Robert J. Arnove grew up in Miami and has been diving since the genesis of the sport. He became PADI dive instructor 13518 in 1981 and began RJ Diving Ventures the following year. He has worked determinedly over the years to protect and promote Miami diving, surviving the pitfalls and recessions that claimed other Miami dive boats in the same time span. He has worked with the Department of Environmental Resource Management (DERM) to survey submerged areas off the coast of Miami for the establishment of protection zones and artificial reef deployment. RJ also worked diligently over the years towards the acquisition of new wrecks to be placed in Miami, including the St. Anne, the Tarpoon, and the Ultra Freeze. These were sunk in the RJ Diving Ventures Site recognized by DERM. RJ is a licensed USCG Captain, an avid skier, scuba diver, and guitar player. He retired from Miami-Dade Fire rescue in 2006 with the rank of Fire Captain after 30 years of service to the community.

Captain Mike Beach
Mike@RJDiving.com

Captain Mike grew up in Baltimore, MD and drove his motorcycle to Miami in 1994 to be PADI dive instructor 96286 after graduating from college. While earning a Master's Degree from the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Mike helped establish the State of Florida's 7th underwater archaeological preserve, Half Moon in 2000. Mike then split the next 4 years between Miami and Scotland at the University of St. Andrews working towards a PhD in maritime history and underwater archaeology. Mike began diving in 1983 and has been with RJ Diving Ventures since 1997. He has worked as a dive instructor and captain in the live aboard diving industry since 1994, mostly with Blackbeard's Cruises (www.blackbeard-cruises.com) in the Bahamas where he still works when scheduling allows. Mike also loves blue water sailing and delivers private yachts and works at being a musician when he can (www.captainmikebeach.com). Capt. Mike holds a USCG Captain's license and is very proud to be RJ's partner in RJ Diving Ventures. Mike also founded the non-profit Miami Dade Reef Guard in 2009 and orchestrated the sinking of Ophelia Brian in December 2009.

Captain Keith Knollman, Employee No. 002
Keith@RJDiving.com

Captain Keith has been working with RJ Diving Ventures since 1984, making him the most senior member of the staff. Keith is a rare Miami native and began diving in 1977. He earned the distinction of PADI Divemaster in 1984 and became a PADI dive instructor in 1985. Keith is an avid skier and a true "people person". Because of this, he acquired the unofficial title of "PR Rep" for R J.

In the other world, Keith recently celebrated 20 years as a licensed blaster of commercial explosives for the mining industry. Capt. Keith holds a USCG Captain's license and works as Captain and crew on the boat, mostly on weekends and holidays.

Jason grew up in Ohio and fell in love with the ocean at age 10 on a family trip to Mexico where he saw a juvenile damselfish and had to know what it was. He became a SCUBA diver at age 14 from Seacamp in Big Pine Key. He graduated from the University of Miami with dual majors in MarineScience & Biology and a minor in Chemistry. At UM he became active with the UM SCUBA Club while diving from RJ's Boats. He began working for RJ in 1993 and went to work for DERM (Restoration and Enhancement Section). His work with DERM included coral reef assessments during beach renourishment and artificial reef deployment. He also studied fresh water flows through the Everglades and their impact on Florida Bay and Biscayne Bay Seagrass Populations. Jason has a 3-year old son, Julian, who loves the water and wants to "be a diver just like daddy." Jason moved back to Ohio for 3 years to try his hand in the family construction business and returned on account of Severe Ocean Withdrawal Syndrome (SOWS). He taught Biology & Marine Science at Gulliver Academy in South Miami and loves to share his knowledge with other divers.

Jake Shekels

Jake (Bubba to very close friends and relatives) grew up in South Florida and has diving in his blood. Jake and his family own and/or operate Tarpoon Dive Center in Hialeah and Tarpoon Lagoon at Miami Beach Marina. His grandfather was diving inventor, educator & retailer, Michael (Mike) Kevorkian. The wreck "Tarpoon" was sunk as a memorial to him when he passed away suddenly in 1988. Mike was inducted into the Diving Hall of Fame in 1992.

Jake is a NAUI instructor and a licensed coast guard captain.

Tracy Etienne

Tracy grew up in Hallandale, Mississippi and started diving in 1996. After becoming a PADI dive instructor and moving to Miami in 1998, she worked in the live-aboard dive industry in the Bahamas while earning her USCG Captain's license. Tracy has a beautiful daughter Madison, who helps out on the boat from time to time. Tracy has owned and operated a live-aboard dive business and has lots of useful knowledge to share on diving and boating in Miami and the Bahamas.

