About Us
25+ Years of NAUI SCUBA Instruction.
I learned to dive in 1992 when I was a middle school student in Oakland. Little did I know that this introduction to SCUBA would permeate heavily in my life over the coming decades.
While a student at UC Santa Cruz, I worked at the Aqua Safaris Dive Center. Under the mentorship of David Houghton, I became one of his NAUI SCUBA instructors.
Having had the opportunity to dive many locations throughout the world, I now have several partners in crime to join me on my diving adventures — my wife and two teenagers. Now they’ve encouraged me to become even more involved in dive training.
Original Oaktown Divers is largely motivated by a family that is enthusiastic about ocean exploration. It’s my hope that I can share my enthusiasm for the underwater world with you!
Our Diving Philosophy
As a safety professional I have learned that work AND play occur in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world. Therefore, training and just speaking about rules are not necessarily going to turn a new diver into a safe and competent ocean explorer. In our programs we train divers to perform risk management, conduct debriefs, and utilize training that helps a new diver comfortably navigate the complexities of diving in the underwater world.
We offer private and semi-private classes where we have the opportunity to focus training on your needs to help you to become a comfortable and competent Monterey diver!
Though our classes are set up around the traditional “weekend of diving” we realize sometimes this may be too rushed and a diver may not be ready. Our courses are designed to be modular so we can easily add extra days and times to ensure you are prepared.
SCUBA diving has been an exciting sport for me. I’m not sure there is a such thing as a “bad” dive. Rather, each dive is a unique experience. This dive was one of those that will always stand out to me. My daughter caught the moment I gave my son his certification card — underwater.