A third generation local California girl, Carrie grew up on and in the water, spending most weekends sailing out of Marina Del Rey with her dad.  As a teenager, she was lucky to be able to go to Catalina Girl Scout Camp (then called Camp White's Landing) where she had her first scuba experience and was immediately hooked, line and sinker!  

Owning a boat, Carrie then spent all of her free time, sailing and scuba diving the wrecks of Lake Michigan, the Coast of California and every vacation was planned around the availability of diving.  Carrie enjoyed being a Divemaster and an Assistant Instructor for years before earning her Open Water Instructor Certification, and continuing her diving education is currently a PADI Master Instructor, teaching students from Bubble Makers thru Assistant Instructor, PADI Elite Instructor Award 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018.

Graduating from Pepperdine University with a BS in Psychology, a BS in Sociology, and completing her teaching credential, she is a local girl thru and thru, and loves showing students of all ages (especially the younglings) what her world underwater look like and how to enjoy it safely.

Carrie's favorite dive is anywhere with her best dive buddy, her son, and business partner, Nick.

Tim took his first underwater breath in the Bahamas over ten years ago.  Since then he has been scuba diving in Playa Del Carmen, Belize, San Diego, Cabo San Lucas, Hawaii, the Dominican Republic, Cancun and from many beaches in Southern California.  One of Tim's favorite places to dive is Catalina Island where he has made over 100 dives!  Tim's favorite thing about diving is the freedom of weightlessness and the ability to hover in place and being able to move around using only his breath.  Diving is an activity that Tim finds constantly challenging and there are always new places to see and new things to learn.  On his last dive trip, Tim spent ten days diving and exploring underwater caves in Mexico and seeing sights that few people have ever seen.

Tim also loves working with students and sharing his excitement and knowledge about diving with people who have decided to “take the plunge into the underwater world."

Growing up in the Midwest, diving was a seasonal activity, as the lakes and quarries would freeze over making diving a little challenging!  But that didn’t stop Nick.  Nick started diving on summer vacation in the Caribbean, where at age 8, during a PADI Bubblemakers class in the pool, he felt completely at home, yet he was jealous of his parents out in the ocean. A couple of years later, when PADI lowered the age restriction to 10, he headed  immediately to the local dive center and earned his certification thru Toucan Dive Center in Illinois, and where he continued his dive training.

With a family boat named "The California Girl" on Lake Michigan, summers and falls were filled with diving. Moving out to California only served to expand his water life experiences including surfing, swimming, free diving, sailing and of course more scuba. Diving in deeper, he spent his college days at the University of Hawaii on the island of Oahu, diving during the days and studying at night. Nick says “diving in Hawaii made me more confident and competent” and ultimately lead him to peruse my Divemaster certification, and more recently, his Assistant Instructor rating.  Nick’s drive is to bring better awareness and more diving opportunities to the people of Southern California.

Nick’s favorite dive is the Manta Dive in Kona, Hawaii, one he says should not be missed.

You can't beat experience, and John Lumb's got it!  He has over 40 years under his weight belt, and has logged about one thousand dives per decade. John has been a certified and active Divemaster almost all that time. He’s been a PADI Instructor for 30 plus years and Course Director (Instructor-Trainer) for more than 20. So in that time he has had the pleasure of working with students from teens to octogenarians, and from construction workers to folk in the entertainment industry. John has issued around fifteen hundred certifications in subjects ranging from shipwreck diving and underwater photography to marine life identification and search-and-rescue techniques.

John has worked and dived all-over the world, sometimes working with notable underwater photographers and sometimes with Jacques and his son, Jean-Michel Cousteau. He was briefly in one of their movies and was even in one episode of “Baywatch”! In addition, he has become very familiar with beach dives from Monterey to Ensenada and has been tuned in to the ever-changing history of the Southern California charter dive boat industry.

His love is to encounter the vast array of marine life from the very large to the very small.  So come on down, take a break from your everyday pressures and learn or dive in our low stress environment.

“Fun and relaxing – that’s my goal!” he says.

