Staff

Meet Craig Clark Senior Instructor

Craig has been an open water instructor since 1999. He holds the rating of master open water instructor, and assistant instructor trainer. He is also certified as an instructor in all of the specialty courses like nitrox, deep diving and limited viz, but is also an instructor for the SSI tech XR program advanced nitrox and decompression diving. Craig teaches the react right courses for CPR First Aid and Oxygen first aid.    

 

Meet Paul Rhodes Open water Instructor

Paul began diving at the age of 15 years old. He has always had a love of the water, water sports,
and exploring the depths of the ocean floor. Paul is a recreational and professional diver, he has
many hours logged from scuba diving in the Cayman Islands, The Key’s, the Gulf of Mexico, the
Atlantic Ocean, and various Springs here in Florida. In 1990 he became certified as an advanced
open water diver, and in 2017 he started working towards being a professional diver by working
his way up through the ranks as a Dive Guide, on to Dive Master, and Assistant Instructor.
Paul is currently working with Craig at the Aquatic Center of Ocala to become an Open Water
Instructor. He is certified in Emergency First Aid, CPR, and O2 Provider. He is looking forward
to meeting, training, and diving with new Scuba Diving adventurist soon!

 

 

 

 

Meet Smokie West Mermaid Instructor

Smokie has spent most of her life in central Florida, exploring beaches, springs and lakes. You can find her swimming, free diving, snorkeling, Mermaiding or scuba diving throughout the state. She travels across the US for events promoting conservation of Florida Springs. She is an educator for the local school district and college as well as part of a global publication that promotes water/environmental safety. She became scuba certified in 2012 with Craig as her instructor. She became a Mermaid in 2013 and a professional mermaid/underwater model in 2020. She has since become a snorkeling instructor, swim instructor Mermaid instructor and water aerobics instructor. Smokie is also certified in CPR, emergency first aid and is an oxygen first aid provider.    

 

Meet Cole Hanks sales staff and dive guide

Cole comes to Ocala from Fayetteville Arkansas and has been diving since 2006. Although Cole had been away from diving for a while, he got back into it in a big way when he started working for the Aquatic Center. He has since obtained the master diver rating along with the dive guide rating. He is certified in emergency first Aid, CPR, and is an O2 provider. He is currently working on his Assistant Instructor rating. Cole is always excited to dive and inspire  new divers to discover and love the sport.  

 

Meet Chad Patterson

Chad is our service tech. He has been certified by all of the manufactures of dive equipment. Weather if it is your regulator or your buoyancy control device, Chad will get it repaired right the first time and get you back in the water as soon as possible. Chad is also a certified hydrostatic tank inspection technician.