Your Personal Scuba Instructor: Dirk Peterson
I am a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer and a PADI Tec Rec Deep/Trimix Instructor, with more than 40 years of diving experience. I am also a licensed and board-certified physician practicing in Florida.
When you hire me to be your PADI scuba instructor, I work for you. Not a dive shop, marina or dive boat operation. The only person I have to answer to is you. I will not try to sell you dive equipment or spend your money in a dive shop. I can, however, provide you with advice and guidance when deciding to purchase equipment, but not in a way that profits me. My primary goal is to teach you how to scuba dive safely and responsibly and to have fun! I am an easy-going, fun, dedicated, friendly and supportive instructor. I love diving and especially teaching diving. I find it especially rewarding teaching families with children.
I knew from an early age that I wanted to learn how to scuba dive. Watching Jacques Cousteau, James Bond and NASA astronauts training underwater, was too much for my imagination. It had to become a reality for me. In the mid-1960's and early 1970's, scuba diving was in its infancy and training agencies like PADI (professional association of diving instructors) were only just establishing training guidelines for teaching this new and exciting sport. At the same time, I was developing a love of science and math that solidified a desire to study the ocean and become a marine biologist. My first PADI dive course was completed in the cold, green waters of the Long Island Sound, in 1976.
I then moved to Florida to go to college, where I got my first experience diving in a warm and clear ocean. Wow! It was also my first chance to experience cave diving and spearfishing. I was an active member of the scuba club and went diving every chance I got. After college, I moved back to New York to complete my Master's Degree in environmental science and did not do much diving. Like many divers, it was hard for me to find the time to pursue my favorite hobby and my skills deteriorated and my equipment suffered.
In a very short time, however, I found myself living in Norfolk, Virginia, where I completed my Ph.D. in marine biology. It was during that time that I started diving again, quickly realizing how much I missed being underwater. I was also teaching biology classes and came to realize that I loved teaching and was really good at it. I also continued to pursue my love of spearfishing. After completing my studies, I realized I needed to do something more personally fulfilling with my life than marine science, and I decided to go to medical school.
I moved to Cleveland, Ohio, not a place known for its diving! So I planed every vacation I had around visiting the Caribbean and diving. But I missed the ocean and so I decided then, that I would never again live away from the marine coast! I moved back to Florida for my residency training - and continued to dive every change I got. I was still teaching and won several awards in medical education.
It was at this time that I had the good fortune of meeting a fantastic PADI instructor who encouraged me to advance my level of certification and to become an instructor. His attitude was that if I was making the dives anyway (wreck, night, deep, spearfishing, etc.), why not take the courses and earn the certification that would demonstrate my expertise? It made perfect sense and I found myself taking PADI courses even when I was on vacation. It was his encouragement as a role model that nurtured my desire to become a dive instructor. I completed my open water instructor training at one of the premier PADI training sites in the country in 2009 and I have been teaching ever since. Even when I am on a pleasure dive trip, it seems I have friends and students who want to continue their training with me. It seems I am always teaching.
What I find particularly rewarding about teaching scuba diving, is that allows me to introduce you to a fun and healthy sport that you can do with your entire family and that enables you to visit a magnificent world you have perhaps only glimpsed before. I want you to learn how to scuba dive, and to do so in a way that enables you to interact with the ocean in a responsible and safe way. I feel that having trained as a marine biologist and physician gives me a unique opportunity: in a sense, I am an ambassador, teacher and mentor.
So, let's go diving!
When you hire me to be your PADI scuba instructor, I work for you. Not a dive shop, marina or dive boat operation. The only person I have to answer to is you. I will not try to sell you dive equipment or spend your money in a dive shop. I can, however, provide you with advice and guidance when deciding to purchase equipment, but not in a way that profits me. My primary goal is to teach you how to scuba dive safely and responsibly and to have fun! I am an easy-going, fun, dedicated, friendly and supportive instructor. I love diving and especially teaching diving. I find it especially rewarding teaching families with children.
I knew from an early age that I wanted to learn how to scuba dive. Watching Jacques Cousteau, James Bond and NASA astronauts training underwater, was too much for my imagination. It had to become a reality for me. In the mid-1960's and early 1970's, scuba diving was in its infancy and training agencies like PADI (professional association of diving instructors) were only just establishing training guidelines for teaching this new and exciting sport. At the same time, I was developing a love of science and math that solidified a desire to study the ocean and become a marine biologist. My first PADI dive course was completed in the cold, green waters of the Long Island Sound, in 1976.
I then moved to Florida to go to college, where I got my first experience diving in a warm and clear ocean. Wow! It was also my first chance to experience cave diving and spearfishing. I was an active member of the scuba club and went diving every chance I got. After college, I moved back to New York to complete my Master's Degree in environmental science and did not do much diving. Like many divers, it was hard for me to find the time to pursue my favorite hobby and my skills deteriorated and my equipment suffered.
In a very short time, however, I found myself living in Norfolk, Virginia, where I completed my Ph.D. in marine biology. It was during that time that I started diving again, quickly realizing how much I missed being underwater. I was also teaching biology classes and came to realize that I loved teaching and was really good at it. I also continued to pursue my love of spearfishing. After completing my studies, I realized I needed to do something more personally fulfilling with my life than marine science, and I decided to go to medical school.
I moved to Cleveland, Ohio, not a place known for its diving! So I planed every vacation I had around visiting the Caribbean and diving. But I missed the ocean and so I decided then, that I would never again live away from the marine coast! I moved back to Florida for my residency training - and continued to dive every change I got. I was still teaching and won several awards in medical education.
It was at this time that I had the good fortune of meeting a fantastic PADI instructor who encouraged me to advance my level of certification and to become an instructor. His attitude was that if I was making the dives anyway (wreck, night, deep, spearfishing, etc.), why not take the courses and earn the certification that would demonstrate my expertise? It made perfect sense and I found myself taking PADI courses even when I was on vacation. It was his encouragement as a role model that nurtured my desire to become a dive instructor. I completed my open water instructor training at one of the premier PADI training sites in the country in 2009 and I have been teaching ever since. Even when I am on a pleasure dive trip, it seems I have friends and students who want to continue their training with me. It seems I am always teaching.
What I find particularly rewarding about teaching scuba diving, is that allows me to introduce you to a fun and healthy sport that you can do with your entire family and that enables you to visit a magnificent world you have perhaps only glimpsed before. I want you to learn how to scuba dive, and to do so in a way that enables you to interact with the ocean in a responsible and safe way. I feel that having trained as a marine biologist and physician gives me a unique opportunity: in a sense, I am an ambassador, teacher and mentor.
So, let's go diving!