Born in Mexico, Frank has over 18 years of diving experience in Baja California, Sea of Cortez, Riviera Maya and Southern California.  As a PADI Instructor Development Course Staff Instructor, full cave diver and tech diver, he is certified to provide training for Open Water, advanced Open Water, Rescue Diver, wreck diving, night diving, enriched air and side-mount diving, among others.  Frank has taught over 500 students and has received the PADI Elite Instructor recognition for the past several years and is excited to build upon his 4,600+ logged dives in Los Angeles and San Diego, California exploring wreck dives throughout the region.

Born in Mexico, Frank has over 18 years of diving experience in Baja California, Sea of Cortez, Riviera Maya and Southern California.  As a PADI Instructor Development Course Staff Instructor, full cave diver and tech diver, he is certified to provide training for Open Water, advanced Open Water, Rescue Diver, wreck diving, night diving, enriched air and side-mount diving, among others.  Frank has taught over 500 students and has received the PADI Elite Instructor recognition for the past several years and is excited to build upon his 4,600+ logged dives in Los Angeles and San Diego, California exploring wreck dives throughout the region.

Bruce graduated with honors from Santa Barbara City College’s prestigious Commercial Diving Program and worked at Club Med as a Dive Instructor for several years.  Bruce has been teaching people to dive since 1985.

This patient instructor has hundreds of trained students, some even going on to become dive professionals themselves.  Bruce and his wife live in beautiful Moorpark, California, which he says is the perfect central point to dive locations and dive boats from Santa Barbara to Long Beach.

Bruce’s personal favorite dive site is Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. “The diving there in the South Pacific is pristine and you won't find friendlier people than the local islander a great place to sit on the bottom and watch black tip reef sharks in their natural habitat.”  As for local diving, “we're blessed with the availability of awesome diving with relative ease aboard one of the many dive boats that brings us to the Channel Islands.  Nothing beats an hour boat ride "across the pond" for a dive at Ship Rock, Catalina. If it's bug (lobster) season, then double bonus. Want to know more, just ask Bruce!

Bio COMING SOON!

Miguel was born in Baltimore, Maryland and developed a love for the  water on the Chesapeake Bay.  He has lived near the ocean most of his life and spends weekends either under or on the water.  He has dove all over the world, but will always have a spot in his heart for the kelp forests of California.  He continues to dive regularly today, pursuing his passion for underwater photography and ocean conservation.  His favorite part of teaching is creating new ocean ambassadors that can inspire and encourage others to help conservation efforts.  He currently lives on his sailboat in Marina Del Rey, with his Boston Terrier, Nina.

Born right here in Los Angeles, John grew up in the diving community, spending much of his childhood running around dive boats and shops.  He was certified to Rescue  all at the age of 12 and as soon as he turned 18, he got his Divemaster and OWSI certifications. John loves to spend his weekends making shore dives with his friends. Although he enjoys tropical trips just as much as anyone else, he prefers the beautiful dive spots locally in SoCal.

Raul Villaplana is 28 years and from Spain. He works in the Spanish embassy in Los Angeles since July 2018. He is a Sports Science graduate from the University of Valencia. He is very passionate about outdoors sports including climbing, skydiving, and mountain biking. He is a PADI scuba diving instructor with experience in different countries such as Panama (Caribbean and Pacific), the Red Sea in Jordan, Mar de Cortés in Mexico, and the Mediterranean Sea in Cyprus and Valencia. He has taught many people to scuba and is always ready to get you into the water! 

Lela has been diving for 20 years and teaching for more than 10. Lela's interest in SCUBA comes from her interest in the marine sciences--she has earned a BS in Biology and an MS in Oceanography/Environment Science. As a natural communicator and dynamic educator, Lela enjoys working with schools and other science programs in and around SoCal. She loves spearfishing, talking about fisheries biology and being your tour guide under the sea.

Natalie has been diving for over 20 years and is a Recreational and Technical Divemaster, a certified Megalodon CCR diver, and recently completed her PADI Assistant Instructor certification.  Natalie grew up diving in the Florida Keys where she has thousands of dives on such famous wrecks such as the Spiegel Grove, USS Duane, Northern Lights and all of the other amazing shipwrecks the Keys are known for.  Carrie and Natalie met in 2005 at a dive show and have been inseparable Mermaid friends ever since and have dove together from Coast to Coast.  Natalie and her husband Philip reside in San Diego California with their daughter Coral and are expecting #2 later this year!

