ABOUT US Meet the Dive Kawartha Team

A PADI Master Instructor and owner of a 5 Star PADI IDC Center, Kris is passionate about sharing his love of diving with others and has a deep interest in local water conservation. 

In 2020 Kris, and Dive Kawartha were recognized by the City of Kawartha Lakes as recipient of the Kawartha Lakes Environmental Hero Award for consistent efforts to improve and maintain the health of the aquatic environment in the Kawartha Lakes community.   

Kris is known among his colleagues for his organizing and team leadership skills. His teaching ability has been refined to precision with over 25 years experience as a karate instructor, experience which he has combined with the numerous recreational and professional level divers he has trained at Dive Kawartha.

Kris began diving in 2011 on vacation, and he immediately became addicted to the new world he had discovered beneath the waves.  His passion for diving is surpassed only by his desire to share it with others; he has an contagious excitement that will make training seem like a vacation.

After years of listening to her husband’s fish stories, Sarah finally took the plunge and became a certified PADI Open Water Diver in 2016.

Her first dive trip south was to Cozumel, and she fell in love with the sea.   She used to be afraid of fish and water, a phobia that to her surprise melted away the moment she became part of the environment.

Sarah has a real job as a Nurse Practitioner, and owner of Rx Cosmetics, a medi-spa in Lindsay Ontario.  With a crazy busy schedule full of high stress and challenge...... Owning a dive shop seemed like a reasonable balance, so she jumped in with both feet.  Although she is not yet a dive professional, she looks better than all the other staff in a swim suit!

Terry has been a working professional with PADI in the dive industry since 2006, and progressed up through the levels to his current position as a PADI Course Director. To date Terry has taught and changed the lives of hundreds of adventure-minded individuals in all aspects of scuba diving.

Ranging from basic introduction courses to specialties (including Sidemount, Deep, Navigation, Drift, Wreck, Search & Recovery, Night, Enriched Air, Dry Suit, Digital Photography, Gas Blending) and PADI Pro programs such as Divemaster, Assistant Instructor, Instructor, Specialty Instructor and Staff Instructor. 

Prior to becoming a scuba instructor, Terry served as an Armoured Crewman in the Canadian military for over ten years. Following his service, Terry’s sense of adventure led him to explore a multitude of activities, from travel, sailing, motorcycles, yoga, Thai massage, and photography. 

Terry discovered and fell in love with scuba diving. Terry’s desire to travel and learn new things has emboldened his passion for being underwater, initially leading him to becoming a scuba instructor and now a PADI Course Director.  His mantra is "change your life, live your life" and he strives to inspire all his students to achieve this through scuba diving. His Love of diving is split between two passions. First and foremost is his passion for teaching/training and the ability to change someone’s life with the experience of the underwater world and helping divers grow within the sport. His Second passion is underwater photography, with a growing focus on the macro side.

Meet Dan Suke, Dive Kawartha's expert for all thing tec.  a First Responder as a full time Firefighter in Durham region he excels in both courage and compassion; which both are apparent when he is teaching.

Dan's journey in diving has taken many places around the world with experience diving in all sorts of environments including advanced technical diving and dive leadership.  Now a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer with multiple specialties and a PADI TecRec Trimix Instructor, and a PADI CCR Tec Instructor as well as having obtained his technical diving Instructor rating from PSAI & IANTD Dan is Dive Kawartha's  lead technical diving instructor; sharing his passion for advanced training with our community of divers.

When he isn't saving lives in his day job, or diving teaching divers at home, Dan's favorite thing to do is head to the Florida caves where he can strap on his rebreather and go exploring for hours.

Meet Nolan, always ready for adventure Nolan has become a huge part of Dive Kawartha.  A seeker of all things adventure, Nolan began diving as part of his content for his adventure vlog Fueling Happiness, 

His passion for life is contageous, and he recognized that diving was going to be a huge passion for him early on, purchasing his own full scuba kit before his second day of open water training.

The weekend after his open water certification he was out diving the wrecks in the St. Lawrence, and within 3 months he had picked up a dry suit and completed his Advanced Open Water and Deep Diver Specialty.

Nolan was Dive Kawartha's first student to progress from Open Water Diver all the way to Master Scuba Diver.  He was also our first Divemaster, first Assistant instructor, and in July 2021 became our first student to become a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor.   

Come check out dive kawartha, meet Nolan and get infected with his excitement for diving and his passion for life.

A PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer (MSDT), Vernon is a passionate instructor who genuinely cares for students and colleagues alike.  Vernon enjoys sharing his experience and knowledge with students and developing them to be safety minded proficient divers. 

His teaching began way back in the early `70`s, although not in Scuba Diving, but teaching and mentoring High School Students in Quebec.  His years of experience in the Corporate world enables him to easily guide, mentor and teach, aspiring divers and those wishing to further develop their skills.. Vernon is also fluent in French and English, and instructs in both of Canada`s Official Languages.

 Vernon began his diving career later in life while on vacation in 2007, and said, ``Why did I wait so long to try this!!`` He immediately developed an infatuation for the beauty and tranquility of the waters of our planet.  Vernon spends the colder winter days nestled in the warmth of Roatan Honduras, where he instructs at a 5 Star PADI IDC Dive Resort.  His patience; professionalism and experience are reassuring to all and he avidly promotes Scuba Diving in his daily life.

Steve is still trying to figure out who he is...... but we are confident he will get his Divemaster bio submitted soon for the website considering he is now an Instructor!!!. ;)

Matt is still trying to figure out who he is...... but we are confident he will get his Divemaster bio submitted soon......especially considering he is now an Instructor!!!!. ;)

Doug fell in love with the underwater world while snorkeling during a trip in Curacao in 2016.  After the trip he knew right away that he needed to learn how to scuba dive.  He obtained his PADI Dive Master Certification in 2019 and is an avid cold water diver in Ontario, Canada.  

Doug has travelled to Bonaire a couple of times where he has been part of the local coral restoration project. He also participates in Project Aware to clean up local waterways.

Future goals for Doug include becoming an Emergency First Response instructor teaching First Aid & CPR, an Emergency O2 Instructor and Discover Scuba Diving Leader.

In addition, Doug plans to continue his diving journey into the realm of technical diving which includes advanced nitrox and decompression procedures and trimix diving.

His passion for diving is infectious and he is a genuine leader amongst the Dive Kawartha team. 

Wether it’s a pristine shipwreck in 200 feet of cold water, an underwater cave, an aquarium, or even a 10-foot dive in a local pond, I simply love the feeling of being weightless beneath the surface. 

After getting certified on a whim in 2003 I went away to school to become a physiotherapist and lack of money and time put diving on hold. Nevertheless I never forgot the life-changing feeling of breathing under water, and after diving on my honeymoon in Hawai’i and doing a few local wreck charters I got hooked, did my refresher course in 2011, and never looked back. Since then I’ve fallen in love with the greatest freshwater wreck diving in the world in our own back yard and more recently with the challenge of cave diving in Florida. I love talking about diving and introducing friends to it so after I gained enough local diving experience I felt I was ready to share my passion for SCUBA on a professional level by becoming a Divemaster in 2019 and now an Assistant Instructor in 2021! I look forward to helping others explore the underwater realm and watching it transform their lives the way it did mine, so let’s go diving!

Brittney signed up for her open water course in March 2019 with the intention of just diving down south as she had a fear of swimming in lakes. After her open water check out that Spring she quickly overcame that fear, fell in love with cold water diving and immersed herself in the local diving community. She has since explored many of the pristine wrecks that our great lakes have to offer. 

Whether it be a murky river, a wreck or a reef in the ocean, Brittney will find something to love about the experience. So I guess you can say that every dive is her favourite! 

Brittney is thrilled with the opportunity to work on her divemaster certification with Dive Kawartha. Aside from her professional goals she would love the chance to try Cenote diving, Ice diving, visit kelp forests and obtain her deep certification. 

She is excited to share with you her enthusiasm about diving & looks forward to continue to explore what makes up 71% of our beautiful planet.

Hi, I’m Seth (or “Finn” to some) and I started scuba diving way back in the summer of 2019 when I became a certified diver.  Presently a PADI Divemaster and I hope to start my instructor development course sometime next year. 

 I’ve known Kris for a while through karate and it was through that, he asked me if I wanted to work at Dive Kawartha and start working on becoming a divemaster. Not knowing anything about diving, of course, I said yes and bing batta boom, here I am, meeting all kinds of different people that like to breathe underwater for some strange reason (including myself).

 So far, I’ve only dove in the cold lakes and rivers in Ontario but I feel like that will just make me appreciate the nice waters down south even more once I go. I like diving in Ontario, especially when I’m going to see some cool wrecks.  Shipwrecks remind me of a Pirates of the Caribbean movie and that is just really cool to me. Another thing I enjoy about diving is the feeling of being weightless in the water. I find it relaxing and I imagine it’s how a monk would feel when (s)he is meditating and starts to levitate in the air. I dig it.  

