, located behind the Best Western hotel.

Out of the water I enjoy restoring classic cars and firearm target shooting. We have several cars that calling "projects" would be a generous term but it is very fun and keeps us busy when there is no diving. I also have three cats that think they are my children and I spoil them like they are but we love them! Porky my big guy likes diving and will use a regulator for a pillow any chance he gets.