Craig Owens
I was initially certified as a PADI International Open Water Diver in 1979. This was a remarkable achievement for me due to the fact that as a younger child I had an extreme fear of water, which I overcame. I enjoyed SCUBA and witnessed a number of drastic changes in recreational diving over the course of my years as a recreational diver. Some of these were the changes and simplifying of SCUBA equipment, more women, children, and elderly divers entering the sport. Also new was the introduction of Nitrox and its wide acceptance by the recreational dive community. After my initial certification in a fresh water quarry of northeastern Ohio, I was certified as a PADI Search and Recovery Diver later in 1979 in Toledo, Ohio. I continued to dive in Northeastern Ohio, once diving in contaminated Lake Erie, off Cleveland Ohio, and also dive some "golf ball" diving in local golf courses.
A year after graduating from high school in 1982, I enlisted in the US Air Force and was assigned to Aviano AB, Italy. While there I dove in the Adriatic Sea off Trieste, Italy over the course of the next two years. After leaving Italy in 1984, I was stationed at Vandenberg AFB, CA near Santa Barbara, California. For the next 6 years, I dove the Central Coast of California, including all of the northern Channel Islands, and was introduced to several new spheres of diving. These included diving in surf, kelp, boat, underwater hunting, and deep diving.
In 1988, I became a member of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department Underwater Search and Recovery Team. While a member of this Dive Team, I participated as a fulltime member of this team and rose in dive education due to the fact that continuing PADI education was offered through members of the Dive Team. I received my Advanced, Rescue and Divemaster over the next two years. Additionally, I participated in team callouts for actual incidents involving searches for suicidal subjects, recovering the remains of a drowning victim, and underwater evidence searches. For each of these callouts I was used in an underwater capacity. Monthly training dives included topics and dives: underwater search patterns, use of lines and reels, documentation, recording, and preservation of evidence; diving in blackout/ zero-visibility conditions, boat dives, helicopter egress in full SCUBA Gear via a US Coast Guard helicopter, and helicopter operations. I also became an intermediary and opened relations, which were formerly strained between the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Dive Team and the Commercial Dive Program at Santa Barbara City College. Due to my efforts, the team participated in a training day where all of us experienced a dive with Surface Supplied air using commercial diving helmets, did a 130 foot Recompression Chamber Dive, and Remote Operated Vehicle orientation and operation.
From 1990-1997, I continued to dive recreationally after moving to Riverside County. During this time, I dove off Santa Catalina Island, travelled to/ dove in La Paz, Cancun, and Cozumel Mexico where I became involved in Underwater Photography, and Drift Diving. In 1998, I became certified as a PADI Open Water SCUBA Instructor. Over the next couple of years, I independently certified 30 divers while teaching through 3 San Diego area PADI Dive Centers. I also obtained my Search and Recovery Instructor certification, and was also initiated to Nitrox Diving principles.
After moving to the Southeast in 2002, my wife, Gina, and I have travelled to Jamaica, Dominican Republic, the Cayman Islands, Belize, and Roatan, where I have also dove, participated in Underwater photography/ videography. Both Gina and I are contemplating opening our own Dive store/ Travel Agency in Anniston, AL, which we hope will become affiliated as a franchise store of Better Diver SCUBA. I contacted SDI/ TDI Regional Sales Rep. Ed Moggio reference certifying SDI/ TDI about two years ago. Due to poor economic conditions, and some family issues, we have decided to delay opening the business but have reconsidered this idea and are planning opening it as of spring 2010. Over the course of the past 30 years of recreationally diving, my diving experience consists of well over 500 dives of dives on both coasts of the United States, throughout the Caribbean, Mexico, and in Europe as previously stated. I look forward to diving with the professionals at Better Diver SCUBA.