Before I became certified, I never thought about scuba diving, let alone being a scuba diver. I’ve never even been snorkeling. The closest thing to scuba diving I knew was Scuba Steve from the classic Adam Sandler movie “Big Daddy”.  I’m happy I became a diver and I look forward to all the adventures, diving and people I’ll meet through Dive Kawartha.

It all started out as a fun idea for a date night with my wife, then another date night with my 9yr old daughter.

With two DSD experiences under my belt I was bit by the scuba bug. When my daughter turned 10 and all she wanted was to become a certified diver, I knew this was going to be an amazing family adventure.

 After struggling a bit to pass my OW I quickly wanted to further my knowledge of scuba diving. Moved right into my AOW, rescue diver, master scuba diver and now onto my biggest challenge yet, my DM training. The DM's that assisted me during my training inspired me. I want to be able to pass that onto other new divers. Including my 2 young boys who can not wait to come diving.

The cold lakes and rivers of Ontario continue to amaze me. Weather we are looking at the breathtaking wrecks of Tobermory or following bass around Marmora. Every dive tends to leave me feeling grounded and excited about are next adventure. I now look at bodies of water and wonder what treasures and stories lay beneath.

Every dive is a good dive

It was late in the summer of 2018 while driving a truck across the country at the age of 46 I realized I was never going to become a professional hockey player so I focused my attention on my real dream, to become a professional diver.

   Signed up up for my open water certification and it was game on. I’ve been blessed to have been surrounded by, in my opinion, the best instructors in country. They’ve passed on their passion which makes diving so much fun and enjoyable. As I enter professional levels look forward to passing on that same passion to others.

Jenn got an Open Water Diver course as a gift for her 16th  birthday, but she didn’t start diving until November 2017.  Since then, her only regret is that she didn’t start sooner! 

According to Jenn, "Diving has been one of the most enriching and life-changing decisions I have ever made. I have always been a water baby and spending all of my summers up north as a kid at my cottage in Muskoka, I was drawn to the outdoors and adventure. That little explorer was only unleashed further when I decided to move halfway around the world to teach English after school. And now, with scuba diving, I have expanded my passion for exploration to the underwater world."

Jenn's favorite place to dive is Roatan, Honduras, which is where she originally learned to breath under water, so it will always have a special place in her heart...... and it is where she ran into her first 8 foot Silky Shark hanging out at the surface of the 'Hole in the Wall' site. -  The two have become close friends and pen pal often. ;) 

Jenn plans to complete her Master Scuba Diver and Divemaster training this year, and plans to have a blast diving with her "tribe" around Ontario, and looks forward to a shiny new Waterproof Drysuit so she can dive more in the off season locally.   You might see Jenn out advocating for Project Aware and other marine conservation efforts and doing what she can to assist with coral restoration and take action on climate change.

Long term, she plans to complete some technical training including sidemount, advanced nitrox and decompression training and eventually becoming a certified cave diver!

Back when Aaron was in college, he kept walking by a dive shop and finally decided to check it out one day.

When he inquired about diving, they told him the course started the next day!  Without really thinking through what he was signing up for decided to "dive" right in.  He instantly fell in love, and that single decision opened up a new world to him previously unknown.  He couldn’t get enough.

Years later, after building his career around water as a commercial diver, he decided that he wanted to share the underwater world with others and share in that same excitement of new divers that he recalls so fondly.

Most of Aaron's diving has been in dark and cold places but it continues to intrigue his interest..... and has left him unable to pick a favorite dive or favorite location as every dive is a new adventure and poses different and exciting challenges.

Jon is still trying to figure out who he is...... but we are confident he will get his DMC bio submitted soon. ;)

Sarah became interested in diving while snorkelling on a trip to Roatan, Honduras in 2017.  While snorkelling was a great experience, she longed to see what lurked in the depths!   Shortly thereafter she became a certified diver, and spent the summer exploring some local Ontario lakes a quarry in Ohio.  Sarah was given an opportunity to travel to the Philippines where she completed her Advanced Open Water course, and was introduced to reef diving.

Since then she has traveled back to Honduras, Cuba, and Spain where I did some diving in the Mediterranean Sea. Scuba diving has allowed her to see some unique areas of the world, both underwater and above, which has given her a strong desire to share her excitement for discouvery with others!