Master of Ceremonies One of Tom’s favourite phrases is, “The more I learn, the more I learn how little I know,” from Socrates, which he finds translates perfectly into Great Lakes diving. “The more I dive the more I realize there’s more out there to discover than I ever imagined,” he said recently. Drawing on …

Tony has been diving since 1977 and is a certified PADI Divemaster. He is the president of Silent World Information Masters, Inc.(SWIM). His images have taken best in show and first place in photo contests throughout the United  States, Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and  Mexico. His images have been included in Skin Diver Magazine, Dive …

An award-winning filmmaker, Jill wrote, produced, and appeared in Water’s Journey, the PBS documentary series that takes viewers on travels through the world’s greatest water systems. Hollywood directors call on her to produce difficult underwater scenes and international magazines and websites look to her to document extreme environments with high technology. Jill is a reasonable …

Kevin lives on the west side of Cleveland, Ohio, USA, and works as a mechanical engineer for ZIN Technologies, Inc., an engineering services contractor that mainly serves NASA Glenn Research Center. His work involves the development of space experiments, including their design, fabrication, assembly, testing, and flight operations. These experiments investigate the fundamental physics and …

David Mekker, a long-standing member of the Niagara Divers’ Association, is Chair of Shipwrecks/2010.  He has held that position for the last thirteen years, and has been instrumental in bringing what began as a small show to the successful world-class event it is today. Dave was certified in 1989, trained in Nitrox and Cave diving …

Ric Mixter was awarded the 2009 Award for Historic Interpretation by the Association for Great Lakes Historians for over two decades of maritime history preservation. He has created over 30 documentaries for PBS and has been featured as a shipwreck expert on the History and Discovery Channels. Ric was the underwater cameraman on expeditions to the Edmund Fitzgerald in …

For 35 years Jim & Pat Stayer have been diving in the Great Lakes and around the world.  Pat is a member of the Women’s Diving Hall of Fame and Jim has been a U.S.C.G Licensed Captain for 24 years.  They have co-authored three books and produced 20 DVDs.  The Stayers have discovered eight shipwrecks …

What can you say about David Trotter?  David has given more presentations than any other speaker at our annual Shipwrecks Symposium.  He just keeps discovering shipwrecks and as long as he does, we’ll keep inviting him back! David Trotter is a renowned shipwreck discoverer, deep diver, author, lecturer and photographer.  In over 30 years of diving, …

Authors of the recently released Erie Wrecks and Lights, Mike and Georgann are well known for their other two books, Erie Wrecks East and Erie Wrecks West. They have been diving around the world since the early 1970’s.  However, nowhere else in the world have they discovered the kind of pristine and perfectly preserved shipwrecks that lie …

Master of Ceremonies One of Tom’s favourite phrases is, “The more I learn, the more I learn how little I know,” from Socrates, which he finds translates perfectly into Great Lakes diving. “The more I dive the more I realize there’s more out there to discover than I ever imagined,” he said recently. Drawing on …

Bob’s activity in the marine industry spans over 25 years and  includes commercial diving, Atmospheric Diving Suits (ADS) and Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV) operations. Operational and management pursuits have resulted in international projects over the years, including winters in Finland, summers in the tropics and ROV operations in the Andes mountains. Bob is presently a …

Born in the city of Khabarovsk in the Far East of Russia, Vlada discovered diving at an early age using her father’s scuba unit. Years later while expanding her dive education in Cozumel, Vlada decided to take an Underwater Photography course and has never dove without a camera again. Living in Toronto, with all five …

Learning to scuba dive was something that Warren had wanted to do for quite some time, and finally took the plunge several years ago and instantly fell in love with the sport. Living in Toronto, Ontario, the Great Lakes provided him tremendous opportunities to explore the rich marine heritage that Ontario had to offer. As …

Durrell Martin has been a member of the NDA since 1994 and has held positions from President to Newsletter Editor over the years. An active diver with close to 1,000 logged dives, Durrell was trimix certified in 1999 and has since then enjoyed exploring the deeper wrecks located in the Great Lakes. His real passion is …

Jonathan is an underwater archaeologist with Parks Canada’s Underwater Archaeology Service, based in Ottawa, Canada. His research interests and publications include shipwrecks from the War of 1812 and the effects of zebra and quagga mussels on historic shipwrecks.  For over ten years he has conducted archaeological and historical research on the Hamilton & Scourge, and serves as a …

Chris Phinney, Project Director and Bryan Thomas, Dive Coordinator for Liquid Archaeology will present the history, identification and diving of the wreck Southern Trail. The Liquid Archaeology Survey team has been working on the wreck of the Southern Trail for over 5 years.  Chris is an IT analyst and amateur archaeologist working towards anarchaeology degree at McMaster University in Hamilton, …

What can you say about David Trotter?  David has given more presentations than any other speaker at our annual Shipwrecks Symposium.  He just keeps discovering shipwrecks and as long as he does, we’ll keep inviting him back! David Trotter is a renowned shipwreck discoverer, deep diver, author, lecturer and photographer.  In over 30 years of …

Authors of the recently released Erie Wrecks and Lights, Mike and Georgann are well known for their other two books, Erie Wrecks East and Erie Wrecks West. They have been diving around the world since the early 1970’s.  However, nowhere else in the world have they discovered the kind of pristine and perfectly preserved shipwrecks that lie in the fresh …