Madison Wheelis

Madison is Tracy’s daughter and she began her diving career in the summer of 2010. She has a Siberian husky named Lucy and they both help out on the boat when not in school. Madison is an avid snorkeler who can identify many fish and creatures for the passengers.

Amy Friedman

Born and raised in Miami, Amy has long had a passion for being on or under the water. Her father, Bob Friedman, was an early pioneer in the diving community and greatly influenced her life. He sparked Amy’s love for the water at an early age. In 1992 Amy became a lifeguard and soon became a certified water safety instructor and began teaching swimming. Her enthusiasm for the ocean has led her to follow in her father’s footsteps into the sport of scuba diving. She has been qualified as a Divemaster for nearly two years and enjoys working on the “Big Com-Ocean“.

Captain Joshua Martinez

Joshua Martinez grew up in New York and has been a resident of Florida since 1998. He quickly combined his passion for boats with his extensive mechanical background to become a gifted marine technician. Joshua fell in love with scuba diving in the summer of 2004 after diving with a friend off Miami Beach. He rapidly earned all the certifications up to Divemaster. Once again combining passions, skills, and local knowledge he came on board with RJ Diving in the fall of 2005. Joshua works locally as a US Coast Guard licensed captain for a private yacht. In his spare time he enjoys sailing on Biscayne Bay with friends and spending time with his girlfriend and two kids.

Captain Jimmy Pardinas

Captain Jimmy is a new addition to the RJ Diving Ventures family. He is a licensed USCG 100-ton Master and has been a Miami Dade Police Officer for the last 22 years, currently assigned to the Marine Patrol Unit. Jimmy was born in Cuba and immigrated to the United States with his family where he grew up diving and fishing the waters of South Florida with his Father and older brother. Jimmy graduated Southwest Miami Senior High school and immediately enlisted in the United States Navy. After 6 years of active service serving in the Persian Gulf and other exotic locales and another 6 years of U.S. Naval reserves he became a Police Officer.

Galba Brandao (aka G)

Galba was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil…home of many world cup victories. G attended the University of Sao Paulo for zoo technology (zootecnia) with a concentration in the field of Aqua Marine, and immigrated to the United States in February 2002. He holds qualifications as a Cave Diver, Technical diver, and a mixed gas diver. He began diving over 25 years ago and has been teaching as a PADI MSDT for 10 years, including private instruction in all the basics as well as Nitrox and other technical areas. G really enjoys spearfishing and freediving, with an occasional triathlon here and there to compete with Capt Mike! Galba has joined the Army and is currently serving overseas.

Captain Georgia Bell

Georgia graduated from James Madison University in 1999 with a degree in Computer Information Systems. After working in IT and management consulting for five years, she realized that working 9–5 in an office was not the path she wanted to take. She moved to Seattle, earned a certificate in Environmental Law and Policy from the University of Washington, volunteered at many local conservation organizations and worked at the Seattle Aquarium. She decided she wanted to work in international marine conservation. In 2006, she moved to Miami Beach because of the warm weather, the Latin influence, and the myriad of academic choices for a master’s degree focused on marine conservation. While preparing for her return back to school, she started working at South Beach Dive & Surf and is currently a manager at the shop. Georgia loves to work out on the boat, achieving her desire to work outside and with people who love what they are doing. In her spare time, you will either find Georgia riding her Honda 599, playing her piano, or just relaxing in her backyard with friends or a good book. She is my right hand "man" and recently married Doug Covin, a professional fishing charter operator in the Miami area.

Captain Kent Bonde

Kent has been diving extensively since 1974. He received his initial certification in Rome, Italy at the age of 16, through FIPS, the Italian Diving Federation in conjunction CMAS. The program was one of the first organized certification programs ever held in Italy. Since then, Kent has logged in excess of 3,000 dives throughout the world. His experience also includes a brief stint as a commercial hard hat diver, working for the Royal Dutch Delta Project in Holland, doing underwater survey and harbor repair work. Since moving to Florida in 1983, Kent has been actively involved in the local diving community. He holds instructor ratings through NAUI as well as IANTD and is also a certified closed circuit rebreather diver. His experience working with various dive boat operations in South Florida, led him to obtain his USCG 50-ton Master’s License, which he earned in 1999. While working full time for the City of Miami Beach, Kent continues to teach diving, including basic, advanced and technical-level specialty programs and also enjoys shooting underwater video and digital photography in his spare time.

