Clint Cora Certified Scuba Divemaster
I took a submarine tour down in St Thomas and saw tropical fish in coral reef for the first time in real life. That experience made me decide that I wanted to be out there underwater to see more so I became a certified scuba diver in 1999 which opened up a whole entire new world for me. I didn’t stop at the basic scuba certification as I continued with further courses.
Scuba Diving Certifications
NAUI Open Water Scuba Diver (1999)
NAUI Advanced Open Water Diver (2000)
NAUI Master Scuba Diver (2000)
NAUI Rescue Diver (2002)
NAUI Nitrox Diver (2019)
NAUI Drysuit Diver (2021)
NAUI/DAN Emergency Oxygen Provider (2021)
NAUI/DAN Basic Life Support First Aid/CPR/EAD (2021)
NAUI Divemaster (2021)
Total number of logged open water dives = 390+ (will update this number a few times per year)
I dive in both warm tropical and cold Canadian waters.
Scuba Diving Destinations
I have dived all over the world as outlined below (with links to dive destination articles I wrote).
Florida (Key Largo, Marathon, Key West, Ft Lauderdale, Tampa, Crystal River)
Turks & Caicos
Bahamas (Nassau, Grand Bahama Island)
St Lucia
Dominican Republic
Grand Cayman Island
Saba
Sint Maarten
Cuba
Costa Rica
Honduras Bay Islands (Utila, Roatan)
Mexico (Cozumel, La Paz, San Jose del Cabo, Playa del Carmen)
Malta
Egypt (Red Sea)
Philippines (Puerto Galera)
Hawaii (Big Island Kona)
Galapagos Islands
Canada (Ontario, Vancouver Island BC)
While I like smaller, pretty tropical fish usually seen on most coral reef dives, the majority of my most memorable dives were exciting encounters with larger marine animals such as dolphins, sharks including whale sharks, manta rays, stingrays and sea lions. These larger marine life can usually been seen in significant numbers only on special dives specifically designed to look for them at certain locations.
The top unforgettable experiences I’ve had while scuba diving would be the following;
- While diving in Costa Rica, a huge school of rays approached me like a squadron of alien spacecraft and went around me. For a moment, a was in the middle of this huge school while the rays passed by me.
- Being in the water and interacting with the dolphins in Grand Bahama Island was extra special and unique especially being ‘kissed’ by one of them in the mouth (caught on video)
- During a dive in Galapagos Islands while I was hovering, a seal came right up to me and kept looking into the lights in my dive computer as if he was trying to read the numbers. This was probably the most hilarious moment of my dive career to date.
- Again in the Galapagos, watching a whale shark as big as a bus pass right by right in front of me along with countless number of hammerhead sharks.
- A known ‘psycho’ moray eel coming right at me; had to kick my fins in its face as directed by the divemasters in advance in Utila
- Being smashed in the face mask by a huge stingray at Stingray City in Grand Cayman Island (also caught on video)
My future dive destinations might include; Indonesia (Raja Ampat, Komodo), Australia (Great Barrier Reef), Palau, Little Cayman, Belize and Malaysia (Sipidan Island).
Top Advice For Other Certified Scuba Divers
Just get out there and dive. It’s the sheer number of dives you do that’s more important than the number of certifications. You should learn something from every single logged dive.
Guided Open Water Dives
I have been an active divemaster leading other certified scuba divers in guided open water dives in my local region. I’m not a dive instructor so I do not teach scuba diving certification courses but certified divers who are willing to dive in Ontario cold water are welcome to join my dive group throughout the dive season when we go out diving – see the Events section for our full dive season schedule when I will be leading dives.
There are no group costs to participate other than renting whatever scuba gear divers need as well as their own transportation to the dive sites. Those who have not dived for over a year may want to take a refresher dive with an instructor before coming to dive with our group and those who are not yet certified scuba divers must take the basic open water course (NAUI, PADI, SSI) before they can participate with our scuba diving group.
Our local dives are great for maintaining dive skills and socializing with like minded people since us scuba divers are a select group of people. Our dive intervals in between dives as well as post diving are great for our dive members sharing information about world dive travels as well as scuba gear.
I require all scuba divers to sign a liability waiver and general requirements form (once for the entire season with us). Just go to the following link to download and print the form. Fill and sign then email it back to me or bring it to first group dive with you.
Download Scuba Diver Liability Waiver Form Here
I would also encourage all of our dive members to sign up for our dive group email list below to get the latest news and updates about our dive season. I post articles about scuba diving locations, gear and other related topics at the updates blog section throughout the dive season.
