Paul Heinerth of Hudson, FL, who has been diving for over 50 years

Paul Heinreth has been a scuba diver since 1969 and a scuba instructor since 1977 and owned his own dive shop for 29 years. He just got the shop back in May of 2022. He has been involved in numerous expeditions, discovered caves and explored caves and wrecks. Paul has participated in the making of two Hollywood movies and numerous documentary films including two featured in National Geographic. Paul is a Master Instructor with the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI,) an Instructor Trainer with the International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers (IANTD,) and an Instructor Trainer with Technical Diving International (TDI.) He is also a Cave Instructor Sponsor for the Cave Diving Section of the National Speleological Society. In 1979, he found “Giant Cave” in Belize for which the Explorer Club sanctioned an expedition with their flag in 1982 with legendary Sheck Exley as his co-leader. As a member of the U.S. Deep Cave Team, Paul participated in both Wakulla Springs projects (1987 and 1998) led by Dr. Bill Stone. It was with the United State Deep Cave Team (USDCT), that Paul started to use rebreathers in 1993. He has taught thousands of divers and continues to teach diving full time today. Paul has received numerous awards, most recently a lifetime achievement award at the 2016 TEKdiveUSA Technical Diving Conference and the Golden Diver award from Cozumel in November of 2019.

Paul has received the Fellowship Award from the National Spelunking Society (NSS) in July of 2001, the Abe Davis Award in 1976 and two Outstanding Service Awards from the Cave Diving Section, (CDS). The National Association for Cave Diving (NACD) has honored him with the Bronze, Silver and Gold Wakulla awards (100, 500 and 1,000 logged safe cave dives). Paul also earned the Technical Canadian Diver of the Year award in 2002 along with the Explorers Club’s Best Exploration Film award for the ICE ISLAND film.

Paul has presented many times over the years for both the NACD and the NSS/CDS cave diving conferences in Florida as well as given talks in Canada, England, France, Australia and Mexico. He has been the Master of Ceremony of the yearly CDS International Cave Conference in Florida since 2016. (again May 28, 2022)

At the invitation of the Cave Diving Association of Australia (CDAA), Paul lectured in 6 Australian cities over a three week period in November of 2014 covering topics from cave diving history, various expeditions’ reports and sat on a panel discussion on rebreather training in cave diving environment. Paul also spoke at the Canadian Underwater Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS) in Quebec City, October 2014. He often speaks at local schools on various subjects from career day to explorations, trying to get young people motivated to spend more time outdoors.

3.

Hannah Medd: Lead Scientist and founder of the American Shark Conservancy (ASC)

Hannah Medd, Msc, is the Lead Scientist and founder of the American Shark Conservancy (ASC) a scientific nonprofit in Palm Beach, Florida. A part of ASC's research focuses on the relationships and impacts of human activity on the marine environment, including recreational shark fishing and diving. ASC collaborates with both anglers and divers to help answer important questions about vulnerable shark species and develop best practices to ensure a better future for the activities and the sharks. Hannah will speak about The American Shark Conservancy's Florida Shark Survey: the benefits of citizen science to gather vital data on elusive shark species. Hannah has worked in the dive industry as a retail manager, product and brand developer, certified technician, and assistant instructor (SSI) with brands such as Divers Direct, West Marine, and Mares.

Alex Brylske, PhD., President, Ocean Education International

Dr. Alex Brylske is the author of many diving and marine education programs as well as several books and hundreds of articles. Combining his training as a professional educator and marine conservation biologist, he has forged a highly diverse career serving both the diving industry and marine conservation community. He retired in 2019 as Professor of Marine Science at the College of the Florida Keys, where he developed and taught numerous field-based courses on coral reef ecology, conservation, management, restoration and assessment. He currently operates a consulting company, Ocean Education International, LLC which specializes in marine environmental education and sustainable tourism.

Darcy Kieran: Bio-sketch 2022

In the dive industry, Darcy worked in retail, wholesale, and eCommerce. He's been a Course Director and scuba diving Instructor Trainer with numerous dive training agencies.

He owned/managed dive shops, dive resorts, and charter boats in Canada and the USA. He's been on the Board of Directors of DEMA. He brings with him valuable experience from other industries, including sporting goods, manufacturing, radio & TV broadcasting, railroads & transportation, digital marketing agencies, and education.

Darcy is an engineer, radio announcer, and author.