Ventura Dive & Sport Staff

Jim Smith

James F. Smith started his diving career as a young man growing up in South Dakota in the 1960s, advancing as a diver while attending Iowa State University in the 70s and finally arriving in California in 1985 when he attended the NASDS Instructor’s College in San Diego.

Beginning his professional career as an instructor in San Luis Obispo where he worked for two years, he subsequently headed south to Santa Barbara where he worked in two dive shops over the course of the next three years, gaining valuable experience while teaching courses of all levels from both PADI and NASDS.

Jim made the “big step” in May 1989 when he bought a small dive shop called Ventura SCUBA Schools, which was located in the Ventura Harbor Village. Starting small (it was less than 1000 square feet) but with big aspirations, he worked diligently through the years watching the business grow into what it is today… one of the top-rated dive centers in California. Encompassing nearly 5000 square feet, an on-site pool, state-of-the-art classroom, repair department and rental department, Ventura Dive & Sport added the only missing ingredient in July 2006… the Raptor.

Jim has always kept active as a diver and as a dive instructor, teaching and traveling to all corners of the globe to see what the underwater world holds in store. Reaching the pinnacle of the PADI Professional Pyramid, he became a Course Director in 2002, putting his myriad teaching experiences to good use training instructors through Ventura Dive & Sport.

Scott Shelley

Professional Credentials: PADI Course Director

First Dive: Kihei Maui 1979

Favorite Dive: The Canyon, Dahab Egypt

Best Dive Site Overall Rating: Trinity Caves Grand Cayman (Just a lot of fun and a dive anyone can do.)

Places I've worked and dived: Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Grenada, Union Island, Cayman Islands, St, Martin, Martinique, St. Croix, St. John, Tortola, Tobago, San Blas, Egypt, Israel, Italy, France, Spain, and then some.

Favorites: Steak 'n Kidney pie, Diet Coke and those crazy little puff pastries the Israeli's make.

Hobbie: Running, Swimming any water sport, throwing a ball for my cats, yes they fetch.

Nicholas Peterson

Professional Credentials: PADI IDC Staff Instructor, EFR Instructor Trainer, DAN Instructor, DAN Instructor Trainer

First Dive: Winfield Scott, Anacapa Island

Favorite Dive: Underwater Island, Anacapa

Education, Previous Employment: Bachelors in Physics, Engineering Intern for the NAVY

Why Diving? Because it's more fun than sitting at a desk working at a computer all day.

Favorites Food: BBQ, Diet Coke, and Danish Waffles

Hobbies: Lifting, The Ocean

Other Skills: Regulator Repair Technician

Jay Reinhart

Professional Credentials: PADI IDC Staff Instructor

First Dive: Cave of The Sleeping Shark, Isla Mujeres Mexico, ( Nose to Nose with a Ten foot Tiger Shark)

Favorite Dive: Winfield Scott, Anacapa Island.

Best Dive Site Overall Rating: Manchones Reef Isla Mujeres. Wall dives, drift dives. Amazing amounts of sea life, turtles, rays and sharks.

Places I've worked and dived: Southern California, Channel Islands Ca, Isla Mujeres Mexico, Cancun Mexico.

Favorites: Pizza, Scallops, Sushi, Pasta, Rockstar and Lucky Charms.

Hobbies: Any water sport, golf & most importantly, teaching people how to dive and explore the underwater world.

Greg Dehn

Professional Credentials: PADI Master SCUBA Diver Trainer (MSDT)

Bio: I got into scuba diving as a natural progression to the marine biology major I had in college. I continued my training and became an instructor, hoping that someday I could work on a beautiful tropical island, however I now find that the most pleasure I get from teaching is seeing people enjoy the beauty of the ocean for the first time.

Don Rhodes

Professional Credentials: PADI IDC Staff Instructor

Bio: Don has been teaching SCUBA for over 22 years and has been a PADI Master SCUBA Instructor since May, 1990. He is an IDC staff instructor and certified to teach numerous specialties. He has taught SCUBA courses at the college level, worked at a dive resort in Saint Thomas and managed the SCUBA operation at the Grand Wailea in Maui.

Don has loved water activities since he was a child. After seeing the underwater world he got hooked on SCUBA. Like most instructors, teaching SCUBA is a labor of love for Don. "I do this for the joy of introducing new divers to the adventure, excitement and beauty of the underwater world," he says. "One of the high points of my life was taking my sons diving on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia."

Mike Gilbert

Professional Credentials: PADI Open Water SCUBA Instructor

Bio: Mike started diving in Ventura and the Channel Islands in 1963 as a swimming instructor and life guard. Diving was a natural part of the progression. As a Padi instructor for over 5 years, Mike enjoys teaching and especially enjoys teaching students that are challenged by the water.

Mike is a licensed captain (50-ton rating) and is one of the captains for the Raptor dive boat. He has operated numerous private boats in the Channel Islands and Mexico since 1978. As a diver and a boat operator for over 40 years, Mike has extensive knowledge of the Channel Islands and its many diving opportunity's.

Mike Doyon

Mike Doyon grew up watching Sea Hunt and Jacques Cousteau’s Voyages of the Calypso so it’s only natural that when the time was right he became a scuba diver.

Mike has been diving since 1986 with extensive diving experience in the Caribbean and more recently the Western Pacific. Since becoming a PADI Scuba Instructor in 2000, hundreds of new divers have enjoyed Mike’s fun and careful approach to teaching divers the joy and excitement of exploring the undersea world.

Mike lives his belief in continuing Scuba education and currently holds PADI’s Master Instructor certification and 25 Specialty Diver Instructor certifications. Mike is ready to show you how fun, exciting and safe scuba diving is.

LET’S GO DIVING!

Bill Rhodes

Joe Ricards