Joe had to be pulled from the water on his first snorkeling trip because he wouldn’t leave the fish alone. From the time he was 6 he asked his mom when he could go SCUBA diving. Joe learned to dive in and around the Channel Islands of his home Southern California. Since earning his PADI Divemaster certification in 2013, Joe has worked throughout the Caribbean, but thinks the cold Pacific waters offer the best diving in the world. When he’s not blowing bubbles you can find him on the golf course or at the nearest sushi bar. 

Tyler Grasmick is a PADI Divemaster who has over 15 years of experience exploring the underwater world.  Whether he is scuba diving, surfing, or spear fishing, he prefers to be in the water showing others what they have been missing.  Tyler discovered scuba while vacationing in Hawaii as a child with his family.  Shortly thereafter, he headed to Catalina Island where he earned his certification at the Catalina Island Marine Institute, and is now expanding his Divemaster and tech diving skills to work professionally.

Aside from working as our Divemaster, Tyler is an accomplished Commercial Film Producer, also coordinating water safety for film and production.  A West Los Angeles local, he currently lives in Venice Beach with his girlfriend and Great Dane, and they spend their free time hiking and exploring the US via their 4x4 vehicle.  

Ruth earned her open water certification in San Diego 2013. She started diving enough frequent early-morning, cold-water dives with dive buddies from the scuba community, that her friends eventually accepted that she was indeed a mermaid. Eventually, Ruth decided to take the plunge to get trained as a divemaster so she could regularly do guided dives on the less explored side of the California coast!  Conservation of our marine ecosystems is very near and dear to her heart, and Ruth hopes that getting more divers in the water will increase awareness of these precious resources underneath the surface. For now, she dives shipwrecks, oil rigs, caverns, and kelp forests, but Ruth's dream is to one day dive the thriving coral reefs in Palau's warm waters. See you in the water!

Geoff grew up in the area with a strong appreciation for the ocean. In 1994 before sailing off on a bareboat charter vacation in tahiti, Geoff's wife Sue insisted they get certified to scuba dive, since they were missing half the experience by limiting themselves above the surface. After a number of years as a warm water recreational diver, Geoff began appreciating the spectacular scuba diving conditions right here in his own back yard, and as he started diving our local waters more, he eventually became a divemaster to share his love of local diving with others. Geoff has divied all over the Caribbean, Hawaii and the Pacific, but Sothern California is still his favorite area for diving. You'll find him diving off our local beaches most weekends. "There's something magical about diving in our local kelp forests; it's like wandering through an enchanted forest under the water and meeting all kinds of interesting creatures".   

Being raised in Puerto Rico, Nura is no stranger to the water. She is, however, new to the diving community. Nura is recently certified but fell in love with diving instantly. She has since been diving at Catalina Island, Channel Island, Anacapa, June Lake, Honduras and some beaches in Southern California. She plans to travel and dive all over the world! When not blowing bubbles, you can find Nura at the In2Deep shop or at the beach catching some sun!

Catherine (Cathy) is a native California girl who is often behind the desk at the shop or diving with friends on our dive trips!  When she is not in the shop or in the water, she can be found on stage playing the harp!  She fell in love with diving about 2 years ago and hasn't stopped since.  Her favorite dive so far and by far is the Manta Ray night dive in Kona, Hawaii!

Madeleine began diving during college in the Florida Keys where she majored in Marine Environmental Technology and Dive Sciences. She has been working with In2Deep since moving to California last year. Her favorite dives have been watching the annual coral spawnings on the Floridian Barrier Reef. When she isn't diving or in the shop she can be found taking her pup on hikes around the LA area!

The ocean has not always been a huge part of Katie’s life growing up in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. However, she fell in love with surfing and diving soon after starting her undergraduate degree in Environmental Science at UCLA. Katie is now a senior at UCLA planning to continue using her Environmental Science degree with a focus on Marine Conservation. Katie’s favorite dive is Longrock, a night dive located off the coast of Little Corn Island, Nicaragua; this dive shows off spectacular bioluminescence and loads of marine life. When Katie isn’t diving or skiing she can be found at the In2Deep Shop or in class.  

Bio COMING SOON!

Send us an email at: info@in2deepdiving.com

with your résumé, position interested in, and availability.