In August, 2001, Kent was spearfishing in the Bahamas, when he suffered a near-fatal run-in with a bull shark. Despite his ordeal, Kent and his wife Debbie have used this experience to promote an understanding of these animals and to dispel the fears most people have about them. They have appeared on Discovery’s Shark Week series, Germany’s RTL, BBC’s Natural History Channel and New Zealand’s NHNZ to get their message across that we’re definitely not part of the menu.

Jack Ingber

Jack Ingber grew up in New Jersey and discovered diving on a trip to visit a friend in Miami, while also making the snap decision to transfer from Rutgers to the University of Miami. He has been a New Jersey EMT Basic for 6 years volunteering his time when he is home. He currently studies Criminology at "The U" which will assist him in an undeterminable way once he commissions and becomes a pilot in the United States Air Force (May 2010). Jack holds a private pilot's license and can often be seen from Big Com-Ocean when he's flying to Bimini for some conch fritters, or taking target practice on the helpless divers.

Drew grew up skiing the lakes and rivers of the Mississippi Delta. There’s no wonder that Drew jumped at the chance to take up scuba diving when he got to Ole Miss. Within the first year of taking his open water class, he knew he wanted to be an instructor so that he may show others what had him so hooked. Shortly after becoming an instructor, he became head of the Ole Miss Scuba Program. Over the next ten years, he worked hard to make it one of the best in the country. After Ole Miss, Drew went to work for the Freeport Grand Bahama based Blackbeard's cruises where he worked as a divemaster while earning his Captain’s license. After Blackbeard's, it was off to Belize in Central America aboard the Peter Hughes vessel Sundancer II. Now he's back and ready to go to sea on Big Com-Ocean. Here's a toast to those on the Coast and the Sailors out to Sea: Drink your Ale, hoist your Sails, ride the Wind and be Free! Hope to see you soon.

Thea grew up outside of Philadelphia and spent her summers swimming in the Atlantic on the Jersey shore. In Cozumel at age 17 she discovered her true passion for ocean and island life. She moved to New York after graduating from the University of Rhode Island and pursued a career in technical theatre. Quickly realizing that City-Life wasn’t for her, she began travelling to Europe, the Bahamas, and Central America. She began diving in 2005 on a trip to Key West and immediately fell in love with wreck diving. Thea combined her love of diving and insatiable wanderlust and hit the road in 2008. She spent 3 months in Utila, Honduras earning her PADI and NAUI Divemaster certification before moving to the Florida Keys. Now proudly calling Miami her home, Thea is excited to be a part of RJ Diving.

Mercedes was born and raised in Mississippi, by parents who loved the water, and passed that passion on to her. Family vacations were always to ocean-based destinations, which only continued to nurture Mercedes love for all things ocean-related. As soon as Mercedes and her two siblings were old enough, they obtained their scuba certifications and have been scuba diving ever since. In undergraduate school at The University of Southern Mississippi-Gulf Coast, Mercedes began the road to her NAUI instructor certification, in addition to her marine biology studies. Mercedes passion for the ocean, and sharks in particular, have kept her close to coastlines since graduating. She studied sharks at Bimini Biological Field Station in Bimini, Bahamas; Taught children at Newfound Harbor Marine Institute as a science instructor in the Florida Keys; Studied sharks again at Mote Marine Laboratory's Center for Shark Research (CSR), first as an intern; Started her master's studies at The University of Guam, while working as a graduate research assistant, and once returning stateside, went back to CSR to work as a Biologist for a period of time before moving to Miami to work as a scuba instructor and get back to her master's studies. In addition to her leadership certifications, Mercedes has certifications in Advanced Nitrox, Cavern, Intro to cave, Deep, Technical, etc., which include training by PADI and IANTD, as well as NAUI.

Greg is a New Jersey transplant who took up diving with his good high school buddy, Jack Ingber in 2005 after moving to Miami with his family. A graduate of Rollins College, he frequently travelled home to Miami on weekends to dive shipwrecks off of Miami Beach. Growing up, Greg spent summers on the beaches of Martha’s Vineyard (the place where Jaws was filmed), so it’s ironic that you frequently find Greg chasing after sharks underwater. When not working on the boat you may see Greg hopping off the rescue truck or working in the hospital as part of his paramedic training. We’ll let you decide whether that makes you feel safer or not.