Scuba Instruction Services

The dive season in Central Texas is just around the corner.  No better time to begin planning your next vacation to some place warm and to begin (if you haven’t already) thinking about adding scuba diving to your list of great activities.  With all the talk of being “green”, there’s nothing better to learn and see firsthand the beauty and the peril of our most valuable unseen treasures - our oceans and waterways.

BECOMING A SCUBA DIVER

Becoming a scuba diver is both fun and safe.  I personally got certified to enjoy a vacation with my family to Hawaii and enjoyed it so much, I turned it into a partime career.  The thing I love the most is the friendships you create with fellow divers all around the world.

SO WHAT DO I DO?

I am a PADI MSDT scuba instructor.  MSDT means I teach all the basic certifications but also teach speciality courses that allow you to add different types of dives and locations to your diving activities.  While I teach as an independent, I strongly recommend that I work with you through my dive shop, Scubaland Adventures.  They have 3 convenient locations (south Austin, Central Austin, and the Lake Travis/620) area.  They are a full-service dive shop and offer convenient schedules and the best customer service anywhere.   They also provide the best equipment that can match both your diving needs and budget.  You might be tempted to buy online (I was) but I can vouch for the perceived difference in cost - you’ll find the service and knowledge of their staff well worth every penny.

Here are the different types of courses that I can teach.  Click on each one and you’ll see the course description from PADI as I teach it.

Beginner courses include:OpenWater, and Advanced OpenWater, Rescue, Project Aware, Peak Performance Buoyancy

If you want to pursue specialty courses (I highly recommend them to expand your adventure), I also certify you as a Master Diver in the following specialties: Enriched Air (Nitrox), , Night Diving, Deep Diving, Underwater Navigation, Boat Diving, Drift, Multi-level,  and Underwater Photography.

If you’ve been certified and just need a refresher, I also teach Scuba Review refresher courses.  If you’re interested in turning pro, I can help you get started with your DiveMaster professional certification.

Please contact me to find out more.  Here’s where you can also see the list of scheduled classes at Scubaland.  Make sure that you request me or tell them I sent you!

Photography Services

Let’s face it - with the advent of digital photography, many consumers can get perfectly acceptable photographs at a fraction of the cost they paid 20 years ago.  I think that’s great as more memories are being captured today than at any other time in history.  So while the photographic tools have improved for average folks, people are beginning to understand why photography is much more than pointing and shooting - especially for those memories that matter.  Just take a look at what many people post on facebook or on websites.  There are some great ones indeed, but most fall short of professional-level results.  So when your memories matter - that’s where I come in.

I am an Austin-based photographer that offers customers exceptional photography at prices and a level of convenience the larger studios simply can not offer.  And because this is as much a passion of mine as a business, the quality of my work matters.  Bottom line - if you’re not happy, neither am I.  You’ll find that I am very flexible and willing to customize my services to meet your individual needs.

I currently offer the following types of shoots:

• Any type of sports events {indoor & outdoor)
• Family events (new baby, holiday post-cards, etc. Sorry - no weddings)
• Career events (retirements, luncheons, etc)
• Underwater (I teach underwater photography as part of my scuba-training services)
• Custom photographic needs – (ask to see what I can do!)

My standard fee is $150 per hour.  All photographs from your shoot will be available through the customer portions of my galleries and will be password-protected to control access.  You simply view the photographs after the shoot, select the ones you want, the type of product you want them printed on, and my lab prints and handles the rest.   Click to see pricing information.  I also provide custom pricing where I’ll include different print packages and will wrap that cost and the sitting fees together in one rate structure.

Contact me to find out more.

Ways You Can Help Me

As most of you know, I operate this site to help publicize my scuba instruction and photography.  It takes both time and money and it’s only through your patronage that I keep it going.  You help me by referring friends to me who are interested in learning scuba.  You also help every time that you purchase pictures from my galleries. If you’ve done this - THANK YOU!

OTHER WAYS TO HELP

If you enjoy reading the articles (mostly for the Vista Ridge soccer games) and seeing all the photos but aren’t interested in buying anything that’s fine - I hope you enjoy the site and come back often.  If you would like to see me offer different items, like soccer yearbooks, DVDs, etc - let me know and I’ll be happy to do them.  I’ve done them in the past for different customers and I think they’ll all vouch for how happy and satisfied they are.

Thanks!

David

PS:  I also take donations through Paypal if you’re interested in supporting me and the site but aren’t interested in buying anything.  I’ll leave it up to you for whatever you give as everything is appreciated.  It helps keep this going - especially having 2 kids in college!