Bret Gilliam author of Diving Pioneers & Innovators: An In-Depth Series of Interviews
Bret Gilliam has had a 40-year career in professional diving, logging over 19,000 dives in military, commercial, scientific, filming, and technical diving operations. He is one of the diving industry's most successful entrepreneurs with investments in publishing, training agencies (TDI/SDI), manufacturing, resorts, dive vessels, cruise ships, and film production companies. He is a currently licensed U.S. Coast Merchant Officer with the rank of Master, aircraft pilot, deep submersible pilot, and holds a variety of credentials within the diving medical community including Recompression Chamber Supervisor and Diver Medic Technician Trainer. His company Ocean Quest International operated a 550-ft., 28,000 ton diving cruise ship from 1987-1990 that remains the largest single diving operation in history, averaging over 1,200 dives per day among its passengers and staff.
Author of nearly 1500 published articles, his photos have graced over 100 magazine covers, and he is principal author or contributor to over 70 books & manuals. His writing and photography have been published worldwide. He also has worked as location director, cameraman, and operations manager on scores of Hollywood movies, television series, documentaries (including National Geographic and the Cousteau series), and IMAX films. He is a Fellow National of the elite Explorers Club and the world record holder as the deepest scuba diver on conventional scuba equipment.
He continues a limited practice as a widely sought litigation consultant and expert witness for diving and maritime legal cases, appearing in nearly 400 cases without a loss. He also specializes in risk management for diving, shipping, resorts, training agencies, and insurance syndicates, as well as crafting emergency medical treatment protocols for remote accident management of diving injuries where evacuation is not an option.
After nearly 30 years living in the Caribbean and equatorial regions worldwide, he now lives in Maine where he divides his time between two homes and a motor yacht. He is still active in special film and publishing projects. His book, a large hardbound coffee table style volume, Diving Pioneers & Innovators: An In-Depth Series of Interviews, has been met with widespread enthusiasm by reviewers internationally and has become a valued collector’s work.
Diving the Great Lakes Shipwrecks and Caves By Jeff Lindsay
Please join SFDI this coming Wednesday, October 6th , as we welcome Jeff Lindsay of Potomac, Maryland, who will speak about diving the Great Lakes shipwrecks and caves. We'll cover some of the stories behind specific shipwrecks and techniques that Jeff uses for imaging deep water wrecks and caves.
About Jeff Lindsay
From Ontario, Canada
Rebreather / Expedition Trimix / Full Cave / Photographer / Cinematographer
Growing up on the Great Lakes fostered a natural curiosity of the unexplored for Jeff Lindsay; learning to dive in 1990 led to a lifelong desire to visit and photograph the unknown and forgotten. With an almost limitless number of shipwrecks nearby, a natural progression into technical diving was required for the more remote and deeper locations. Known for wide angle photography and varied lighting techniques. Attempting to capture the entire story in 'one shot' remains the elusive goal. He's been invited on numerous projects as team photographer and his biggest thrill is visiting a new wreck or cave for the first time and capturing some, small part of its essence in a photograph.
Are you well trained? By Tec Clark
Charter dive boat captains and divemasters are reporting increased occurrences of diver assists and rescues on their trips. The increased issues include problems with equalizing, crashing into the reef due to improper buoyancy, buddy separation, and running out of air. The vast majority of these incidents do not happen because divers have been out of the water too long. Instead, these occurrences are most often related to poor training.
Please join SFDI this coming Wednesday, September 1st, as we welcome dive industry educator Tec Clark, who will speak about the decline in training standards and the increase in standards violations by diving professionals. Tec will help us identify dive centers that offer good, solid training, as opposed to abbreviated training. He will tell us what to look for in a dive instructor, either for beginners, or seasoned divers who want to continue their dive education. He will also advise us how to prepare for new members joining SFDI who have had inadequate, abbreviated dive training.
See you there, and please note that Tec’s presentation will be IN PERSON, and not on Zoom.
About Tec Clark
Tec Clark is a dive industry expert who has held very elite positions in the industry including Managing Director of the University of Florida’s Academic Diving Program and National Director of the YMCA Scuba Program. He holds over 40 professional certifications with over 15 diving agencies. Tec has been a police officer, dive rescue team member, and forensic dive accident investigator. He has appeared as a diving expert on A&E, The Learning Channel, and the Outdoor Life Network. Tec was Captain of the US Freediving Team, and is the founder of Reef Ministries. He curates ScubaGuru.com and ScubaGuru Academy, and is the host of two podcasts: The League of Extraordinary Divers and The Dive Locker. Tec is also the Associate Director for Aquatics and Scuba Diving at Nova Southeastern University.
Exploring the Dolphin Mind By Dr. Kelly Jaakkola
How do dolphins think?
Do they really have names?
And how do we know that, anyway?
Please join SFDI this Wednesday, August 4, when we will meet Dr. Kelly Jaakkola from the Dolphin Research Center in Grassy Key, FL. She will take us behind the scenes and show us how scientists study the dolphin mind “up close and personal.” She will share some of what she and her colleagues have learned about these amazing animals, and discuss the importance of these types of studies, which help to improve dolphin welfare and conservation. This will be a presentation on Zoom. We look forward to seeing you on Zoom or in the room!
About Dr. Kelly Jaakkola
Kelly Jaakkola, PhD, is one of the very few people in the world whose job it is to figure out how dolphins think. Director of Research for the Dolphin Research Center, she has investigated dolphin behavior and cognition for over 20 years. She earned her Masters degree in Psychology from Emory University, where she began her career studying cognition in chimpanzees and human children. After earning her Ph.D. from MIT, she won a grant from the National Science Foundation to conduct research on dolphin cognition and communication, where she has stayed ever since.
Kelly has taught courses on human and animal thinking at several colleges, including Boston College, Brandeis University, and MIT. Her research has been published in numerous international scientific journals and book chapters, and her research findings have received worldwide coverage in news shows, newspapers, books, magazine articles, and television.
