The Kohala Divers Staff
Rebekah:
Rebekah started diving in Washington State in the ridiculous
temperature of 43 degrees (She didn’t know any better
as she had yet to visit anywhere warmer). In 1997 she visited
Hawaii and needless to say didn’t go back to cold water
diving. Though she does reminisce about the gorgeous cold
water sea life, she remembers it from the comfort of 80 degree
Hawaiian waters. She became a Padi instructor on Kauai and
dove two to five times a day for most of the time she lived
there. After Kauai she lived on Maui before settling on her
favorite niche of diving in Hawaii: The North Kohala Coast.
Diving for Ocean Sports and then for Kohala Divers, this
coastline has truly become her backyard: There is nowhere
she’d rather be! Rebekah loves underwater photography
and traveling, and has been to Fiji, Australia, Mexico
and Thailand, and has a list of hundreds of more places
to visit. She loves teaching new divers to enjoy the underwater
world, especially when past students return over the years
and diving has remained a big part of their lives. This
brings her all the satisfaction in her work that she could
ask for!!
Favorite dive site: Black
Point Caves because it’s
an octopus heaven!
Can’t live without gear: Sealife camera w/ wide angle
lens.
Chris:
Hailing from New York, Chris moved to the island of Hawaii
in 2006 and joined Kohala Divers in 2007. He enjoys spotting
hard-to-find critters like Titan Scorpionfish, Frogfish,
and Blue Dragon Nudibranchs. Chris is known for his detailed
site briefings and great surface-interval stories. Certified
in Hawaii, Chris has recently been diving in Australia.
Favorite Dive Site: The Dome, for Blue Dragon Nudis out on
the far lava finger.
Can’t Live Without Gear: New swivel on his Scubapro MK25
S600 Regulator.
Robyn:
On
her certification dive in Thailand Robyn saw sharks in
the open ocean for the first time and immediately fell
in love with diving. Known amongst the crew as “Sharkie” (see
if you can get her to tell you why!), she likes any site
where she can find our local white tip reef sharks, and
has been know to jump into the harbor to photograph feeding
sandbar sharks! Robyn also loves exploring long, dark
lava tubes where she seeks the elusive. Robyn joined Kohala
Divers in 2006 and enjoys teaching the Underwater Digital
Photography specialty certification.
Favorite Dive Site: Puffer Reef (Puako 38)
Can’t Live Without Gear: UK eLED Flashlight for illuminating
lava tubes.
Kelleen:
Soon after her certification in 1994, Kelleen made a bet that
if she ever made a living solely through diving she would
crop and bleach her hair and go by her childhood nickname “Beanie” (stay
tuned). She loves all the critters that can be found at night,
and you can find her on Kohala Diver’s Full Moon Night
Dives. Certified in the Red Sea, Kelleen has also been diving
in California, Palau, Truk, Turkey, and Cozumel, but thinks
the Kohala coast is the best diving in the World.
Favorite Dive Site: Horseshoe (or any of them at night).
Can’t Live Without Gear: Pink Tusa Splendive IV mask
with prescription lenses.
Stephen:
Originally from Hyannis, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Stephen spent
many years diving in the Caribbean before moving to Hawaii
in 1996. A bit of a salty pirate, Captain Stephen is known
for his obsessive care of the Kohala Diver boat (no bananas!).
He loves wreck diving and deep diving, and is our resident
gear repair specialist.
Favorite Dive Site: Black Point (or anywhere deep).
Can’t Live Without Gear: Uwatec Aladin dive computer
with Nitrox.
Kim:
From a cold water State (Minnesota), Kim came to Hawaii in
1998 and was certified to dive in our warm waters in 2002.
She is an avid shore diver who often sets out into unknown
areas in search of sharks, octopus, and interesting topography.
Kim gets most excited to see the beautiful and intricate
local nudibranchs, and recently spotted four different varieties
in a 10-foot square area of Outside Crystal Cove. We welcome
Kim back to Hawaii after her month-long stint studying acoustics
and migration of Gray Whales in California.
Favorite Dive Site: Kim’s Caves (of course! She named
the site!)
Can’t Live Without Gear: Tusa Powerview mask.
