Arnie Weksler

Year SCUBA Certified: 1987

Favorite Dive Site: Punta Sur in Cozumel, Mexico.

Arnie became a scuba instructor in 1989 and loves teaching open water students in the United States and on trips to the Caribbean. Highest Rating: PADI Master Instructor Additional Ratings: First Responder Instructor, Nitrox instructor, Wreck Diver instructor, Navigation instructor, Deep diver instructor, Equipment Specialty instructor, Night Diver instructor, Boat diver instructor.

When he is not diving, Arnie is polishing his photography skills or spending time with his lovely wife, Pam, his two children or his entertaining ferrets.

William "Bill" Sawyer

William T. (Bill) Sawyer immersed himself in the underwater world later in life than many, but did so with a passion that took him from Open Water Diver, to Technical Diver, to Scuba Instructor in an 8 year span.  Beginning with an Open Water class in 2001, that he took with his son, he completed much of his training through Down Under Surf and Scuba in Raleigh, NC, where he also began his instructional career.. He joined the Water World staff in late 2014.  At present, he is a PADI Master Instructor, and a PADI Tech Deep Instructor.  Among his particular teaching interests are PADI Distinctive Specialties such as TecReational Diver, the Self-Reliant Diver course, and courses relating to sidemount diving, gas blending, and equipment management.

His favorite dive sites often involve deep wrecks, and his favorite dive travel destination (so far) is Bonaire.  But, the list of places he wants to go is long, and continues to grow (Gallapagos Islands, Truk Lagoon, etc).  For Bill, diving is about experiencing life from a perspective entirely different from what those on shore might ever see. ‘Diving allows you to enter another world, where as a guest you are privileged to see and interact with the truly beautiful creatures that inhabit our oceans, in a way that a picture alone can ever allow.’ 
 

Bob Shaw

Lana McGlynn

Brett Russ

Year SCUBA Certified: 1986

Highest Rating: PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer 

Additional Specialty Ratings: Deep Diver Instructor, Enriched Air (Nitrox) Instructor, Wreck Diver Instructor, EFR Instructor, Boat Diver Instructor, Equipment Specialist Instructor, Drift Diver Instructor, Underwater Navigator Instructor, Night Diver Instructor, Search & Recovery Instructor, Peak Performance Buoyancy Instructor, Project Aware Instructor, AWARE Coral Reef Conservation Instructor.

Favorite Dive Site: my most recent dive was off of Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Brett became a scuba instructor after retiring from the military as a helicopter pilot. He loves teaching and sharing his enthusiasm for scuba diving and travelling.

When he is not diving, Brett enjoys travelling with his wife, Diane, playing tennis, running, sailing, and flying. Brett has a daughter in the Peace Corps in Paraguay, South America.

Gary LaMunion

Year Scuba Certified: 1966 with the YMCA program.

Gary received his scuba instructor rating in 2014. Prior to then, he was a commercial hot air balloon pilot and flight instructor. He was a regular on the competition circuit and was North Carolina State Champion and nationally ranked. Gary holds a Master Scuba Diver Trainer rating with additional specialty instructor ratings of Cavern, Deep, Wreck, Night, Boat, UW Navigator, Enriched Air, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Project Aware, EFR, Emergency Oxygen Provider and Care for Children with AED. When not teaching Gary enjoys both technical and cave diving. Favorite Dive Site: Bloody Bay Wall – Little Cayman Island. Gary and his wife Pam, also a PADI MSDT enjoy traveling to dive locations in the Caribbean.

Pam LaMunion

Pam's desire to SCUBA Dive started at the age of 13 while watching Sea Hunt. She put it on her bucket list and there it stayed, until in 2005 when she pulled out that bucket list. So, she boldly went where she had never been before. Her adventure started with a PADI  Open Water Certification and each year brought more training. With each new training Certification, she learned something new, gained more experience and become a safer SCUBA diver. She took another adventure in 2014, learning to teach SCUBA diving. She now has a PADI teaching status of Master Scuba Diver Trainer. She loves to teach and see students go from 'I can't do that' to 'WOW I did it'. Its all about not giving up and determination. It's just plain fun to go beyond where you have never traveled. Our waters are enchanted with beauty.  

Margie Deitz

Year SCUBA Certified: 1973 NAUI, 1988 PADI

Margie became a scuba instructor in 1993 and loves teaching at all levels. Highest Rating: PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor. Additional Ratings: Peak Performance Buoyancy Instructor, Wreck Instructor, Boat Instructor, Deep Instructor

Favorite Dive Site: The Wreck of the Papoose, Off-Shore North Carolina

When she is not diving, Margie works with her second passion, computing. She provides Computer-Coaching and support to individuals, small business, and non-profits. Margie has two children, three cats, and a varying number of hermit crabs.

Scott Watson

Scott began diving in 2012 and quickly moved through the recreational ranks and into a professional role as a Divemaster.  Always traveling and eager to learn more, it wasn’t long before he started down the technical diving path.  He currently holds his Full Cave and Hypoxic Trimix ratings, allowing him to dive to depths many divers can’t even fathom, over 300’!  

When not teaching SCUBA, you will usually find him around the dive shop working with our other instructors or producing our emails, Facebook posts, and other marketing materials.  We let him out of the shop occasionally to fun dive in one of his favorite spots such as St. Croix, Bonaire, or the Florida Keys.

Before changing careers into the SCUBA industry, Scott spent much of his career in Corporate America managing Web Analytics for clients such as Microsoft and The City of New York. Too young to retire, we managed to snag him for Water World.

Rebel Umphlett