Jim:
Jim had been recreationally diving with Kohala Divers for years
and in 2007 he went professional and got his Divemaster certification.
Over the next year, he became a PADI instructor and USCG Captain
while continuing to hold his day job. You will often see him
captaining and diving on the weekends or tinkering with our
compressors whenever they act up.
Favorite dive site: Horseshoe
Can’t live without gear: The new Nitrox membrane system
that he installed.
Gail:
When she’s not teaching preschool, Gail will often
come lead dives with Kohala Divers. She always loves diving
and never says no to a night diving opportunity. Her love
for being underwater is infectious!
Favorite dive site: Ulua Caves
Can’t live without gear: Uwatec dive computer
Greg:
Greg can usually be found on the Reel
Pleasure,
our sister company’s sport fishing boat moored next
to Kohala Divers. Greg originally fell in love with the
ocean through Scuba when his grandparents got him a certification
course for his 12th birthday in Southern California. He
continues to love Scuba and most vacations and days off
involve some kind of diving.
Favorite dive site: Turtle
Mound
Can’t live without gear: Scubapro
Nova Light
Tina:
Tina has been in the water as a swimmer, instructor, and competitor from a young age. She hails from Portland, Oregon, and joined Kohala Divers in 2008, when she was quickly sucked into the diving cult. She has expert knowledge on all our Scuba gear, and enjoys graciously answering all challenging questions and concerns. Tina is a valued addition to our family for her eye for beauty and detail in the shop, and her ability to quell fears with her combined knowledge and compassion.
Favorite dive site: Paniau in Puako
Can’t live without gear: A spotlessly clean mask!
Mari:
Mari hails from Dirty Jersey, via University of Oregon, and has been with Kohala Divers since April 2009. She jumped right into diving in Hawai’i by collecting many shore dives up and down the Kohala Coast. She enjoys hiking (which means you will see her lugging her gear down the cliff to the Dome). Mari has sharp eyes, and likes pointing out the tiny, brightly colored nudibranchs that litter our sites.
Favorite dive site: The Dome (From Shore, cuz she is bad*ss!)
Can’t live without gear: Warm 7mm Scubapro EverFlex Steamer wetsuit.
Nate:
Nate joins us from Georgia, and learned to scuba dive here in Hawai’i. He loves diving at night, in caves, and off deep walls, and is an accomplished freediver (and spearfisherman. Shhh: Don’t tell Robyn). Nate will soon be working in Antarctica, where he hopes to do some diving under the ice. Join the poll in the shop and bet on which digit Nate will lose to frostbite!
Favorite dive site: Horseshoe (because today he hit the 3rd lava tube!)
Can’t live without gear: Mask with low-volume teardrop shape.
Brooke:
Learned to dive in 1996 on the oil rigs of Texas, and moved to Hawai’i via Maui in 2006. Brooke is studying Natural Resources with an emphasis on Fisheries and Wildlife, and hopes to eventually do something useful with her degree. Brooke enjoys photography and has taken beautiful photos and videos of our dive sites (look for them on Facebook!) Brooke’s enthusiastic optimism is a welcome contrast to the rest of the crew’s jaded cynicism!
Favorite dive site: Puako 56 Garden Eels, for all the possibilities.
Can’t live without gear: The Quest Underwater Magnetic Slate
Bob The Cat:
Bob is recovering from a somewhat questionable and dubious past. We don’t know how he lost his tail, and perhaps we don’t really want to know the gory details. Bob was feral, or abandoned, or is running from the law, and has chosen the Kohala Divers Shop as his new home. Look for him stretched out on the counter when you are attempting to sign your forms, or lying on your fins, or jumping onto the boat to drink from the camera bucket. (Kohala Divers is not responsible for any injury attained from attempting to pet Bob. Yeah, it’s there on that Liability Release form you are attempting to sign… Under Bob the cat…)
Favorite dive site: One with Fish. Fish. FishFishFishFish!
Can’t live without gear: Claws. Or Teeth.
Nemo:
You may encounter Nemo hanging out at the dive shop occasionally.
You probably won’t get by him without your face being
licked. He was introduced to the diving world
at a very young age and he loves the water!
Can’t live without gear: Anything he can chew!